Will human food make my dog overweight?

Human food has a tendency to make your dog overweight. They're already getting their normal diet. We probably aren't taking into account the calories that the extra human food adds, let alone that our food is sometimes really fatty and can cause things like pancreatitis.

No more than it'll make us overweight. Everything in moderation. I'm not a big fan of feeding table food, people food, human food, or whatever you want to call it. It's not balanced very well for dogs. Does that mean it can't be done? Of course not. If you are feeding a balanced diet that contains what they need, it is fine. But the question about being overweight or not because of that food, no, it's everything in moderation. If you feed a lot of it, yes they could very well be overweight.

If you give him too much of it, it certainly will. It comes down to calories in versus calories out, just like it does with people. I am a huge proponent of using fresh foods with our pets, as long as we're using safe foods. But if I'm going to add fresh foods to my dog's diet for a particular day or particular week, it's essential that we cut back on their kibble and maintain the overall calorie total that will keep them at a healthy weight.

Human food won't necessarily make your dog overweight. What makes your dog overweight is eating more calories than they expend and being sedentary. Again, human food is no more harmful than a kibble diet as far as weight gain goes; if they're eating more calories than they're burning off. That's the thing to focus on.

It can. It's all about calories. Four potato chips for them is like a bag for us, especially for smaller dogs. It can also facilitate pickiness, vomiting and diarrhea. I recommend that human food be kept to a minimum. If you do it, some vegetables like carrots and green beans are harmless and make the dog think they're getting some of your food. I won't condemn an occasional treat, but doggie formulated treats and kibble should be 95% of what they eat. People have difficulty with portion size. They'll give one hamburger, but dogs are really good at beating us down so next time they'll have two hamburgers.

That's a good question because we see this type of thing a lot. Human food can inherently make your dog overweight, but not necessarily. You can feed your dog small amounts of human food and still keep your dog lean. The problem is, once you start feeding them human food, they become more acclimated to it. They end up hanging around you when you're eating and begging a lot more. You end up giving them more food. In most circumstances, dogs tend to be overweight when they're fed human food regularly. Another thing to consider is when you're feeding your dog human food in addition to their normal dog food, the density of those calories is much more impactful because the animal is much smaller than us. This is especially true for smaller dogs, but it applies to any dog.

Even a small piece of meat in a 10-pound dog is like an entire meal for somebody our size. So giving them human food on top of their dog food, will set them up to be overweight. The other part of that is that if they are getting more than 10% of their daily caloric intake from foods that are not their balanced dog nutrition, you risk having a nutrient imbalance. And typically, when people are feeding human food, dogs will tend to lean more heavily on human food and eat their dog food less and less. This is commonly the case to the point where they're not even eating their dog food anymore, or only sporadically because they're getting their nutrients and their food on the human side.

That is setting them up for nutrient imbalances unless you're really diligent about it. Regardless of their weight, there is a much higher risk of having significant GI-related issues, particularly pancreatitis and a condition called HGE, which can sometimes be related to certain food indiscretions. Feeding dogs human food, specifically high-fat meals, in even small amounts, triggers those types of conditions, which are potentially very dangerous and certainly very costly to deal with.

They can. If you are feeding your dog your scraps after every meal of what you have to eat, and giving them some too, if everybody in your family, you might not realize, is also doing the same thing, those calories add up fast. We can show you comparisons, especially on your dog's breed and size, and the equivalent of what you're feeding them would be in our terms. You'd be surprised by the equivalent of how many double cheeseburgers they are eating in comparison to what they should be for their size. So be mindful of that. They don't need as much food as you think they do or as they would like you to think that they do.