Pet Obesity

Among domesticated pets worldwide, obesity is said to be the number one cause of health-related problems. Obesity is a problem that can affect all different types of pets, and is becoming much more common. A pet can become obese for many different reasons, some of which are completely preventable by exercising good pet care. Here is some general information about obesity in pets, which may help you to prevent your pet from becoming affected by this condition.

CAUSES OF OBESITY IN PETS

Most pets become obese simply due to overfeeding. It’s possible to overfeed a pet simply from negligence, or from trying to assuage your pet’s hunger needs. In reality, most pets will be hungry in between mealtimes, though this is preventable by dividing up their food portions to be spaced out during each day.

Another cause of obesity in pets is a low quality diet. Many pet foods that are inexpensive in price also contain some ingredients that may contribute to obesity in pets. An example of this is the inclusion of grains in pet food formulas designed for dogs and cats. A high-grain diet is also high in carbohydrates, which is detrimental to the nutritional needs of certain pets. Cats are defined as being ‘obligate carnivores’, and do not require a high carbohydrate diet in order to be healthy. Because of this, the inclusion of high carbohydrate ingredients in some cat food formulas can case cats to become obese, even if they do not consume a large amount of food.

Inactivity is another common cause of pet obesity. It’s important to give your pet plenty of exercise, ideally on a daily basis. Without constant exercise, a pet will eventually adopt a sedentary lifestyle, which results in their metabolism slowing down. This means that they will no longer be able to digest their food as efficiently, and will burn less of their ingested calories throughout the day.

PREVENTION OF OBESITY IN PETS

The best way to help prevent obesity in pets is to adopt a balanced, nutritionally optimum diet program that suits your pet’s needs. Depending on the type of pet you have (cat, dog, bird, lizard, etc), you will need to do a bit of research in order to find what type of diet will best suit your pet. For example, most lizards need to be fed live food (such as crickets) in order to maintain their health. However, since most live crickets are not as nutritionally balanced as crickets in the wild, it’s important to add additional food supplements to a lizard’s diet. This is usually accomplished by specialized nutrient powders that are sprinkled on the live crickets. Depending on your pet’s needs, you may have to add additional supplements in order to ensure that they are receiving the proper nutrition.

Exercise is another great way to help prevent your pet from becoming obese. Most pets will thrive off of exercise on a daily basis, which will eventually increase their metabolism. Try to encourage your pet to exercise, which can usually be done by incorporating exercise into your pet’s daily routine.