Pet Obesity
By Dr. Bob Marquis
Amazing new information concerning the nature of fat, and its unhealthy consequences, have come to be understood by the veterinary community only recently. We are beneficiaries of the increased interest and increased research dollars spent on the subject as a result of the widely diffuse and rapidly spreading human epidemic of obesity.
Fat is now considered an organ. That important designation comes from the fact that we now know fat produces hormones. Lots of hormones. As a matter of fact, fat produces more hormones than any other organ in the body, and just about all of those hormones are either pro-inflammatory or stimulate insulin resistance. Metabolic Syndrome, a condition that it is estimated to affect over 50 million Americans, is characterized by increased abdominal fat, elevated triglycerides, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, insulin resistance and elevated risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and a generalized pro-inflammatory state. All secondary to FAT!
Our overweight pets are at risk for some of the same profound effects of fat, particularly the pro-inflammatory state and all of its consequences and, especially in cats, type 2 diabetes. The problem has historically been that even though low calorie diets combined with a good exercise program can be effective in some cases in reducing our canine friends’ weight, it doesn’t always work and even when it does, it’s not easy. It proves to be very difficult, even for the most dedicated of pet owners, to muster up the “tough love” it takes to not give in to our pet when she is continuously hungry, begging for food, getting into the garbage, looking at us with those sad, brown eyes.
But here’s the good news. There are new and effective ways of helping our pets lose weight. And the results can be remarkable. Removing the pro-inflammatory stimulus by reducing body fat can have a far greater anti-inflammatory effect than any steroid or NSAID that I can prescribe with none of the side effects.
For our canine friends, there now is a safe and effective dietary aid, that when given once a day will block the formation of triglycerides (and consequently the absorption of fat), and inhibit the satiety (hunger) center in the brain. Within reason, he can still pretty much eat what he wants, he just won’t want to eat as much. And he will absorb less of the dietary fat that he does eat. Particularly in the case of an overweight, arthritic dog, the results can seem to take years off his age with added vigor and zest.
Unfortunately, that same dietary aid cannot be used in cats (or humans), however we now realize that generally, dry cat food requires a high carbohydrate concentration to maintain the kibble shape and form. Because carbs are converted by the body to sugar, feeding dry kibble to our cats can result in obesity and may be largely responsible for predisposing cats to type 2 diabetes. By gradually converting from a dry to a canned diet, we can much better control our cat’s weight and lessen the potential for feline diabetes. As he reaches his target weight, your cat too will experience the same anti-inflammatory benefits we talked about earlier.
This article has just hit some of the high points of this topic. As our knowledge of obesity and its consequences continues to grow, our ability to prevent it and its myriad of related problems will also improve.
