Photo from fatcat.com
Obesity, a heavy topic, no pun intended.
Many Americans are fighting this disease today; however, did you realize so are many of our pets? Hmmm…. Now that you mention it, well, I haven’t weighed my pet lately. Sounds like not only do people really need to monitor diet and exercise, now we also must be getting serious about our pets.
This Wednesday, October 8, 2014, promotes National Pet Obesity Awareness Day. According to (APOP) Association for Pet Obesity Prevention recent research documents more than half of cats and dogs are overweight or obese. Findings report 87.6% of cats being obese or overweight and dogs coming along closely behind at 52.6%. Do you also find those statistics alarming?
Photo from the Poodle (and the dog) blog
How does obesity negatively affect our cats and dogs? Obesity is considered a disease, yet the health conditions associated with it in pets include osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, various types of cancer, and certainly a reduced life expectancy. What’s amazing is that so many of us don’t realize our pets are obese. We are simply feeding them more and more marketed treats, yet don’t give them the proper portions of their food and/or often times the exercise they need.
If you love your pet, think about this topic. Based on the breed of your pet, it’s easy to research on the internet and learn the ideal weight range. For example, a domestic cat’s healthy weight range is between 8-10 lbs., a persian cat’s range goes from 7-12 lbs., while a maine coon cat goes from 10-25 lbs. Three examples healthy weight for dogs include: a yorkshire terrier’s healthy weight falls at 7 lbs. or less, a golden retriever at 65-75 lbs., and a bulldog about 40-50 lbs. Choosing to help our pets stay within the healthy range only helps promote them to live a longer life with less medical issues down the road. Since doing this research, I weighed my cat. I can rest a little better now; she’s a healthy weight. Since we all love our pets, let’s work to keep them with us longer and we all can have more fun.
