Overweight Pets and How To Help

A little known fact is that the leading nutritional disorder among dogs and cats in the U.S. today is obesity, with studies showing that 25 percent of our pet populations are considered obese while 30 to 40 percent are considered over weight. While we all might love a pet with a couple of extra pounds, we have to see that there are many potential problems that can arise down the road such as respiratory complications, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Luckily there are things that we can do to make sure that our pets have a good chance of avoiding all of those problems.

Wight management is a much more sensitive issue for our pets than it is for us. If we add a couple of extra pounds during the holiday seasons it’s not the worst thing that can happen, but weight changes in our pets has a much more drastic effect. It’s a good idea to keep track of your pets’ weight, taking note of any significant changes while keeping an eye on their diet and making sure they get their daily exercise.

A good way to get an understanding on how your pet is doing weight wise is to place your finger tips on the side of your pet. Gently press against his/her sides, if you have to use any pressure to feel their ribs then your pet might be on the track to becoming overweight. Your pets’ waist should also always be visible; you should be able to physically see your pet become more slender from the end of the rib cage to the hind legs. One thing to keep in mind is that every animal is different, and the best way to determine how your pet is doing weight wise is a visit to your vet.

There are several ways you can take an active role in controlling your pet’s weight and making sure they’re around as long as possible. Always make sure that your pet is getting plenty of exercise and keep an eye on how much they’re eating. If you think your pet could stand to lose a couple of pounds always keep in mind that you make sure they do so over a couple of weeks. A 4 to 6 percent drop of body weight over one months time is best for his/her health and a good way to do that is by:

Giving them smaller portions of food, but never skip a meal!
Giving them a larger amount of dry food than wet food
Making sure they get plenty of exercise
Talking to your veterinarian about a special diet

Another thing to keep in eye on is how you add to your pets weight issues when thinking about controlling them.

Do you give your fuzzy friend tons of treats each day?
Do you find it hard to resist those cute eyes starring up at you while you’re at the dinner table?
Are you to lazy to play with your pet for a half an hour or go to a dog park?

These are all things that can lend to our pets becoming overweight and we have to learn to do things differently ourselves in order to help them. Instead of going down the grocery store isle and picking the familiar bag of treats look at the label and try getting low-calorie treats. There are several high end pet foods that can also be used as treats; I myself give my cats Wysong Archetype Canine/Feline Diet as a treat. You also never know what raw vegetable or fruit could substitute a processed pet treat, when I was younger my dog’s favorite treats were raw carrots.

Table scraps are one of the biggest problems because the food that we prepare for ourselves contains complex fats, salts, and other ingredients that not only will cause your pet to gain weight but can also make his/her stomach upset. A good thing to do is to have some of those healthy pet treats handy when you sit down for dinner, but be sure that you aren’t rewarding bad behavior like begging. Instead give your pet a treat when they are behaving and letting everyone enjoy dinner with out a head on their lap. This will really deal with two problems because you pet will soon learn to stop begging at the table to get treats. In the end your pet’s health and weight rely on a variety of different factors, and controlling your pets’ diet is just the beginning; but doing that in combination with making sure they get their daily exercise is the best way to start making sure they will be around for as long as possible.