Fat is not cute
Well meaning owners should know that obesity can be deadly

By Rachel Sauer
Cox News Service

The only evidence of the waddling and the slowness and the shortness of breath is two small rectangles of shaved hair enveloping two inch-long scars.

That’s where the veterinarian sucked the fat from Pumpkin's hips.

"It was about three quarters of a pound of fat," confided owner Jessie Schultz. "Before, it was really an effort for her to walk."

Now she trots, a little brown sausage of a Chihuahua on four short, sturdy legs. On a recent visit to Boca Greens Animal Hospital in Boca Raton, she weighed 11.4 pounds, down from 12.1.

That’s good progress, said visiting registered veterinary technician Heather Prendergast, but Pumpkin – how to put this delicately? – is still one whopping Chihuahua. Perhaps a firmer hand in monitoring and doling out the food, Prendergast advised.

"How the heck can I measure calories for a dog?" Schultz asked.

Try, said Prendergast. Because Pumpkin’s not alone in her plumpness. America’s pets, like their owners, are fat. A recent Purina Pet Institute study of 1,200 dogs found 57 percent of all pets surveyed to be overweight.

The reasons for pet obesity are varied, said Prendergast, who works at a veterinary clinic in Las Cruces, N.M., when she’s not on the road promoting Purina’s results in survey cities. But the result is this: a life-span shortened, on average, by two years.

"The best thing you can do is don't let your pets get overweight," she said. "But if they are, work on getting the weight off. We need to control what they eat."

That can be hard, said Brian Boss, a veterinarian at Boca Greens, because pet owners tend to equate food with love. They reward their pets for being so good with high-fat treats.

And many pets don't get enough exercise, he said, perhaps because it’s cold in the winter and because it’s harder for senior pet owners to take their pets out for a walk or to play.

"Walking around the block really isn’t enough exercise," Boss said.

Another problem is that people get very defensive about their pets. Often, when the veterinarian gently suggests the pet is overweight, the sputtering starts: But but but ... he’s not fat, he’s fluffy. He’s big-boned. He’s just right.

"The thing to remember," Prender-gast said, "is, especially on smaller pets, even one extra pound can represent 10 percent of the total body weight. That’s significant."

And that fact made Stan Burgner pause in justifying why his cat, Chloe, weighs 12.5 pounds. "That's not bad," he started, then glanced down at the irritated, long-haired feline hunkered on a Boca Greens examining table.

She is fluffy, true, but she could stand to lose a little, he finally admitted. Prendergast suggested measuring Chloe’s low-calorie food and giving it to her twice a day, rather than always keeping her dish full.

Prendergast advised Schultz to give Pumpkin and her other dog, Angel, just the low-calorie food, rather than mixing it with chicken. Also, maybe cut down on the treats and try not to share the morning croissant with Pumpkin.

Schultz protested a little. "I don't think chicken is bad for them."

"Remember, it’s our overall calorie content that we have to think about,’ Prendergast said. "I think maybe they’re eating a little bit more than we realize."

Schultz shrugged. It’s just that the kiddos like their dessert of a dog cookie, which they get after performing a trick, she said. It’s the calories in the cookies, though, that add up, Prendergast reminded.