Dr Helen Sheard BVSc MVM – Companion Animal Veterinarian
Obesity is predominantly related to an imbalance of energy – too many calories consumed and not enough calories burned through exercise.
But there are also other contributing factors to take into account such as the pet owner’s perception of ideal body condition; medical ailments such as arthritis; age, sex, breed predisposition; and whether or not your pet is desexed (desexing does not make your pet fat, however, neutered pets have a lower energy requirement than those that are geared up for reproducing, so don’t need to be fed as much).
As with people, obesity can have a serious impact on general health. Obese pets are more at risk of heart disease, breathing difficulty, diabetes and joint pain. Joint pain is not only limited to the weight-bearing joints either. Fat produces a compound called leptin that causes inflammation in any joint of the body. If the joint pain is left untreated, your pet will lie around more and unless food intake is addressed, they will continue to pile on more weight. Truly a vicious cycle!
In extreme cases, your pet may not even be able to get up to go to the toilet in time, leading to apparent incontinence.
Unfortunately, many owners have a mindset of ‘he loves to eat, it makes him happy!’ or ‘it doesn’t matter that he’s overweight, all he does is lie around anyway.’ Because becoming overweight is a gradual process, we often confuse it with ‘getting older’ and forget what they used to be like.
I am guilty of this myself! My huntaway Jack started to slow down. He had some hock arthritis and was getting close to 10 years old. We had a new baby in the house, he was getting walked less and a lot of baby food was ‘falling’ into his mouth. I was horrified when I weighed him at work to find instead of 28kg he was 37kg.
This was a 32% increase in his bodyweight!
Because Jack also had arthritis, he was on pain relief and I started him on a special Metabolic and Mobility diet. This is a prescription diet that has been formulated to help the body better adapt to the nutrients that are supplied and utilise the functional food more appropriately. This not only aids in weight loss but also provides resistance to REgaining weight. It is combined with a joint support diet to cater to the large group of overweight dogs that also suffer from arthritis.
Over 3 months, Jack lost 7kg, and is playing with our other dog and has all his old energy back!
I felt so guilty that I had let him get to that state where he was obviously in pain and unhappy, but it was a real eye-opener as to how easy it can be to assume old age is catching up with them.
