Obesity

Canine Obesity: The Most Preventable Disease

One of the most devastating and potentially serious diseases to affect our dogs is that of obesity. Thankfully, it's also one of the most easily prevented and treatable diseases. Usually the result of neglect or misinformation, oftentimes all it takes to reverse the adverse affects of obesity is education and a willingness to help your dog improve his or her quality of life.Obesity is a condition in which your dog's percentage of body fat is significantly higher than it should be, resulting in their carrying around a lot of extra weight. This extra weight affects the entirety of your dog's health. It places them at a much greater risk during any surgeries that might be necessary for other diseases; weakens their joints and cartilage, leaving them prone to injuries; and creates an incredible amount of stress on organs and bones that are surrounded by thick walls of fat. [...]

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Specialized Diets

There are almost as many specialized diet dog food products on the market as there are typical dog food diets. Usually these specialized diets are only found in the dry kibble and canned foods, however there may be some found as frozen products as well as in the semi-moist formulations. These specialized foods are usually for dogs at different ages and stages of growth as well as for dogs with dietary restrictions or requirements due to health or allergic problems that the dog is experiencing.The specialized diets, like human diets, will work well with some dogs and not as well with others. Often a bit of shopping around and a lot of research is required to ensure that you find the right diet to match the issue you are wishing to address with your dog. Carefully read the label including the ingredients and guaranteed analysis to verify what the label is indicating is actually what is contained within the feed it the correct ratio for your pet. A vet or animal nutritionalists can often recommend a few different brands that may work for your dog, plus they can also advise on types or ingredients to avoid in specialized diets. [...]

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Helping Your Dog Lose Weight

If you are one of those people that sets yearly weight loss goals for yourself on New Year's Eve, maybe you might want to include your dog in your plans this year. According to results obtained by a national survey of vets, approximately 44% of all domestic pets, including both cats and dogs, are considered to be obese. Cats are actually worse than dogs with almost 57% of the cats examined by the vet clinics on the survey date coming in at obese or overweight. This same study, done by the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention estimates that in the United States alone there are some 26 million dogs that are overweight and at least and additional 7.2 million canines that would fit into the category of obese. [...]

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