Fit or fat? No, not you—the dog or cat

Even if your resolve to exercise and eat healthier in 2009 vanished somewhere between the New Year’s champagne and Twelfth Night kingcake, January’s still the perfect time to assess and improve the fitness of your furry friends. While chemical poisoning, second-hand smoke and traumatic injuries from cars or other urban perils can be life threatening, the fastest-growing, man-made threat to pets is obesity.

“Louisiana is the state that is No. 1 in the country for health problems due to obesity, and that obesity carries over to cats and dogs,” says Susan Eddlestone, DVM, associate professor of Small Animal Medicine at LSU. “People think their pets need to eat what they (the owners) eat. They are setting their animals up to be at risk of health problems (the pets) would not experience otherwise. Their pets live a shorter lifespan because of the problems they are predisposed to when they are overweight.”

Determining whether a pet is obese is quick and simple. Since the averaged size cat weighs eight to 12 pounds, Eddlestone says, anything heavier signals cause for concern. Dog owners don’t even need a scale. When owners run their hands down the dog’s body from shoulders to the hips, they should feel individual ribs under a sheath of tissue. “If you can’t distinguish any ribs,” she says, “there is a problem.”

Obesity and weight loss in people and pets involves many of the same issues. However, there is one critical difference: If an obese person loses a significant amount of weight, related health problems may subside. Once an animal develops obesity-related health problems, the damage is frequently irreversible, and the owner must manage the condition for the pet’s life.

Obese pets are more likely to develop the following conditions:

Arthritis: Excess weight in obese dogs wears down knee joints and ruptures ligaments; in cats, arthritis develops primarily in the back, making movement very difficult and painful. Adding to the misery, veterinary surgeons are reluctant to operate on obese animals because:

• without weight loss, the injury is certain to recur,

• fatty, slippery vessels make surgery technically difficult and

• the poor general health of an obese animal increases the risk of complications from surgery and anesthesia.

Diabetes mellitus: Later in life, obese healthy dogs and cats are likely to acquire type 2 diabetes, which prevents cells from efficiently absorbing and using food energy, and require insulin injections. With a good diet and exercise regimen, humans with late-onset diabetes may regain control their blood sugar and forego insulin injections. However, animals with type 2 diabetes remain insulin-dependent for life.

Heart disease: While obesity contributes to arterial blockage in people and pets, obese dogs have an increased chance of throwing blood clots that result in stroke and permanent neurological damage.

Ketosis: Cats can develop a fatty liver, which can lead to starvation under stress. For example, if an obese cat won’t eat when she is boarded at a kennel, the extra fat in her body may break down too quickly. The ketones (which break down fats for energy) become toxic and cause liver failure and other problems.

Pancreatitis: Inflammation of the pancreas is the most common ailment that brings dogs to LSU small animal clinic. Severe pancreatitis can culminate in shock, which must be treated urgently and may result in long-lasting health problems. In nearly half of all dogs treated at LSU, the illness results from poor diet.

Skin infections: Obese cats can’t groom themselves well, which results in painful mats or skin infections.

While many of the severe complications of obesity can be managed or treated, owners can avoid the extra effort, expense and anxiety by preventing the illnesses.

Although determining whether a pet is obese does not require a veterinary degree, the treatment should. Before starting a pet on any weight loss program, vets should examine and screen pets for other conditions that cause excessive weight gain including pregnancy, cancer, hypothyroidism, hypertension, heart failure and Cushing’s disease, which weakens abdominal muscles and enlarges the liver.

Even if obesity is the culprit, Eddlestone says, “(Pets) need to lose weight scientifically. Owners think if they buy diet food, the problem is solved; but, then, they compensate by increasing the portion.”

Veterinarians typically tally the number of calories the obese dog consumes—including treats and table food—and cut the intake in half. To lose weight, most dogs need short-term, low-fat, high-fiber prescription diet, replacement of treats and table food with carrots, green beans and low-cal biscuits and at least an hour of exercise daily. After two months on a prescription plan, vets transition the dog to a long-term, more nutritionally dense, maintenance formula, such as Science Diet’s W/D.

While table food may be downfall for pudgy pugs, cat treats’ hidden calories and salt bear responsibility for many a tubby tabby. To reform a reckless ragdoll or other breed, Eddlestone advises a 25% reduction in calories. “Even though it may take longer for [cats] to lose the weight, it is safer than a more drastic plan.” Enticing an obese cat to exercise is a literally a losing battle. However, Eddlestone experience shows cats become more active as they gradually shed pounds on the diet.

Because pets’ obesity problem originates with their owners, so does the solution. Since humans are in charge of the animals’ food, the same problems that sabotage humans’ willpower also bedevil animals’ weight loss.

Over the years, vets have come to recognize the key to pets’ successful weight management is the owners’ morale. “[Weight loss] is an emotional thing for people to go through with their pets,” Eddlestone explains. “Some people know how much the pet needs to eat per day. It’s still important for pets to come in every two weeks, so the owners see progress and don’t lose motivation.”

Click here for this week’s Creature Feature.