Dangers Of Obesity In Our Pets
Did you know that over 50% of dogs and cats are overweight or obese?
EVEN MODERATE EXCESS WEIGHT SHORTENS YOUR PETS’ LIFE BY AS MUCH AS TWO YEARS
There are two main factors when combating excess weight and obesity in our pets, they are diet and exercise. However, it is more about diet than exercise, 70% diet and 30% exercise.
Obesity in our pets is not just an appearance issue. It is linked to a whole range of health problems including arthritis, chronic kidney disease, bladder/urinary tract disease, liver disease, low thyroid hormone production, diabetes, heart failure, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Obese dogs may benefit from even just slight weight loss. According to a clinical trial published in 2010, obese dogs with osteoarthritis showed a significant decrease in lameness from as little as 6.10% weight loss. It doesn’t take a lot to see improvements to your pet’s quality of life.
Excess weight doesn’t only put unnecessary stress and pressure on joints, causing arthritis and accelerating damage to cartilage, adding to your dog or cat’s pain and discomfort, it also contributes to many other health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many types of cancer.
It is important to act quickly when you see even small increases in your dog or cats’ weight, even a few grams or a kilo or two might not seem like much for humans but is a huge difference in our pets.
It was previously believed that fat was a relatively inactive tissue, simply storing excess energy. However, research now shows that fat tissue is biologically active and secretes hormones and other chemicals that cause and enhance inflammation and bring about stress as well as contributing to many other diseases. A hormone called leptin is produced by the fat cells and causes inflammation when it enters the joints, this may cause bony changes associated with osteoarthritis. Because of this, obesity is now thought to be a chronic low-level inflammatory condition.
Even though we all have fat tissue and fat cells the more fat cells and fat tissue we have the more hormones and other chemicals that are being secreted to increase inflammation and pain. Inflammation can affect your pet’s body’s responses to other hormones such as cortisol and insulin, further unbalancing the body’s efforts at self-regulation and affecting the pain your dog or cat experiences.
If you love giving your dog treats and snacks throughout the day ditch the shop-bought high-calorie low nutrient stuff and give them a carrot or cucumber instead. Experiment with different fruits and vegetables to see what your pet loves the most.
When giving treats it is important to adjust their main meal/s to allow for the added calories they have also consumed during the day, so you are not inadvertently overfeeding.
There are more ways to show your dog or cat you love them besides giving them treats and sharing your food with them. Play and exercise are great, or if your pet is older or not keen on play sitting with them and enjoying each other’s company are great ways of expressing love to your dog or cat.
If you are unsure if your dog or cat is at their ideal weight it is best to speak to your vet or pet health professional.
Dr. Narelle Cribb - Seymour Central Vet
“People are so used to seeing overweight pets that they think that id normal now and people who have pets that are a lean healthy weight are often criticised for their animals being too thin but what people need to realise is that it’s the one thing that makes a huge health difference. Obesity is terrible for pets, for their hearts, their kidneys, for their joints in particular as they get older, and it is the one thing that is TOTALLY under their control to do something about. Unless there is an underlying heath issue, which is rare. So, it’s totally in their hands to maintain their pets’ weight with some discipline and some diet choices, less treats, it costs no money to feed less if anything it will save money and it will have HUGE health implications long term.”