Obesity Is An Epidemic
Obesity is an epidemic that is affecting many people in the Western World. Unfortunately this epidemic is now affecting our pets. It is estimated that 56% of pets are overweight and the obesity diseases that affect humans are also affecting pets. Dr. Catherine Webb of the Lindquist Veterinary Clinic states:-
“So, we have dogs and cats that have diabetes that have orthopedic and joint problems that have lots of disorders related to their weight,”
“A cat (gaining) 3 pounds is like 45 pounds in a human.”
” If dogs become diabetic they will likely be diabetic for the rest of their life. If cats become diabetic, there is a possibility that we can turn it around and bring them out of that condition. The sooner it is diagnosed and the sooner therapy is begun the better the outcome. And, that’s why regular visits with your doctor to check, discuss and do blood work is very important for maintaining good health in our pets.”
“If you’re concerned about what type of food to feed your pet, chat with your veterinarian,” Webb said. “All of that depends on if there are other health problems with the pet. Is it overweight already? Are we trying to maintain weight? Is it having problems with its blood sugar or kidneys? So, appropriate diet and dietary management especially preventative care is an important discussion to have with your veterinarian.”
We have talked about obesity before. What leads to cat obesity is a couch potato lifestlye and a high carbohydrate diet. Cats are meateaters, they have evolved over millions of years to eat rodents, birds and small mammals. These food are high protein foods and low in carbohydrates. Furthermore cats tend to eat these animals whole, including the skeleton. So which ‘expert’ came up with dry food, consisting of high carbohydrates and in some cases not even animal protein but vegetable protein???
Apart from diet you need to exercise your cat:-
” Five to 10 minutes with a laser pointer, or feather with a cat especially a diabetic cat is effective. Just like with people with type two diabetes they recommend that kind of physical activity to help get the muscles moving. The muscle activity helps to bring down their blood sugar.”
Obesity is an epidemic but changing your cats diet and introducing a exercise regimen can help your cat lose weight and if already affected by diabetes, can help reverse the diabetes.
