who are you calling obese?
Posted on 01/06/2006 9:58:52 AM PST by floridaobserver
LONDON (Reuters) - Just like their owners, a growing number of British pets are becoming obese and face chronic illnesses such as heart complaint, diabetes and arthritis, according to research Friday.
A survey of British vets and owners showed that one in three pets, or 33 percent, were considered overweight and 38 percent of pet owners said their animals put on weight over Christmas.
Despite this, few owners plan to put their pets on a diet.
"Pets, like their owners, tend to expand a little over the Christmas period," said Frances Wright at Halifax Pet Insurance, who conducted the survey.
The survey said signs of obesity included a sagging stomach, bulging sides and a reluctance to take exercise.
About 30,000 human deaths a year in Britain are attributable to obesity, health experts say.
She looks a little annoyed at being starved, though maybe it was just at having her picture taken. < g >.
He looks a bit resistant to the program ;)
The bonus is, they won't spray either.
My big Siamese male goes through ALL the motions of spraying, including lifting his tail and quivering it while he treads with his back feet . . . but thank goodness he never actually delivers.
He was neutered fairly late because I was figuring out if he liked showing (he didn't.)
I am loving your cat pictures! They are adorable, especially that big orange and white one.
who are you calling obese?
OK - start over. That's her collar coming off over the top of her stubborn little head. :~D
Two seconds after this picture was taken, free of her restraints, she flipped me off and went home. :~D
Two things about "fat cats":
1) Many middle-aged cats, especially tomcats, develop kind of a little wiggly belly. This is actually just loose skin, not fat. A cat who is otherwise thin (you should be able to feel his ribs, but not see them) but has a little belly is NOT a candidate for a diet. He's just middle-aged, possibly like you. :)
2) Be very, very careful about putting a cat on a diet. There is a condition called hepatic lipidosis which strikes cats who have had a sudden weight loss, and it is often fatal. My SIL was worried that her two cats were overweight, so she started feeding them only the recommended amount. What she forgot to do was to monitor who was eating what. Turns out the male cat was stealing the female cat's food, with the result that female cat was not getting enough to eat. The poor female cat came down with hepatic lipidosis. My SIL spent nearly $5,000 trying to save her cat, but still had to put her to sleep. Moral: Consult your vet before putting your cat on a diet.
While your explanation makes more sense, mine would have made a better Steven King movie.
This picture of Gidget is right out of "Pet Semetary".
Gidget of the Damned...
"Sometimes, dead is better. "
"My Fierce Soldier"
He might be small but he's a real scrapper.
I knew it, the cats have unionized.
"Greyhound collars," can't recommend them enough. All the benefits of nylon and choke collars, none of their liabilities when properly adjusted.
My old collie loved my Mom and eagerly walked with her on vacation at the cabin in the mountains. That is, until one day when she began dragging her feet. Mom had spent several happy days literally walking the tread off the poor dog's feet, the calloused skin peeling off the pads.
Incidently, my Stephen King fan group travelled to Bangor last summer. The owner of Betts Books loaned us Pet Sematary on VHS to watch in our hotel room. No big deal made over the gruesome bits - we freaks groaned in sympathy at the part where Lewis falls out of bed and raps his noggin against the nightstand, LOL.
This cat is morbidly obese.
YIKES!
Heh... I've never used the greyhound collars, but they'd sure work on a dog like Gidget, whose neck is bigger than her head. I intentionally keep them pretty loose, too, so when she's loose in the yard, she can pull out of it if she gets hung up on something. If I'm walking her where she might get loose, I tighten it up or use her pinch collar.
Heh.. and she didn't really flip me off and go home :~D
She was just bein' lazy... and a little bit sore. Like me, we're both out of shape.
I know that is true, it happened to my girls and to me too!
Oh, I'm sure there've been times when mine would have flipped me off when they could. ;o) Not while out walking, though. I'm the one who could use lots of energetic walks. Between 'em, the dogs get in plenty runnin and wrastlin.
My current pets do fine so far with browsing on dry food always kept available to them. (It's a shame the same strategy doesn't work for me!) Once the lab gets thick-bodied, as they tend to do after a few years, I may have to adjust the food or amount.
One thing I've noticed with Purina's Indoor Cat Formula, my kitty doesn't hack up furballs at all, and her coat is medium-long. Very nice.
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