Animal Weight Watchers

5 Steps to a Healthier Pet Dr. Lynne Ricketts In this issue A Message From Dr. Crowley Read the article. Animal Weight Watchers: 5 Steps to a Healthier Pet Cat Safety: Top Reasons to Keep Your Cat Indoors In Memorium News Archives As many of you know, in January I attended the North American Veterinary Conference in Florida. Not only did I escape the frigid New England winter for a few days, but I also attended many great lectures on subjects ranging from geriatric medicine to infectious diseases and the latest cancer treatments. The conference was overflowing with new information on various treatment options, diagnostic techniques and reviews of not-yet-published studies. Over the course of the five-day conference, one recurrent theme kept popping up: the role body weight plays in the development and progression of disease. In diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and especially arthritis, a pet's weight plays a major role. A recently published paper followed seven litters of puppies over their lifetime. Half of the dogs were fed a restricted diet, while the other half were fed ad libitum. The free-fed dogs became mildly overweight, but were not obese. Over the 14-year study, the overweight dogs developed arthritis and hip problems at a much younger age and to a greater severity than the leaner dogs. The overweight dogs also died at a younger age. The median lifespan of the restricted diet fed dogs was 2 years longer! There were no obese dogs in the study. Your veterinarian can help you monitor your pet's weight and set realistic goals. Your pet should have a visible waist with an "abdominal tuck" and the ribs should be felt easily. If your pet starts to look too round, bring him/her in for a weight check! It may be time to re-evaluate their feeding patterns. Some people fear that spaying or neutering predisposes a pet to obesity. This is not true. Weight depends primarily on metabolism, which usually slows down around 6 months of age when the rapid growth of puppy/kittenhood starts to slow, regardless of neutering. This is an important time to closely monitor your pet's weight. A slower metabolism means that fewer calories are needed. The bottom-line is that keeping our pet's weight under control is the easiest thing we can do to help them attain a longer and healthier life. What can we do to help our pets lose weight or prevent them from becoming overweight? Measure the food By actually using a measuring cup (a coffee can does not equal one cup!) to measure the amount of food you feed your dog or cat, you will be consistent in your feedings and can easily adjust the amount fed depending on how your pet is doing. You don't necessarily have to feed your dog or cat a weight-control formula food. It's more important to have them on a good quality food and feed them the right amount. (See Nutrition link.) Input equals output When temperatures drop below zero, we barely want to walk to the car let alone take Fluffy to the park for a 30-minute play session. Just remember that when the amount of exercise decreases, the amount of caloric intake must also decrease. Healthy treats Substitute crunchy vegetables as treats rather than milkbones. Keep in mind that healthy people foods (carrots, beans, peas) are healthy pet foods. And unhealthy people foods (ice cream, cheese, hot dogs) are unhealthy pet foods. Frequent weight checks You are welcome to stop by the clinic and use our walk-on scale for a weight check. Or you can use a bathroom scale for small dogs and cats to keep track of your progress. Exercise routine Try to make dogwalks part of your daily routine rather than just a weekend treat. And even though cats are much too dignified to exert themselves more than necessary, they need exercise, too! Try engaging your kitty in play by throwing toy mice and dangling feathers.