“Obesity is considered one of the most common nutritional problems in cats and dogs,” two scientists from the University of California, Davis, reported last year at the Waltham International Nutritional Sciences Symposium in Washington. “Studies in Western Europe and the United States have indicated that more than 24 percent of dogs and about 25 percent of domestic cats are obese,” the veterinarians, Jon J. Ramsey and Kevork Hagopian, noted. The findings were published this month in The Journal of Nutrition.
Not surprisingly, one study found a strong correlation between excess weight in pet owners and in their pets. Still, there are many normal-weight pet owners with dogs or cats that are dangerously overweight.
Studying Obesity Abroad
For example, while many (though clearly not all) French women may be slim, their dogs often are not. A team from Maisons-Alfort, France, found that among a “healthy population” of 616 dogs that attended a vaccination clinic, 38.8 percent were overweight, including 5 percent that were obese.
Another team, Paul Trayhurn, Chen Bing and I. Stuart Wood, obesity specialists from the University of Liverpool, said, “Although the focus remains very much on obesity in humans, the disorder and its sequelae are also a growing concern in companion animals,” they added.
Lest you think your overweight pet is merely cute, the consequences are not. The list of health problems, like those that can afflict overweight and obese humans, is long indeed and can render your beloved pet old — or dead —before its time.
In most cases, dogs and cats are classified as overweight when their body weight is 15 percent above what is deemed “optimal” for their breed, and they are considered obese when their weight exceeds 30 percent above optimal.
Just as mothers have been shown to underestimate excess weight and obesity in their children, researchers have found that pet owners are notoriously poor at assessing their pets’ weight problems. “My dog isn’t fat; he just has a lot of fur” is an all-too-common response when owners are accused of overfeeding their pets.
The French researchers, for example, found that owners chronically underestimated their dogs’ “body composition” when compared with the veterinarian’s assessment.
Before you feed your pet another treat or table scrap, stop and think, “Are you really doing your pet a favor?” Consider the potential consequences of overfeeding and the resulting excess weight that is bound to accumulate.
