Lines that are labeled as “diet” tend to be either more expensive because of the “special” formula or a brand that is not the best quality to start with. Try selecting a higher-quality brand that is grain free and doesn’t have a lot of additives and fillers. On the back of the bag it should give a guide for how much to feed different sized dogs. Factor in your dog’s activity level and age to adjust the amount correctly for him and his weight should remain stable. You’ll find that with the higher quality lines, you won’t need to feed him as much as with the cheaper foods. Along with the other brands suggested, see if you can find and try Taste of the Wild. I find that it’s not as expensive as a lot of the other good quality foods, but it is just as good in terms of ingredients.

I raw feed…

Dog gets fat.. cut back on food and increase exercise

Dog gets skinny.. up amount of food

Dog’s coat gets dry.. evaluate whether its time to shed or whether the dog needs more fat in his diet (or a bath because he’s dirty).

Personally, I find raw feeding to be much less expensive than feeding a high quality kibble. Of course if I DID feed mostly kibble and my dog was fat I would….

cut back on food and increase exercise. Its not rocket science.

Dog diets are like human diets: short term solutions. In the long run, you need your Pug to maintain a normal healthy diet (try feeding a high quality, organic food, so you can feed her less, knowing what she is getting is only doing her good) and to keep unhealthy snacks to a minimum (which means few or no treats from you, I know its hard to resist the pleading eyes, but try!) Keep track of what she is getting, so you know you can cut out any excess. She will also need increased exercise to help keep the weight off. You cannot just feed her a cheap low fat dog food and ignore the problem.
You could probably even put her back on the same food as she was before, but in smaller amounts with less treats and more exercise. Good luck!

The good ones are expensive, but you end up saving on vet bills in the long run. I prefer Blue Buffalo Wilderness. I sometimes add a little B.B. canned venison for an extra treat. My dogs are healthy and shiny and have tons of energy. It has the highest % of good quality protein of all of them.

Don’t use diet dog food. They lack much of the necessary nutrition for a healthy dog. If your Pug is an enthusiastic eater, give her a premium dog food (NOT from the supermarket) and add a little green beans or canned pumpkin (not pie filling) to fill her up. Give her baby carrots and apple slices as snacks. Increased exercise also helps.

rice and boiled chicken and some dog food

I’ve had luck with Nutro Lite. My Airedale is enjoying it and losing a bit of weight. Also, I add a bit of Natural Balance Lamb canned to the mix…she loves it.

I like Innova or Wellness Core, there are no fillers or byproducts. Science Diet and foods like that are actually really bad for dogs, and using a higher quality food isn’t much more expensive.