Canine Obesity

Canine obesity is becoming more and more apparent in dogs and cats. Many pet owners do not realize that their pet is overweight until they go into the Veterinarians office. What many pet owners tend to do is go to the store, buy a bag of pet food and feed a cup (drink cup) twice a day or three times a day. So what is wrong with that? Well, if you are feeding a drink cup full twice a day, you may be giving 4 or 6 cups a day total because the cup is not accurate to measure the food. What you should be doing is measuring with a measuring cup to ensure you are feeding the correct amount. Your Veterinarian will make the recommendation as to how much you should be feeding. It also depends on the type of food and how many calories per cup/can there are.

Obesity is a condition that can lead to detrimental healthy conditions. Your pet is at risk for heart disease if they are overweight. When your pet is obese, this means that their body has too much body fat, and in return, produces more triglycerides. When obese, the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) tends to decrease. HDL's are important in lowering the risk of heart disease. The risk of diabetes is increased when overweight. Blood pressure levels are also increased when overweight and that can cause severe heart disease as well.

The most important factors in controlling your dog's weight are going to be through diet and exercise. As long as you are feeding the proper amounts and maintaining your dog at the proper weight, they will not become obese. For some dogs, it is hard to keep the extra weight off due to slower metabolism. Your Veterinarian will make proper suggestions if this is the case. Take your pet into the Veterinarian's office for a courtesy weigh. They should not charge you to bring your pet in and check the weight. This way, you can monitor the weight closely and make sure that you are doing all that you need to be doing to control the weight.

Another important tip to remember is to be careful when selecting food. There are hundreds of diets out there and hundreds of them are horrible for your pet. What you need to be looking for is the dry matter analysis of the food, which most companies will not provide because they have never done this type of analysis. The good companies will provide you with that information. The guaranteed analysis that they provide you with on the back of the bag gives you NO information. They give you percentages, which include moisture content. You want the percentages that do NOT include moisture content so that you are getting the most accurate amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, phosphorous, calcium, etc. Again, talk to your Veterinarian and they will recommend the best diet for your pet. Don't go with what is cheapest, this can have harmful affects on your pet's health.