To effectively address canine obesity or excess weight, it is crucial to comprehend its nature and underlying causes. The body of a living organism is remarkably sophisticated, operating like an advanced piece of technology, seamlessly executing countless functions daily without conscious awareness.

While obesity and excess weight in dogs can stem from conditions like hypothyroidism or be related to spaying/neutering, this discussion will solely focus on conditions directly linked to diet.

Obesity or excess weight can be likened to un-eliminated waste that the body struggles to efficiently remove, leading to its storage in fat cells as a means to maintain function. Just like any machine, the body presents visible or audible signals when there is a fault.

The visual symptom of obesity demonstrates an overburdened body, lacking ease of function. To clarify, comparing an obese body to a slow, sluggish lorry and a lean, ideally-shaped body to a finely tuned Formula One race car allows us to grasp the concept better.

Obesity in dogs is, in fact, a form of disease—a disruption in the body’s function and movement—caused directly by overfeeding or feeding inappropriate foods.

Understanding the body’s basic level, consisting of trillions of cells and two major fluid-based vessels—blood and lymph—reveals the importance of the lymphatic system in waste removal. When the lymphatic vessel fails to effectively eliminate waste, the body resorts to storing it until an opportunity arises to address it.