Having some familiar characters with humans, dogs easily catch some health problems if they have too much party in their body. Do you know that over 35 million dogs in the America tend to be overweight? It’s a huge number, right? Providing your pretty furry friends withthe best low calorie food will keep them far away from issues of overweight including overweight-related diseases.
For a detailed guide and honest reviews, keep reading!
Benefits of The Best Low Calorie Dog Food
Every pet owner tends to give their cute pets everything they want, especially the food. This shows your love to your friend, of course. But uncontrolled feeding will directly harm their health. Dog food withlow-calorie content comes to help, and here are some benefits of it:
What to Consider When Buying Low Calorie Dog Food?
These are some essential factors that may be helpful for you before buying the best weight loss dog foods:
Safety
Obviously, this is the most important factor. No matter which brand you buy, how much money you paid, please put safety in your priority. It’s better to choose a famous brand. To avoid any unwanted situation, please ask your vets as well as read the guide instruction of a product carefully. In addition, remember to follow the usage strictly and give the dog a bit small sample of new food.
Ingredients
There are so many ingredients in dog food that wecannot understand them all clearly. But one thing you should keep in mind is to choose food made (or mainly made) from natural ingredients like fruits and vegetables with 100% free content of artificial materials such as artificial colors and flavors preservative substances.
Chicken, lamp, fish and beef are popular ingredients. Which flavors you decide to buy is up to your four-leg friend’s taste. I suggest that you shouldn’t buy thefood made of chicken or poultry by-product meals.
Fat or Calories
In fact, fat content is not a factor that you totally focus on. On the other hand, the number of calories should be taken into account, too. About 250-300 calo/8 oz (236.6 grams) is an ideal portion for an obese dog. With the food that contains higher calories, split them into smaller portions. This will control dog’s digestion and prevent any potential of overweight.
Moreover, if you tend to buy a bigger dog food bag, make sure that it contains no more than 3100 kcal per 1kg (with dry food) and less than 900 kcal (with wet food). By the way, for the exact portion, use an online calculator (for both human and animal) to check the number of calories that your dog needs.
Protein
Photo credit: Brent Pohlman
To lose weight, you need to decrease the levels of calorie and fat content. However, increasing the amount of protein will promote this process. Adding about 30% protein (or more) in the daily meals of dogs is recommended. By this way, your pets are also replenished with the power source of protein in foods for loosening muscle mass.
Fiber
Fiber is another factor that you should know. In addition to supporting muscle mass, it plays an important role in metabolism. It’salso able to induce the satiety quickly.Fiber densely appears in fruits as well as vegetables, so if you buy dog foods made of natural ingredients, you surely give enough amount of fiber for your dog.
Our List of Top 5 Best Low Calorie Dog Food
1. Natural Balance Fat Dogs Food
Products from Natural Balance are suitable for all breeds of adult dogs. They’re also good choices for overweight dogs. This product – the Natural Balance Fat Dogs Food – are available in 3 sizes: 5 pounds (2.27 kg), 15 pounds (6.8 kg) and 28 pounds (12.72 kg). So, you can buy a small one first to test your dog’s taste.
In comparison with the other diet dog foods, this one is on the top list of the lowest calorie content. Combining higher special protein (with the guaranteed analysis in production code showing at least 26%) and fiber (10.5% maximum), it makes your four-leg friends feel satiated and prevent the excessive begging.
A unique layer of fiber system will increase the amount of fiber to retain a taste that is responsible for keeping your pets wagtails. What I like about this product is its taste norm. Being made from oat, chicken and salmon meal (which attracts most dogs), garbanzo beans, pearled barley and dried peas, it helps your dogs lose weight healthily and tastily.
With these ingredients, your pets may not realize that they’re on a ‘’diet plan’’. Excellent formula can cut down your weight while maintaining the lean muscle mass. Moreover, their digestion is supported optimally. To protect your pets, we recommend that the food intake should be based on their breed, weight, age, activity level and the climate in your living environment.
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2. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula
Over the dog food industry, this is another famous name and also a greatchoice for most occasions. Unlike the Natural Balance, Blue Life food is only produced for small breed dogs. They come in a variety of flavors such as fish & brown rice, lamp & brown rice, chicken & brown rice. Each dog has his own taste, but I suppose that chicken will be a preferable one.
