Some food for thought

THE most preventable disease on the planet affects more than a third of dogs and more than a quarter of cats.

Seven out of 10 vets say the condition is on the increase, yet more than 70 per cent of owners say their pet has never been involved. I am referring, of course, to obesity.

This medical condition – because that’s what it is – occurs all too often for simple reasons.

Owners give too much food, they don’t exercise their pets enough, they can be ignorant of the normal shape of their animal, they feed treats too regularly and they feed the wrong types of food (toast, crisps, biscuits, takeaways etc).

As a result, our animals are suffering needlessly from a variety of problems, including heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, respiratory problems and pancreatitis. They are all debilitating and uncomfortable.

So what do we need to do about it?

Here is a story. Many years ago, an extraordinarily fat Labrador struggled to get up the steps to our surgery and needed help to get in and out the car.

Once in the waiting room, he would lie, puffing and panting, summoning his strength for the arduous trek to the consulting room five yards away.

One day, he lay beside a skinny wee collie (think Mo Farah physique), who ran flat-out for fun and could catch a crisp bag that was blowing about in the wind.

Yes, you’ve guessed it. Three clients in a row came in to me and said what a poor wee thing she was. None of them mentioned her morbidly obese neighbour.

And there is the rub. We need to start recognising obesity as a significant problem.

We need to consider that being four kilos overweight is every bit a welfare problem as being four kilos under.

We should appreciate the medical conditions obesity predisposes our pets to. And we should realise that, when we feed our pets, it is our responsibility to manage what we put in the bowl and relate it to what they are carrying about on their backs.