As a vet in practice, the issue of overweight and obese dogs confronts me every day.
As a fat spaniel waddles out of my clinic, and a tubby labrador plods in, I despair.
Why do people let this happen and what can be done to help?
Research published in January demonstrates the significance of the problem: it’s more than just a cosmetic issue.
Dogs that are overweight or obese have shorter lives than those with a healthy body weight, dying up to two years earlier.
Dogs carrying too much weight also suffer from reduced quality of life, with more illness and less enjoyment of daily activities.
Obesity is a chronic inflammatory disease, causing measurable biochemical changes in the bloodstream, and yet this is a perfectly preventable health problem.
Cassie, a six-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel I saw, was 30% overweight, and had aged prematurely.
She lay around unwilling to move from her bed. Her owners were in tears as they talked about how she’d lost her joy in life. They felt she had already become an old dog, with a bleak future.
It was only after she had lost 4kg on a special diet that she became a lively, active, exercise-loving dog again.
Her problem was not age: it was obesity.
In theory, pet obesity should not happen at all: dogs cannot help themselves to snacks or have a secret second helping.
Owners simply need to decide to feed their pets less. Yet the fact that most dogs carry too much weight tells us this is not as simple as it seems.
The truth is that complex human psychology is to blame. We enjoy eating so we like seeing our pets doing the same.
Giving food treats is an easy way of getting attention from a pet; we confuse this with love. We see dogs as “little people”, serving them human-sized food portions far in excess of their needs.
We want to feed them until they are full, forgetting that they are almost insatiable, having evolved to binge because in nature there may be a long gap until the next meal.
So many dogs are now overweight that our society sees “curvy” dogs as normal.
One of my clients has a trim, five-year-old labrador called Bella, who is at ideal body weight.
My client is regularly stopped in the park by people who tell her her pet is too scrawny.
Most dogs are weighed at their annual health check; a comparison with previous years is the simplest way to spot a problem.
I remember a five-year-old golden retriever called Missy. It was only when her annual check-up showed her weight had gone up by 30% in the previous two years that her owner grudgingly accepted that there was a serious issue.
Low-calorie treats (such as rice cakes, popcorn or raw vegetables) instead of the usual buttered toast and sausages helped slim her down.
If your dog has moved from lean to lardy, the best answer is to engage with your local vet: weight-loss plans include regular weigh-ins, discussions of daily routines, and detailed exercise and nutritional guidelines.
The aim is to achieve a steady weight loss – around 1 to 2% of their body weight per week.
The key message is that food must be measured accurately every day. Special weight-reduction diets are used: high fibre content or high-protein/low-carbohydrate combinations help dogs feel more satisfied with fewer calories.
Once the target weight has been achieved, a long-term change in feeding and exercise habits is essential to avoid the problem reoccurring.
This all seems like a lot of bother, and the best approach is to prevent your pet putting on weight in the first place.
Restrict feeding to a measured amount every day. If your pet gains weight, reduce this amount.
If they get too thin, give them more. Smaller meals twice daily are more acceptable to hungry hounds than one big meal.
You may need to toughen up your attitude to pleading canine eyes: I’m reminded of Bobo, a pug who excelled in using “that” look to urge his owner to feed him more.
I had to persuade Bobo’s owner to feed him his allotted amount in a different room, shutting the door behind her. She could only resist if he was out of sight.
Risk factors for canine obesity include genetic predisposition (labrador retrievers, cocker spaniels and Shetland sheepdogs tend to be tubbies) and spaying/neutering, which doubles fatness risk.
If your pet falls into a higher risk category (for example, a recently spayed labrador), you need to double down on your stay-slim strategy.
Fat dogs live sadder, shorter lives: keep your pets slim and trim for happier, longer lives. – © Telegraph Media Group Limited 2019