Every 6-lb bag has two types of kibbles. One looks like a triangle, while the other has a pebble shape. The pebble shape seems to be smaller than a rubber while the triangular one is larger than a fingernail and as thick as a nickel. Both of them are enhanced with the precise of vitamins, minerals, antioxidant and nutrition to prevent the degradation potency.
This uses the tasty deboned chicken as the main source of protein instead of chicken or poultry meals. Additionally, it includes the whole grains such as brown rice, barley or oats, which offers your dogs the complex carbohydrates for energy needs. Besides, three nutrient-rich veggies are whole carrots, peas with sweet potatoes promote the digestion of the dogs effectively.
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3. Nature’s Variety Instinct Grain Free Dog Food
Nature’s Variety Instinct canned food perfectly tailors for the small breed dogs that weigh no more than 30lb (13.6 kg) at maturity. Not only is it convenient, but it’s also a richsource of various nutrients. Therefore, it will be the best friend for pet owners who are often busy at work.
Each formula is crafted with lots of wholesome foods (like real poultry and fish) as well as natural ingredients (like fruits and veggies). Make sure that your pets can equally absorb the amount of calories, protein, minerals and fat; as well as support for their active energy. In spite of being as canned dog food, this provides its fury customers great tasting and high-quality nutrition without grains, gluten, fillers, corn, wheat or soy.
It’s free of artificial colors and preservatives, too. That’s not all! Besides weight, Nature’s Variety product cares for the coat of your dogs. The Omega fatty acids will have a strong effect on their coats, making them softer and shinier.
In spite of coming with some unfamiliar ingredients like Montmorillonite Clay or taurine (often used in cat food), this food doesn’t cause negative effects on your dog’s health. Clay appears in some natural foods for pets as an anti-caking agent. It allows the quality of foods while removing the human-made ingredients and another chemical. Also, it contains lots of minerals. Taurine, on the other hand, support and protect the dogs’ hearts and eyes.
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4. Wellness Core Natural Grain Dog Food
Foods from Wellness Core branch are high quality and multiform. No matter what breed (small or large) and age (puppy or adult) of your dogs are, these will meet your needs. Available in 4 sizes: 4-pound, 12-pound, 22-pound and 26-pound bag with various flavors: ocean Whitefish, Herring & Salmon, Original Turkey & Chicken, Wild Game Duck, Turkey, Boar & Rabbit. They offer me a wide range of choices.
This food strongly focuses on decreasing the fat content of dogs. It’s totally free of grain as well as animal by-products. But don’t worry! Its protein powerhouse remains the flavor of meaty protein. Unlike other low calorie dog foods, this one contains more than 80% meat, which enthusiastically supports the raw feeding.
Moreover, having a blend of real turkey, chickens and salmon in its lower fat recipe, it promotes the healthy weight management of your pets. Say no with artificial materials, the manufacturer gives us a product containing only premium and natural ingredients.
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5. Nutro Lite & Weight Management Dog Food
These have 2 flavors: chicken and lamb. One chicken version is for the small breed, while another is for larger and only for adult dogs. Each bag weighs 30.ibs (13.6 kg). This may be the least known product on our list. However, its quality should be considered before you decide to buy the new low calorie food for your lovely pets.
Quality protein and fiber are two main components of it. In this combination, pasture-fed lamb exceeds, which will be the favorite flavor of most dogs. Moreover, manufacturers of Nutro Lite products made an effort to reduce the fat as well as increasing the protein and fiber levels as much as possible: with the crude protein min at 23%, crude fiber max at 11% while crude fat min at 7%. This means it helps the furry customers lose weight healthily and remain their muscle mass.
Also containing vitamin E and other essential antioxidants, this is a helpful assistant of dog immune system. In some ways, it will kill or eliminate harmful bacteria (thanks to extra vitamins & minerals), preventing your dog from catching some diseases.
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Conclusion
After reading our reviews and buying guides, hope that you have your decision of the best low calorie dog food. In case you have a fit dog, try to give them the best dog foods on the market. Let’s be a wise pet owner! Take care of them and show them your love in a smart and safe way.
Personally, I’d like to suggest the Natural Balance Fat Dogs Food due to its very low calorie content and other great things that I already showed you above. What is your choice? Let’s us know by leaving your comment in the box below.
Hope that you and your cute four-leg friends are happy and healthy! Thank you!
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