Pet obesity can lead to chronic diseases, and early pet visits can avoid expensive treatment and poor health. Nowadays, dogs and cats eat more, and they lack exercise and walk, so they become overweight. These overweight pets result in increased obesity rates. Obesity results in more severe conditions such as kidney disease, high blood pressure, and arthritis. More importantly, pet obesity reduces the lifespan of pets. Indeed, pet obesity is becoming a bigger problem.
Why Pet Obesity Is Occurring and Its Effects on Our Pets
The primary reason for pet obesity is overweight. We feed our pets too much and don’t take them to walk and exercise. As a result, they become overweight. These are the reasons why pet obesity is becoming a bigger problem. Some already existing diseases can also cause pet obesity. Pet obesity opens the door for severe diseases and reduces the life expectancy of dogs and cats.
The Effects of Obesity on Our Pets
Obesity can affect the natural behavior of your pets. Some serious consequences of obesity are given-below:
• Reduced Life Expectancy
When pets eat less, they tend to live longer. According to a study, when dogs consume 25% fewer calories, they live two years more than their average life. Moreover, when dogs eat less, they face fewer medical issues. Such dogs remain active even in old age. So feeding less can increase the lifespan of pets.
• Diabetes
When we feed our cats too much, they become overweight and become a victim of diabetes. Moreover, such cats develop high blood pressure and require insulin injections twice a day. Unfortunately, insulin and diabetes both reduce the lifespan of pets. Moreover, both these conditions require ongoing treatment. Diabetes can be prevented by feeding a reduced amount of food.
• Arthritis
Excess weight also causes arthritis. Arthritis is becoming popular in cats as well. It affects both small and large breeds of dogs. Interestingly, only a few cat owners come to know the signs of arthritis. One or two extra pounds can cause serious problems to your cats because they stress tiny joints. Unfortunately, there is no proper treatment for arthritis, and we can relieve the pain by feeding a specific amount of food.
• Cancer
Can you imagine pet obesity can lead to cancer? Overweight pets are at the risk of developing different types of cancers. So, if you want to save your pets from this chronic disease, reduce the diet, control weight, and take your pets for exercise and walk.
• High Blood Pressure
Our pets also become the victim of the same diseases that we do. We ignore hypertension in pets. High blood pressure can kill your pet without knowing you. When your pets gain extra weight, keep checking their blood pressure. These tests can prevent heart and kidney problems.
How to Prevent Pet Obesity?
Pet obesity can result in serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, and even cancer. The simple and best treatment is switching to a low-sodium diet, controlling weight, increasing walk, and exercising. Moreover, visit vets if required. All these steps can keep your pets happy and healthy, and they can live longer than ever before.
