Let’s face it – we’re all a little guilty of overindulging our pets from time to time. After all, when we’re cooking and they look up at us with their little sad faces, it’s almost impossible to resist from giving them a handful or two of our food.
However, these habits we seem to have gotten into could actually be having a really negative impact on our pets’ health. Pet obesity is a naturally growing concern – in the UK alone in 2012, approximately 53% of our dogs and 55% of our cats are overweight or obese. This problem is only getting worse.
But what’s the problem?
Like humans, our animals can suffer from a wide range of medical conditions due to being overweight or obese. They can include anything from joint problems, to heart disease and diabetes. These disorders may also go untreated for a long time if the owner is unaware of the signs or symptoms.
So, how do we know if our pets are overweight?
There are many different ways in which you can tell whether your pet is overweight or not. You could simply use pet scales to measure the animal’s weight and then calculate their BMI and see whether it is healthy for their size, age and breed. You could also go to the vet’s who will be able to determine this for you.
What can we do about it?
If you have identified a problem with your pet’s weight, it should hopefully not be too late to do something about it. A good idea is to first identify explanations for why or how your pet is gaining so much weight. In general, it’s usually thanks to over-feeding, excessive treats and poor-quality pet foods. Therefore, try switching their food to a better brand, perhaps one that has food specifically tailored to tackle pet obesity, like ones offered in the royal canin range.
Also think about other eating habits that your pet has that could do with a rethink. As briefly mentioned before, avoid the temptation of giving your pet scraps with each meal that you eat, as these calories can build up quicker than you think. It’s also perfectly fine to give your pets treats, but you may want to look for healthier alternatives to the ones you are currently giving them. For example, a standard sized dog treat fed to a 20 lb dog is equivalent to a human eating two large cookies. Whilst this is fine on occasion, it should hopefully make you refrain from giving them one after the other.
Instead of regular dog treats, look into ones that are much healthier for your dog, who will be just as likely to love them as much as the old ones. You could even get creative and make your own healthy dog treats!
What about exercise?
As well as a good, balanced diet, a sufficient amount of daily exercise is required to get your pet back into shape. Encourage them to get moving by talking dogs on walks to their favourite spots, or for your cat, draw on their natural hunting instincts by playing with them with mouse and bird toys to get them excited and raring to go.
Laura is a freelance writer with a degree in English and Creative Writing
