How fat is too fat?This can be pretty hard to judge in less extreme cases and that’s where vets and vet nurses come in as professionals who can guide, advise and help you, a responsible pet owner who is trying to do their best for their cherished cat or dog. Although weight itself is of course measured on a continuum, the health implications for a slightly overweight pet are minimal, conversely for an obese animal they are very serious.

We use a body condition scoring system at the clinic, giving a value from 1 to 7, increasing as condition increases, 4 being ideal. All ideal weight pets should exhibit a narrowing of width at the “waist”, not have fatty lumping over the hips and should have a minimal layer of fat over the ribs, just showing the outline of the chest but not each individual rib. If your pet is casting a slightly larger than ideal shadow then get active in controlling the type (calorie density) and volume of foods they get from now on.

Seek advice from your local animal health experts regarding low calorie diets and optimum exercise levels, we are here to help you. Nip things in the bud early before weight related issues have a chance to rear their pudgy heads.

Data shows between 30 and 40% of our nation’s pets are now overweight, and that figure is rising.

For a smaller proportion of these pets we are talking about genuine pet obesity, about disease, about decay, about accelerated death of a loved one. Obesity is beginning to seriously affect our country’s cat and dog population and our heavy pets are living up to two years less as a result (12 to 14 “human” years extrapolated out). We are responsible for this. After all we, the humans, the owners, the servants are in control of what goes into our pets’ mouth.

But it’s not just about how long they live, it’s about whether they can enjoy their lives too. Being overweight reduces activity levels, (a real problem in cats which average 16 hours sleep daily anyway, the sleepiest of all mammals) and creates serious health disorders. I mean check out this list.

Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes mellitus, skin disease, hepatic lipidosis, and lameness, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, feline lower urinary tract disease, anaesthetic reactions, dyspnoea, Pickwickian syndrome, exercise intolerance, heat intolerance, impaired immune function, exacerbation of degenerative joint disorders and other dermatological conditions.  I’m exhausted just writing that.

As pet owners we need to control our pets’ diets, just as we’d control our own. Be wary of pet foods that promote palatability over health. Pets enjoy the taste of high-fat, salty foods which they obviously don’t know are bad for them, the hamburgers of the pet food world. Read the labels.

Animals which are overweight should be put on a reduced calorie diet and encouraged to gradually increase their exercise.  We live in a society that’s becoming increasingly time-poor and too often our pets, particularly dogs (less able to self-exercise than cats) are the ones that suffer.

Ideally, all healthy dogs should be getting 60 minutes of proper exercise off the property each day for both mental and physical wellbeing (running around in the back yard doesn’t count). Put the time in, think before you feed, turn back the fat tide.