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My Pet World: Obese and overweight pets need our help

By Steve Dale, Tribune Content Agency on

As our love for our pets has grown, so have the pets themselves. An estimated 52.6 percent of U.S. dogs are overweight or obese, and 57.6 percent of U.S. cats are overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP).

Many veterinarians say the problem has become an epidemic -- just as human health health care workers and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refer to the fact that 69 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.

Another similarity: According to the American Medical Association, many people who are overweight don't seem to realize it. Likewise, based on an APOP survey, there's a "fat pet gap," with 90-95 percent of owners with obese dogs or cats identifying their pets as "normal" weight.

Many of the consequences of being overweight/obese are the same for pets and people, including possible early onset of osteoarthritis and increased risk of some types of cancers. Diabetes in another illness common among overweight people, and while on the rise in dogs, it's now out of control in cats.

A recent study found that overall, obese people have a 20 percent elevated risk of depression, according to the Obesity Action Coalition. Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall, of Philadelphia, PA, suggests that some obese dogs and cats are also clinically depressed, since all they ever do is take a brief jaunt in the yard to do their business or use the litter box, then eat, sleep and eat some more.

That's hardly an ideal life for cats, since they're hard wired with a prey drive to stalk, pounce and catch prey. Real mice aren't required to activate the prey drive, though; a toy mouse or ball does the trick just fine.

 

Dogs are all bred to do a job, but their unemployment rate is rising. Today, many can barely jump off the sofa, let alone chase a ball, herd sheep, work in the field, or assist a hunter.

Though dogs and cat may be depressed, they don't lack love. It could be argued that we're loving them to death! According to the Nestle Purina Life Span Study, maintaining a dog's lean body condition (the appropriate weight for an individual dog) extended median life span by 15 percent. This is probably true for cats, too.

There are many explanations for the problem of overweight pets, some of which also apply to people.

Culturally, Americans seem to equate food with love. From the time they're young, we reward dogs and cats with food (appropriate for positive reinforcement training, but you can go too far). We liberally dole out heavily marketed manufactured treats.

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