Commentary*
Nancy Kerns shares her own challenges with feeding her dogs the right amount of food versus an estimated volume. She advocates for weighing the kibble using a kitchen scale, which she has written about before <Link>.
A recent situation analysis of overweight dogs identified a complex web of interactions between dogs, their breed background, their environment and food motivation, along with the need to teach owners how to help their dogs maintain a healthy weight <Link>.
Source: Whole Dog Journal, March 20, 2025. Link.
*Commentary
Pet food measurement is problematic and ultimately requires assessing body condition, lifestyle, treats, kibble and Kcalories. Nearly every article recommends seeing the veterinarian.
This leaves some questions for veterinary teams:
- Do you have a process for doing a ration consultation?
- For the foods you recommend, have you ever weighed each of the products you sell to see what volume delivers “X” Kcals?
- Did you create a show-and-tell bag for “X” Kcals to demonstrate how much to feed?
Consider requesting each pet owner bring a bag filled with how much they feed their dog each day and a label from the pet food bag or container. Then, weigh and calculate the Kcals (in person) as a demonstration and add an estimate of treat KCals to show the owner how much of their pet food choice to feed each day. A service like this would empower veterinary technicians and associate veterinarians to actionably lead to reduce obesity in individual pets and demonstrate their expertise.
Also see: 7 golden rules for feeding dogs: Vet-verified advice and info, Dogster, October 20, 2025. Link.