11/19/2023 0 Comments Rapid weight loss in dog treatmentThe liver becomes infiltrated with fat and then fails. Unfortunately, the cat’s liver was not designed to process a large amount of body fat. When an overweight cat goes off food or partially off food because of illness or psychological stress, body fat is mobilized to provide calories. Weight management is especially important in decreasing a cat’s risk for the development of diabetes mellitus. In fact, obese cats have been found to have a 50% decrease in insulin sensitivity. The pet also overheats more easily.Įxtra body fat leads to insulin resistance in cats just as it does in humans. Areas of the lung cannot fully inflate, so coughing results. The problem is compounded as joint pain leads to poorer mobility, which in turn leads to greater obesity.Įxtra fat forms a constricting jacket around the chest, making the pet less able to take deep breaths as more work is required to move the respiratory muscles. Weight management alone decreases and can even eliminate the need for arthritis medications. There are numerous health and quality of life concerns that obese animals must contend with while they are not enjoying their treats and table scraps:Įxtra unneeded stress on joints, including the discs of the vertebrae, leads to the progression of joint degeneration and creates more pain. While this might on some level makes sense (after all, a pet munching on a treat is certainly getting a great deal of satisfaction from doing so), the other consequences do not make for higher life quality in the big picture. A common justification for over-feeding treats is that a pet deserves a higher quality of life as a trade off for longevity. If your pet is overweight or obese – that is, 20 percent over ideal body weight – then he or she has a serious medical condition that needs to be addressed. It should be possible to feel the ribs without using pressure and there should be a small tuck up in the belly where the hind legs meet the body. To evaluate your pet, feel for a small amount of padding over the ribs. On a 5 point scale a pet is considered obese when they are >4/5. In a standard scoring system where 1 is emaciated/thin and 9 is morbidly obese, a pet is defined as overweight when scoring 6-7/9 and is obese when scoring >7/9 on the scale. There are two scoring systems: a five-point system (three out of five is optimal) and a nine-point system (where four to five out of nine is optimal). To assist in this evaluation, and remove some of the guess work, body condition scoring has been developed and is fairly easy to accomplish. Sometimes it is hard to recognize that your pet is overweight as the weight gain occurs gradually or it is hard to admit that your pet has more than just a bit chubby and is now fully obese. The best way to prevent your pet’s obesity is to feed appropriate amounts of a high-quality, balanced pet food with an appropriate exercise program. Obesity is a disease and should be treated – it lowers your pet’s quality of life, and increases your pet’s likelihood of contracting other health conditions. In Canada’s Pet Wellness Report (published in 2011), Canadian veterinarians identified weight control/management as the number one thing a pet owner can do to increase the length of their pet’s life. Short-nosed breeds like bulldogs and pugs can also develop breathing conditions due to their anatomy if their weight is not properly managed and monitored. This condition is linked to numerous other diseases, including arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. The clinical definition of obesity is over 20% body fat. The rate of overweight and obese pets – about 1 in 4 dogs and 1 in 3 cats – has reached epidemic levels in the USA and Canada.
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