Exercise is relative at this point, but critical to weight loss. To Olivia, it's boot camp; to my dogs, it's not even a decent walk. This poor dog can barely make it 100 yards. She is so overweight that the heat is literally life threatening to her. (This is Texas, so we're still very hot in September.) So the advice here is to start out slowly in the coolest part of the day. We take breaks as needed and go as far as she can safely tolerate. In addition to walks, I put her in the pool once a day for some impact free exercise. I just stand in the pool, put my hand under her chest and let her paddle. The key is DAILY exercise in one form or another.
When a dog becomes this obese, that fat takes on a life of its own. It does not want to leave and becomes its own organ system releasing all kinds of nasty hormones that increase appetite and slow metabolism. If you restrict calories too drastically, the body goes into starvation mode and is more determined than ever to hang on to that fat. Exercise does wonders for speeding up metabolism and increasing muscle mass (and muscle burns more calories than fat), but it does require some caution. Dogs this fat easily become overheated. Dogs expel body heat through panting, and its not an efficient system when they are obese. I worry about Olivia's painful shoulder, her knees, and her spine which are all under tremendous stress.
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