The Truth About Your Pet’s Weight
Is your pet pleasantly plump or overly obese? A new online tool can assist pet parents to understand the true meaning of those extra pounds Fluffy or Fido may be carrying around.
Dr. Ernie Ward is the president of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. As a veterinarian he is faced daily with overweight and morbidly obese pets coming into his office for treatment. When trying to explain the dangers of pet obesity to pet parents he was “always looking for ways to demonstrate how serious even a few extra pounds on a pet can be.” Telling a pet owner that their large breed dog is 20 pounds overweight may not really mean much to them. But Dr. Ward discovered that being able to compare that dog’s extra pounds to the same percentage of extra weight that a human might be carrying around made more of an impact.
According to a 2009 Pet Obesity Study an estimated 51.5% of dogs and Cats in the US are overweight or obese. 15% of dogs and cats are classified as obese. That is a lot of cozy dogs and cats joining us on the couch at night! The danger of obesity for our pets sounds very similar to the dangers we might face when overweight. Osteoarthritis, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory disease, joint and soft tissue injury, kidney disease and cancer all have increased risk of occurring in our pet if they are overweight. While the digestive systems and physiology of a dog or cat is quite different than that of a person, it is not inaccurate to compare some basic similarities to how pets gain weight and how we gain weight. Too many calories in and not enough burned through movement and exercise equals weight gain. Too many calories provided by highly processed and low nutritional valued foods equals weight gain. Too many carbohydrates and sugars equals weight gain.
So how does a few extra pounds on Fido compare to extra pounds on us? A 90-pound female Labrador retriever is comparable to a woman weighing 186 or a man weighing 217. Unless we have some serious height on our side, both of those human weights are on the overweight side of the scale. It is estimated that every extra pound on a female Lab equals 4 to 5 extra pounds on a person. Even scarier than that, information on www.petobesityprevention.com shows that a 12 pound Pomeranian is at least 5 pounds more than their ideal weight (according to the American Kennel Club). That chubby pooch is the same as a woman weighing 249 pounds or a man weighing 290 pounds. Yikes! What about cats? Every excess pound on our cat equals about 14-15 extra pounds on a woman!
For some interesting fact finding visit www.petobsityprevention.com and check out the Pet Weight Translator. Next time your sweet pet looks at you with those big brown eyes wanting another treat think about the extra pounds they are carrying and how it would feel to have that extra weight on you!
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Dr. Ernie Ward is the president of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. As a veterinarian he is faced daily with overweight and morbidly obese pets coming into his office for treatment. When trying to explain the dangers of pet obesity to pet parents he was “always looking for ways to demonstrate how serious even a few extra pounds on a pet can be.” Telling a pet owner that their large breed dog is 20 pounds overweight may not really mean much to them. But Dr. Ward discovered that being able to compare that dog’s extra pounds to the same percentage of extra weight that a human might be carrying around made more of an impact.
According to a 2009 Pet Obesity Study an estimated 51.5% of dogs and Cats in the US are overweight or obese. 15% of dogs and cats are classified as obese. That is a lot of cozy dogs and cats joining us on the couch at night! The danger of obesity for our pets sounds very similar to the dangers we might face when overweight. Osteoarthritis, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory disease, joint and soft tissue injury, kidney disease and cancer all have increased risk of occurring in our pet if they are overweight. While the digestive systems and physiology of a dog or cat is quite different than that of a person, it is not inaccurate to compare some basic similarities to how pets gain weight and how we gain weight. Too many calories in and not enough burned through movement and exercise equals weight gain. Too many calories provided by highly processed and low nutritional valued foods equals weight gain. Too many carbohydrates and sugars equals weight gain.
So how does a few extra pounds on Fido compare to extra pounds on us? A 90-pound female Labrador retriever is comparable to a woman weighing 186 or a man weighing 217. Unless we have some serious height on our side, both of those human weights are on the overweight side of the scale. It is estimated that every extra pound on a female Lab equals 4 to 5 extra pounds on a person. Even scarier than that, information on www.petobesityprevention.com shows that a 12 pound Pomeranian is at least 5 pounds more than their ideal weight (according to the American Kennel Club). That chubby pooch is the same as a woman weighing 249 pounds or a man weighing 290 pounds. Yikes! What about cats? Every excess pound on our cat equals about 14-15 extra pounds on a woman!
For some interesting fact finding visit www.petobsityprevention.com and check out the Pet Weight Translator. Next time your sweet pet looks at you with those big brown eyes wanting another treat think about the extra pounds they are carrying and how it would feel to have that extra weight on you!
< Back to Pets with Patti Articles
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