Luke Hines admits that at the moment, his labrador Chia is carrying a little extra weight than she should. Is there such a thing as diet dog food? Or what's the best approach?

The short answer - is no, diet dog food isn't really a thing. Just like humans, the more important things are simple;

1. Portion control, and
2. Exercise

See what Luke and Dr Lee have to say about this.

A vet guided ‘silhouette’ and body condition scoring are the most formal practices to assessing if a dog is overweight or not. But if you can’t get to a vet, be sure to check out our DogCheck tool – to check if your dog is overweight. Or even worse, obese.

Do you put your dog on a diet, when they become overweight?

Diet dog food isn’t necessary for weight loss in dogs. It’s a classic case of calories in, vs calories out. Try to look for lower fat dog foods, so that your dog is only being presented with essential fatty acids that are great for their skin, joints and coat. Try to look for the lower carb options as well. ‘A higher protein ration does help with weight maintenance in dogs.’

And just like humans, it should be a slow and gradual transition to a different food and even different portions. Dr Lee recommends and refers to this as ‘reactive feeding’ as a great intuitive way to approach feeding an overweight dog. The reality is that there’s no real quick fix. Dr Lee says that if we look at the stats, a weight loss program in dogs generally takes a year to 2 years to really get to the target weight.

What do you think about what Dr Lee and Luke have to say? We'd love to hear your feedback on this and hear what information you'd like to see Dr Lee talk about.