Obesity in Pets – Part I
By Dr. Moira Drosdovech

Are you the guardian of a canine couch potato or a cat whose belly hits the floor as they waddle to their food bowl and back to their favorite sleeping place? Does it seem like no matter what food you try, you cannot get that extra weight off? It can be especially hard to stick to that recommended diet food when they look at you with those sorrowful eyes, perhaps a little drool leaking from their mouth. Or how about when your cat jumps like a ton of bricks onto your chest in the wee hours of morning, a gentle reminder that they are not happy with being “cut off”.

By far, obesity is the number one nutritional problem that small animal veterinarians see. Close to 30% of pets in North America are considered to be obese with many more that are just overweight. Pets actually should have a “waist” from both the top view and the side view. Square pets are not in good condition! Overweight pets have the same health risks as do overweight people for developing conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, liver problems, constipation and others.

If we use the example of an average Cocker Spaniel, a breed of dog that typically weighs 25 pounds, and put an extra 5 pounds on its frame, we have an obese dog. We are only talking 5 pounds over the ideal weight, but 5 of 25 equals 20%! This is equivalent to a person whose ideal weight is 150 pounds and they tip the scales at 180. Not good.

Why is this phenomenon increasingly happening in our pet population and what can you do about a pet that is just too fat? Well, overfeeding of inappropriate diets plays the biggest role. There are also certain medical conditions that predispose a pet to obesity, such as hypothyroidism (low thyroid), but these are nowhere near as common as people just giving in to those begging eyes and persistent meows. Lack of exercise is also a huge factor for obvious reasons, but even animals that exercise minimally can be kept slim by feeding less calories.

Whatever energy your pet consumes in the form of food, they must use. The excess will be stored for a rainy day, which for most never arrives. Fairly simple math. So what exactly is it that we are overfeeding, even when we are restricting their intake? Proteins? Fats? Carbohydrates? All 3 of these are required, but I am going to pick on carbohydrates.

Most people think that fat creates obesity. There are bad fats and good fats. Anyone who has read Udo Erasmus’ book “Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill” will already know that good fats themselves do not contribute much to obesity. Bad fats, on the other hand, cause harm by their toxic nature. It is the excess Carbohydrates consumed that are to blame for excess storage of fat. As Udo says, you either burn them or wear them!

This brings us to the pet foods that most people consider adequate- dry kibble foods. Dry foods are by their very nature based mainly on grain. Grains contain protein, but are mainly carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are fattening if not burned. Are you beginning to get the picture? If you look at the list of ingredients on the bag of pet food in your pantry, of the top 5 ingredients, there are usually 3 grain products. On a dry matter basis, which is taking the moisture content down to zero, grain probably makes up for well over 50% of the nutrition in most bags of dry food. Dogs and cats are not grain-eating ruminants, they are carnivores and should be fed according to that classification.

Stay tuned for an upcoming issue to discuss more about the carbohydrates in pet foods and problems they may be causing as well as some dietary solutions to help you slim down your pets.

By Dr. Moira Drosdovech

From Part I of Obesity in pets, we’ll remember that overfeeding is the most common reason for obesity in animals and is an easy thing to do when you feed grain-based dry foods which are high in carbohydrates. More and more, there are dry foods becoming available that contain no grain and use a starch source such as potato instead. These may potentially be a better choice for “Chunky Charlie”. For example, Timberwolf Organics and Innova EVO are two foods that follow this philosophy in their choice of starch quantity and type.

It is easy to forget about the fact that dry foods contain very little moisture. In order to bring it to the moisture level of non-dehydrated food, we would have to add almost a cup of water to every cup of dry food. That means that you are really feeding 2 cups of “food” to your 12 pound cat when you scoop 1 cup into his bowl every day. If you weigh 150 pounds, that would be equivalent to you eating 24 cups of the moistened product every day. You might get fat too!

In order to lose weight, most pets should be on a diet that has very low levels of grain or none at all. An option for the obese pet is to completely stay away from dry food, at least until the weight is back to the ideal. And that includes all of the “diet low calorie” foods in addition to the milk biscuits and any other dry baked treats that have grain in them. For every VitaBone your dog eats, that would be equivalent to you eating several slices of bread!

So what to feed instead? Well, a good quality canned diet may be okay or restricted amounts of low carbohydrate dry food, but perhaps even better is a raw natural diet customized for your pet. While not for everybody, or for every pet, raw diets have increasingly shown themselves to be extremely beneficial for a large number of pets with a wide range of problems. If your pet is doing fine on a dry diet and is in good condition, then perhaps the only thing that needs changing is to include a variety of dry diets and some fresh veggies and fruit added in. But if they have compromising health problems, including obesity, the raw way is worth checking in to.

On average, a pet can lose 10-15% of their body weight over a 3-4 month period. So we would not expect 50 pound “Charlie” to lose 10 pounds in two months. That is too much too fast. Regular weigh-ins to keep tabs on weight changes are beneficial for both owners and pets. It is always encouraging to see even small yet steady losses. What is even better is seeing the change in the attitude and energy levels of previously obese pets. That alone is worth it. A common client comment is “My dog is like a new dog!”

With canned, dry or raw diets, the pet must have something to gnaw on to help keep their teeth sparkling white and free of tartar. A common misconception amongst pet owners is that dry diets act as “toothbrushes”. This is a myth which, if true, would mean vets would rarely have any teeth to clean. But, the fact of the matter is that teeth cleaning accounts for a significant percentage of veterinary surgical procedures. Anyone ever watching a dog eat kibble will see that most just wolf it down, bypassing the teeth completely! What does keep teeth clean is gnawing on good quality chews and crunching on raw bones (never cooked). Even cats will chew through a raw wing tip or other poultry part if encouraged.