The ultimate in owner laziness
, unless it is a pill that addresses an actual medical problem -- some imbalance causing the dog to not lose weight despite cutting back on food.
Many dogs only really need very small amounts of food and I am always amazed at how much some are fed. For example an acquaintance has a westie that is fed about two cups of food at a meal and he gets fed twice a day. This is the biggest westie I have ever seen -- I've no doubt he is partly oversized as his growth was accelerated as a puppy from overfeeding. At his large size, I cannot imagine that dog needing more than 1.5 cups of food a day -- he isn't that active.
My mom's cavalier Lucy weighs about 13.5 lbs and she only gets 1/4 cup of food twice a day. Lily gets 1/3rd a cup once a day. Lily (12.5 lbs) puts weight on very easily despite the fact that she likes to be active, and that is the right amount of food for her but I think many would not believe that could be enough (probably why she was 18 lbs when I got her from the pound!!).
So my own feeling is that people are already really overfeeding fat dogs and when they put them on a diet they still are overfeeding so the dog does not lose weight or loses very slowly. A fat dog can easily have its rations halved and have treats eliminated except for some fruit/veg and maybe tiny occasional treats like a piece of kibble. Dogs will get the same pleasure out of a single piece of kibble as a large dog biscuit and they both disappear as fast -- but one is going to add a lot more calories!
I know some dogs beg constantly for food but ignoring it is the obvious approach -- people would hardly keep giving their kids sweets simply because they beg for them. In my experience very few cavaliers are not gluttons and they ALL 'always look hungry' so should never be fed lots of extra food simply because they seem to want more.
So rather than a diet pill for dogs maybe we need blinkers or a blindfold for owners so they don't respond to begging. :lol:
I feel very strongly about extra weight on cavaliers because this directly puts extra pressure on heart valves as hearts have to work much harder in a fat dog. Very few cavaliers will escape heart disease and some as we know will be burdened with it very early in their lives. Like a hinge on a door, a valve only has a given life in it, and if the dog wears it out faster it will die sooner. That is the harsh truth. Overfeed a dog and you remove months or years of time you would otherwise have had with your dog at the other end of its life.
Keep cavaliers slim!!