Obesity
My-Dog.info > Dogs, Diet & Food
Obesity is one of the most common nutritional medical
disorders affecting companion animals, with approximately 24-40%
of pets being classified as overweight. Obesity is defined as an
increase of over 20% above the optimum body weight. Reasons for
this include a more confined and sedentary lifestyle for pets,
availability of highly-palatable, energy dense pet foods and
treats, and a strong human-animal bond which leads to overfeeding
and snacking.
The fundamental cause of obesity is excess of caloric intake
over energy depletion with the surplus being stored as fat. There
are many factors which affect this balance, including age, breed,
sex, hormonal abnormalities, as well as external factors such as
lifestyle, diet formulation and intake.
Hound breeds, Cocker Spaniels, Labradors and Shelties are some
of the more common breeds affected. Neutered females, dogs older
than 4 years of age and pets belonging to obese owners are more
prone to excess weight gain.
The risk of certain health problems increases with obesity, as
well as an aggravation of existing clinical disease, such as
arthritis and respiratory disease.
Weight reduction can be achieved by lowering of energy intake,
coupled with correction of concurrent medical conditions.
Increased exercise is critical, but can be impractical in cats or
difficult due to owners' lifestyles. Very often behavioural
modification techniques are necessary to eliminate inappropriate
behaviour such as begging. For any weight reduction program to be
successful, an owner must first acknowledge that a problem exists
and then be committed to its correction.
Calorie reduction in dogs can be quite dramatic, utilizing
complete starvation (not recommended in cats due to the
possibility of precipitating hepatic lipidosis). This is likely
to be unacceptable to owners, would require vitamin/mineral
supplementation, and result in an unwanted loss in lean body
mass. Moderate weight loss can be achieved by feeding 10-20%
fewer calories through less volume of regular food. Restricting
calories also restricts protein, vitamins and minerals. However,
most pet foods contain sufficient excesses for this degree of
calorie restriction.
With grossly obese or less dedicated owners, a more severe
caloric restriction may be necessary. Diets which have a more
severe restriction of calories (25% or greater) must be specially
formulated and fortified to avoid nutritional imbalances. Diet
restriction must be introduced cautiously in obese cats as they
can often only tolerate moderate caloric restriction.
Furthermore, many low calorie/weight reduction diets may be
unpalatable to some cats. It is important to ensure that the cat
does, in fact, eat the diet when it is first introduced.
With the aid of a number of computer programs or nutritional
texts, the daily caloric requirements of the pet can be
calculated and the appropriate amount of a specific food
prescribed by the veterinarian. The principle in all therapeutic
diets is to offer a reduced energy density coupled with a
compensatory supplementation of protein, vitamins and minerals. A
number of different formulations used by different manufacturers
and the most effective has not been established. Some foods offer
a lower fat content coupled with higher levels of complex
carbohydrate which not only lowers energy density but adheres to
the concept that fat is more efficiently laid down as adipose
tissue than carbohydrate. Other foods which are low in fat,
coupled with high levels of indigestible fibre, rely in part on
an earlier feeling of satiety to limit food intake. However,
stool volume and palatability may be adversely affected.
Alternative bulking methods involve higher water content in
canned foods and higher air content of dry foods.
As most dogs and cats will eat to meet their daily caloric
requirements, calorie restriction remains the essence of
successful weight loss. Although most cases of obesity can be
corrected with proper owner compliance, early pet owner education
remains the best preventative measure. Overfeeding puppies and
kittens may lead to an excess production of fat cells and a
tendency to being overweight later in life, In puppies,
overfeeding may also accelerate the growth rate, which in certain
breeds may increase any predisposition to certain skeletal
diseases. Young pets should be fed an appropriate daily amount of
a balanced food with a caloric density that will result in normal
growth rates and lean body condition. For most adult pets,
avoidance of free choice feeding and poor behavioural habits
(e.g. begging), and regular exercise will provide a successful
approach to the prevention of obesity.
Reprinted with permission from www.animalhealthcare.ca
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