Obesity is seen commonly in pet dogs, cats and rabbits. It can be difficult to tackle, especially as we all love our pets and like to spoil them. However, obesity puts our pets at greater risk of diseases such as diabetes and urinary problems and can have a big impact on other conditions, such as arthritis.
To assess a pet’s condition we use something called a body condition score.
You can see videos for how to do this for dogs and cats.
It is important to seek advice from us regarding safely helping your pet to lose weight, as a rapid reduction in food intake can be harmful especially for cats and rabbits. Occasionally there may be an underlying health problem that is making your pet prone to weight gain e.g. an underactive thyroid gland. We also now know that some dogs, including Labrador Retrievers, are predisposed to excessively eat due to genetic factors that stop them feeling full – stopping such dogs seeking out or even stealing food can be very challenging!
Our nursing team run FREE weight clinics to help you get your pet to a healthy weight and to keep them there. They will weigh and measure your pet regularly and come up with a plan for diet and exercise.
You can read about one of our weight loss success stories, Mags, here.
On the flip side, being underweight can be a sign of ill-health and unintentional weight loss should also be investigated. This can be especially hard to spot in cats, which is one of the reasons we advise an annual health check for all pets so their weight can be recorded.
To book an appointment with the nurse to have your pet weighed and their condition assessed give us a call on 01803 606059 (Torquay) or 01803 843836 (Paignton), or book online.