admin     2013年4月1日 22:18

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Author: Dr Gong Guohua, Shanghai Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, senior veterinary officer

As pets grow older and their metabolism slows, the owner will give more attention to their senior pets: pets tend to eat better and exercise less, leading to an increasing trend of obese dogs which will bring a lot of health problems.

1. 1.      How to tell that a dog is obese

A recent survey has shown that domesticated pets suffering from skyrocketing rates of obesity. In Western countries, about 24% of dogs are overweight. The so-called obesity refers to the state in which there is an excess increase in fatty tissue in the body. Since the body's total energy intake exceeds consumption, excess parts can only be caused by fat storage in the form of fat. Nutritional disorders resulted from this fat are common in adult dogs and old dogs. Feeding dogs with good food especially with meat as a staple food is the most likely cause of obesity.

The prevalence of obesity in dogs is characterized by thickened subcutaneous fat layer in especially the abdominal area and both sides of the body., plump shape, swinging when walking, slow to react, and  reluctant to exercise. Due to the breed variety and differences in age, gender and nutrition etc, owners often cannot timely detect obesity symptoms, hence experts come out with some simple and intuitive  detection methods. Touch the dog's ribs, if one cannot have a clear sense of the ribs, or simply cannot touch it, they the dog is obese. Or you can stand behind the dog, put your thumbs in the top middle of the hind side of the spine, put the other finger son the ribs and slide back and forth.  If you feel that the edge of the ribs has  fat layer, and the trench area has a noticeable fat deposit, then the pet is already suffering from obesity.

Although chubby dog looks cuter, if left unchecked, it will have an impact on pet health. Obese pets have a loss in appetite, does not take cold or heat weather well, fatigue, lethargic, sleepy, and personality changes plus they will no longer be close to the owner.

1. 2.      the causes of obesity

Besides the above factors (excessive eating and drinking and lack of exercise( which cause obesity, other factors of obesity include the breed, sex and age of the pet, dog over ten years old have a 60% higher odds of suffering from obesity, and females are more susceptible. Pugs, beagles, Labradors, retrievers are all breeds that can become obese easier. Then there is genetics:, parents obese pets are most likely to have obese children.

Sterilization surgery will also have some impact to pets metabolism. Sterilized male dogs are more likely to become fat.  Spayed female dogs or those that suffer from diabetes, hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, adrenal cortex, pituitary tumors and other diseases, may also cause the dog's appetite to increase and the dog to become lethargic, resulting in increased body weight. This is the pathological causes of obesity in dogs.

Except the above causes, in real life the single most common cause of dog obesity is still feeding habit. , If a pet owner often feeds the dog with high calorie food, such as cream cake and processed meat, and  have no control on the amount and time of feeding, not exercising the pet, in the long-term the dog will eat and sleep, likes warm place and fear cold , these naturally will led to the pet becoming fat.

1. 3.      the harm of obesity in dogs

Obese pets often have an increased risk of getting heart disease, , asthma. Diabetes, metabolic disorder caused by obesity, and pancreatitis.  Obesity can also lead to decreased immune function of the respiratory system, causing bronchitis.  Obesity can also cause diseases of the endocrine system and skin diseases.

Fractures, spinal disc hernia and arthritis will also occur due to obesity.

1. 4.      how to prevent obesity in dogs

To combat pet obesity, the pet needs to adopt comprehensive measures to achieve weight loss and  good health.

First of all the pet owner needs to control the pet's feeding habit, correcting their unreasonable way. In the diet to be, preferably listing the recipes, added to the diet low fat and high fiber food, bearing in mind to control the feeding time to a regular basis, such as feeding more times with a smaller amount. .  For example divide the normal food consumption into 3 or 4 times a day and not to feed other snacks in between. Nowadays there are many pet snacks a available in the market, excessive snacking can affect normal eating causing obesity or malnutrition. For dogs that are already obese, try to reduce their food intake, o  60% of their normal amount. Secondly, pet owners have to help pets to increase their physical activity, so that they have 20 to 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day, thus accelerating the calorie consumption to reduced fat. In addition, one has to strengthen the prevention and treatment of diseases of  the endocrine system that can cause obesity in pets, in particular prevention of hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, diabetes mellitus, adrenal cortex diseases such as pancreatitis.

Dogs over 5 years old, should visit the vet regularly for physical examination, including blood, biochemical analysis, so as detect elderly diseases sooner. In addition the pet should eat less and take multivitamin supplements

Finally. Pets that are very obese can also seek medical treatment such as taking appetite depressant, Emetic, blockers, digestion and absorption of starch enzyme inhibitor, or thyroid hormone and growth hormone, and other drugs to improve body metabolism rate. Any drug can have negative side effects on pets, hence so one should  minimize the use of drugs unless  the condition is serious. . Diet and exercise is still the best and most secure way to fight obesity

                      -(Article from the Journal of Shanghai Small Animal Veterinary Practitioners)