Welcome to part four of our weight loss series! If you missed our earlier segments, be sure to check them out here.

Measuring your pet’s food may sound simple—in fact, you may be wondering how we’ll do a whole blog post on just that! However, even the simplest tasks have room for improvement. Whether you measure, scoop, or “eyeball” your pet’s meals, we have lots of tips and tricks to help you improve!

Do you use a measuring cup for your pet’s food?

Did you know? Studies from the University of Guelph found that using a standard measuring cup can be very inaccurate. In fact, “the tests revealed inaccuracies ranging from a 48 percent underestimation to a 152 percent overestimation”! Read more here. Since most of us currently use a scoop or measuring cup for our pet’s meals, this is important information to know!

Here are a few easy ways to make your measuring more accurate:

  • Have the same person feed each meal
  • Ensure the cup is level, not heaped
  • Draw an extra line on the measuring cup—if feeding between two shown values
  • Cut the cup down to the desired size so it cannot be overfilled

Cutting down a plastic measuring cup to the correct size makes it harder to overfill.

While the above tips may help, our personal favourite way to measure is to use a kitchen scale. Weighing your pet’s food is the most accurate way to measure—and is often faster once you get used to it. Weighing the food is especially helpful for smaller pets, where tiny adjustments are needed to maintain an appropriate rate of weight loss.

Using a scale is more accurate than a measuring cup or scoop. Two people each scooped up 1 cup of kibble, but clearly got different results when
we checked their weights! If person #2 does most of the feeding, those extra 14g will make a big difference over time.

One last thing to keep in mind: don’t get caught up on looks! If you have measured the correct amount, it doesn’t matter if “that doesn’t seem like enough…” or “that seems like way too much!” Be confident in your measurements, and take comfort in the fact that your pets can’t count 😉

It may not look like much, but that’s okay!

Have any questions? Curious to know more? Reach out to us to see how we can help!

We know that you want your pets to be healthy and happy (we do too!). So, what are you waiting for? Book an appointment today. Let’s work together to develop a plan that works for you and your fur family. The sooner we start, the sooner we will reach our destination.

Want to learn more? Keep checking-in, the next part in this series is expected to post the end of March 2020!