The obesity epidemic that is sweeping through the United States garners quite a bit of news. It turns out that our pet’s waistlines are expanding in parallel with our own. The majority of pets I see are at least overweight, and quite a few of them could be considered morbidly obese.
Fortunately for dogs and cats, they are not prone to the clogged arteries and high blood pressure that tend to afflict their human counterparts, but that doesn’t mean that there are not health consequences associated with being overweight.
The most prominent issue with overweight pets is painful orthopedic problems caused by asking bones and joints to carry a bigger burden than they were designed to handle. A 110 pound Labrador retriever who should only weigh 85 pounds can almost be guaranteed to need anti-inflammatory and other pain medication to make it possible to get up and move around at all. This medication is not only expensive, but like all medications it has some potential for negative side effects. If these dogs can get back down to a normal weight in many cases they would no longer require medication to control their pain and they would feel much better in general. Overweight dogs with long backs like Dachshunds, Lhasa Apsos, and Corgies have an exponentially increased risk of extremely painful spinal problems that could potentially require thousands of dollars worth of surgery to resolve. Cats are at risk for life threatening liver disease, and other chronic problems like feline asthma and diabetes can become much more difficult to control when the patient is also obese.
It is a good idea to make sure that there is not a medical reason for obesity first. Low thyroid hormone levels, diagnosed by a blood test, is a fairly common problem in middle aged to older dogs. It can cause tremendous weight gain even when it seems like all you are feeding your dog is air. No amount of dieting and exercise is going to get the weight off a hypothyroid dog until the underlying hormone deficiency is corrected with simple supplementation. Sorry cats, but low thyroid is only a dog problem so you can’t use it as an excuse.
Spayed and neutered animals are somewhat more likely to be overweight than intact animals. Perhaps all that running around peeing on everything and getting into fights helps those intact males keep their slender figure. The health and behavioral benefits of spaying and neutering so far outweigh the single downside of tendency to gain weight that there is no contest in deciding which is better for your animal. Use the knowledge that your pet may gain weight after spaying or neutering as a reason to be paying attention and be proactive in preventing weight gain. As everyone knows, it is much easier to keep the weight off than it is to take the weight off.
Most of the time the reason for obesity is straightforward: The animal is taking in more calories than it is using. The way to counteract that problem is also straightforward in theory: On one side you can reduce the number of calories taken in by giving less food or lower calorie food, or both. On the other side you use up more calories used by increasing exercise. To make this equation even easier it is (usually) helpful that the family members with opposable thumbs have exclusive control over who gets fed what. I recommend using a kitchen measuring cup to parcel out the food so that you know exactly what volume of food you are delivering and can then modify that amount in a measurable way if needed. Most pet food bags make recommendations in cups for what volume to feed an animal per day. It is not unreasonable to use that information as a general guide, but keep in mind that a pet food company’s job is to sell you more pet food, so they tend to estimate on the high side. Your pet’s individual metabolism may be faster or slower than most, so you may need to adjust volume based on your pet’s particular needs. If your pet is overweight you should be feeding the amount recommended for its ideal weight, not the current weight. Your veterinarian can help you get an estimate for what an ideal weight should be for your pet.
Well that’s easy isn’t it. Eat less food, get more exercise and all will be right with the world. When someone blithely twitters off that truism and then walks away like they just solved the problem with a simple wave of the hand I get a little irritated. I want to say “You don’t understand. I have this situation that makes it impossible for me to do that for my pet.” If it were easy then everyone and their pet would be an ideal weight, so next time let’s look at some of the reasons why getting our pets to lose weight is difficult and some strategies to try to increase our rate of success.
