Calorie content or fat content????

I'm going nuts reading dog food labels again:p

For a dog who needs to lose weight, which is better--a lower calorie content, or a lower percentage of fat????

For example, the Chicken Soup food has a fat percentage of 17%, and a calorie count of 348 kcals/cup, while Solid Gold has a fat percentage of only 8%, but a calorie count of 367 kcals/cup.

I'm so confused:confused:
I've got two poochies who should shed a few pounds, so I'm looking for the best route, but I'm just unclear on this.

(Those 2 foods were just an example out of my notes, I probably won't feed the Chicken Soup foods again).

Thanks for any help.

I'm not sure what number to go by. Cincy also needs to loose weight and we had been feeding her Californaia Natural Lamb and Rice Reduced Calorie. It is 8% fat and 317 cal/cup.

Cincy is having problems with her kidneys and our vet believe this food is too rich for her to digest. He feels she needs more "fillers" in her diet...her body can not break down the higher quality food. So, at his recomendations we are trying Hill's Science Diet Light. It is 6% fat and 295 cal/cup I read the ingredients and cringe, but it is what he feels we need to try to get her better, so i'm trying it. We'll see what happens.

Emily,
What have you determined on this one. I have one of the 4 dogs that needs to lose a few pounds. It is Byakko-the shiba of all of them. I do plan to check her thyroid when she gets her shots. She turned 2 in aug..
It has been so long since we talked. Things have been so hectic and I haven't been well so I haven't been here much. Here are some links I don't think ever posted to my babies and my foster dog that is a really interesting story with a happy ending of her returned to her origonal Mom after lots of missinformation.
http://www.ofoto.com/AlbumMenu.jsp?&&
at ofoto you put in [email protected] for the email and the password is Byakko

http://community.webshots.com/user/lauriel41
webshotas should just go to the albums and Honu was my foster dog but is in her forever home now.

How are the babies?
Laurie and the furkids

now I have to give the dragondawg secrets to successful dieting out.

Calories are a measure unit of heat. The implication is that the heat is a result of generating energy. If energy is not needed then the potential for generating it is stored. Huh???

Let's try again... if you eat a cube of sugar it will be sky high in calories. Sugar has the potential to generate a lot of energy where the dollar currency of the cell is the molecule ATP. If the dog, or the human body consumes calories faster then it burns, then the storage takes the form of "fat". If the need for energy or ATP exceeds the calorie intake, then "fat" is burned. It is easier for the body to store excess calories in the form of fat then it is for fat to be turned into calories.

So the answer to your question ends up in two steps. To control the weight of the dog the most important component is calories, as most calories in food tend to be a direct measurement of sugar or carbohydrates. Likewise for us humans the quickest initially way to lose weight is cutting down on the sugar- not necessarly the Adkin's diet per se. The second step is to cut down on the fat in the diet, as a portion of the fat in the diet will be converted first to utilizable carbohydrate, and then converted back to fat. Huh again?

Ok the bottom line is you need to find a dog food that combines:

1. Lower calories - most important.
2. Lower fat.

Thanks for the replies.

Amy, I know what you mean about Science Diet. My vet recommended it for Riley, and as much as I didn't want to use it, it has helped his problem (too much poop:o ) 100%.
Since it works, and he likes it, I guess we have to stick with it, for now at least.

Dragondawg, thank you for your complicated, yet simplified reply:)
In your opinion, what is the best weight management food out there?