3 fixes for your fat pet

Pet obesity has been found to be the leading nutritional disorder affecting pets. Photo / iStock

Are you the owner of a roly-poly Lab or a chubby cat? You're not alone. In fact, it's estimated a third of New Zealand pets are overweight.

Following a number of international studies, pet obesity has been found to be the leading nutritional disorder affecting pets.

Today is Pet Obesity Awareness Day and vets are calling for owners to reconsider how and what we're feeding our animals.

President of the Complementary Veterinary Medicine Branch of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, Dr Liza Schneider says the extra weight an animal carries can affect their long term health.

She says poor nutrition may contribute to a number of health issues that could impact the quality and length of their life.

Here are 3 ways to help your pet

1. Stick to pet food

A small piece of cheese tossed to waiting jaws equates to the human calorific equivalent of one and a half hamburgers for a dog and two and a half hamburgers for a cat.

Having a healthy pet can be as simple as dishing up the right food. Because cats and dogs are carnivores, their diets should include fresh raw meat. They should not be based on a carbohydrate rich diet, found in a lot of commercial dry foods.

Dr Schneider also says Omega 3 fatty acids are extremely helpful in burning excess body fat. "Supplementing your animal's diet with this nutrient, found in high concentrations in flax oil and good quality fish oil, can help to make a tremendous difference, not only to excess weight but to overall health and well-being."

2. Do a 'fat test'

With your pet in a standing position, run your fingers along the sides of their chest. You should be able to easily feel the ribs and then a tapering into a thin waist.
If what you can feel is more like a thick layer of fat, your pet is overweight.

3. Don't supersize their meals

While it's tempting to pile up their plate, the amount of food you feed them is critical in regulating a healthy weight.

Dr Schneider acknowledges while a dog's food intake is reasonably easy to monitor, cats can be a different story. If your cat has a tendency to visit the neighbour for a snack, "perhaps a quiet word to your neighbours to resist your feline's charms will help."

- nzherald.co.nz