Feed your pet accordingly

Just like people have problems achieving and maintaining that healthy weight goal, most pets do, as well.
And just like people can be predisposed to certain diseases because of their weight or the distribution of fats on their body, pets can be, too.
When it comes to overweight or obese pets, the largest indication is the rib covering and the body shape of the pet from an overhead view.
For both cats and dogs, the best way to check whether your pet has a healthy weight is to conduct a body condition score.
Place your pet underneath you on all four legs, then examine the shape of your pet. When they turn their body, can you see the traces of the last few ribs? Does he or she have a distinctive hourglass shape?
If the answers to these questions are no, then your pet may be obese (be careful to factor in the shape of the hair or fur, as well).
Dr. Dan Pierroz, with the Nor-West Animal Clinic here, said the ideal body shape for a pet is to have a little bit of fat covering over the ribs.
Not so much that you can’t feel the ribs and not so little that the ribs protrude, but you should be able to feel the ribs fairly easily through the covering.
Furthermore, your pet should slim down over the pelvic area and should have little fat on the rear.
If your pet is overweight, Dr. Pierroz said health problems ranging from diabetes to heart issues and joint problems may develop.
Causes of weight gain are similar to those in humans. Under-active thyroid problems, over-eating, eating unhealthy and/or improper foods, and a lack of exercise all can contribute to packing on unwanted pounds.
Dr. Pierroz explained there are foods that correspond to every life stage your pet goes through and, as the owner, you should really pay attention to matching the proper food to your pet’s stage.
According to a chart hanging in the veterinarian’s office, a pet only should be on puppy or kitten food until the age of one. After that, pets are considered adults until the age of six.
Upon reaching the age of seven and older, they are considered mature adults.
Dr. Pierroz said if you are not feeding your pet accordingly, “there is a real problem there.”
“You can’t feed an adult dog puppy food because they won’t be getting the right nutrients,” he stressed.
If your pet is overweight, you should first look at their eating habits. Ask yourself how much table food your pet is receiving or how many treats you are rewarding them with.
“Treats are often very high in calories,” Dr. Pierroz warned.
Next he suggested you should look into their disease history.
“Dogs, in particular, have a low thyroid function which will cause them to be overweight, and it will be very difficult to take weight off until you treat the thyroid issue,” he explained.
Once you’ve ruled out a disease, the next step is to put your pet on a diet and see that it gets more exercise, though Dr. Pierroz urged pet owners to steer clear of excessive exercise.
“With exercise, the biggest thing I always find is just consistency,” he noted. “So exercise every day or every two days.
“A big dog may walk three or four miles where a little dog may only walk a few blocks,” he added.
“And you are going to have to start out slow, particularly if your dog is only active on weekends—that is not good for the joints.
“You really want to start out with shorter distance and consistency [in exercise periods] to avoid joint issues,” Dr. Pierroz said. “Your dog will tell you when they are getting tired.”
When it comes to dieting, avoid the crash diets that don’t work on humans, either. Rather, Dr. Pierroz encourages pet owners to perhaps conduct a light diet, with a weight loss goal of half-a-pound to three-quarters of a pound a month.
“If you cut back [their food intake] and you cut back too much, you may find that they will actually gain weight . . . a better ingredient food would actually be ideal for weight reduction for your pet,” he explained.
Just like in people, pets also have the issue of being underweight, too.
“It is probably far worse to be overweight because it predisposes [your pet] to other medical issues like heart problems, diabetes, joint issues, and a whole bunch of things while the underweight pet is only a concern if there’s a problem with parasites or heart worm,” Dr. Pierroz said.
“Often they just have a really high metabolic rate and in that case, you just need to increase the food intake,” he noted.
Most of the underweight issues come from medical problems that are able to be addressed or corrected simply, such as an overactive thyroid issue.
An overweight problem, on the other hand, is lifestyle issue which can cause more serious problems in the long run. This issue, as a whole, also is much more difficult to address.
Dr. Pierroz called this a “kindness disease.” He’s noticed owners often will feed their pets table food and excessive treats out of kindness, and that this is a major contributing factor to their weight gain.
“Say 30 percent of the human population is overweight, then 30 percent of the pet population will usually also be overweight,” he remarked. “Sometimes it is because they are genuinely being fed the wrong types of foods, but often it is because of kindness.”
“You know, sometimes that owner will be feeding them something special to be nice, but at the end of the day they are really harming their pet more than anything,” echoed Calli Thompson, the summer intern currently working under Dr. Pierroz at the clinic.
“You don’t want to feel guilty about not giving them all these treats. But if you are going to give them more treats, then limit the amount of food they are getting,” suggested Dr. Pierroz.
Thompson also encouraged people to feed their pet, not just according to their life stage, but according to their lifestyle, as well.
“You know, if [your dog] is working hard, maybe herding cattle, then feed them based on their job,” she said. “They will need a lot more food—a higher caloric intake—whereas a household pet who’s not outside chasing cattle six or seven hours a day will not need such a high caloric intake of food.
“They should probably both be on a different amount of food, and probably even a different type of food based on the nutrients that they need more.
“Just like an athlete probably eats a lot different from you or I, it’s very much the same in the dog world and the cat world,” she remarked.