Adopting a dog is an exciting process, especially when you know that you have a home that is ready to accommodate their needs as soon as you bring them to the house. If you ended up adopting an overweight dog, you will likely want to handle this process a bit differently than if you were to adopt a young and healthy dog. While a trip to the vet hospital cannot hurt for any dog, you will want to make it a top priority for your newly adopted dog since they are not in superb health.

Health Check

During the appointment with your dog, you should expect a veterinarian to perform a thorough health check to determine their overall health and check for any possible concerns.

While the weight is a concern that you should be expecting, you want to make sure that there are no health problems that have been hiding and avoiding detection. This checkup will also give you valuable information about your dog such as their weight as well as what the vet recommends they should weigh. With this information, you can set a long-term goal to get your dog to their ideal weight, which should give them a much happier and longer life to enjoy.

Diet Plan

An important part of your visit should involve coming up with a diet plan for your dog. If you do not have any experience with dogs or have not owned one in a while, you may not be sure how to tackle their weight problem exactly. A veterinarian can play a role in your success by offering suggestions on which foods to give them as well as when to feed them based on your schedule.

Since your dog will need to eat more at their current weight than they do once they have slimmed down, you can work with a vet to figure out how to reduce their overall calorie intake over time.

Exercise Ideas

While a proper diet will help your dog lose weight consistently, you should also incorporate a lot of exercise that will speed up the process and get your dog healthier in general. If you are not sure exactly how to exercise your dog, you should not hesitate to ask your veterinarian because they may have a few local suggestions that involve walks, hikes, or visits to dog parks.

Seeing a vet after adopting an overweight dog will lead to a better experience with keeping your dog healthy and getting them to lose weight over time.