When Big Is Not Beautiful

SHOULD I be accused of being paranoid about the litany of expositions I have made about wealthy people concerning the feeding practices they adopt for their pets lately?   

  Really, if such fingers should be pointed, it should be in the context of the incessant discoveries, much to my chagrin, that it is at the doorsteps of the haves who can indulge and provide excessive quantities of food for their pets and at the same time not have the space within their schedule to exercise their pets or spend some quality time with them that a lot of problems have been found.

  Incidentally, these privileged pets are unwittingly predisposed to obesity. Obesity or the storage of excess fat results when there is an imbalance between intake and expenditure of calories. 

  Simply put, this is a situation where excessive food intake is not followed by adequate exercise to burn the accumulated fat.

  Unfortunately, it is becoming fashionable to appreciate overweight pets by owners who deliberately over-indulged their pets to be able to attain “this status.”

  I have sadly found out that no matter what you preach, they simply make their choices. To them, big is bold and daring and it is a measure of what society perceives of them.   

  They revel in trying to attain prescribed weight of the breed, even when their pets do not have the body conformation set for such vain goals.

  Oftentimes, I have tended to believe that some owners own dogs for some egoistic and inexplicable reasons that I cannot fathom. This is because if it were throwing your pets on the runway to exhibit a catwalk, then overweight and obese pets would simply not make the fashion show.   

  Theirs will be a special category reserved for physically disabled pets. Are you surprised? But that is what they are!

  Anyway, to be able to tackle this subject of obesity dispassionately, I must quickly point out that it is a well-recognised nutritional disorder in dogs and the incidence increases with age and neutering (i.e. spaying in the female and castration in males), because there is reduction of both metabolic rate and physical activity. 

  This is especially so in male cats (toms) due to the reasons adduced.

  For some sick reasons, however, most of the elective surgical requests that have been placed on my table are simply for the pets to gain weight, where the owners feel providing balanced diet can no longer assist them attain the presumed body weights for their pets. 

  I have tried woefully to prevent surgery on most occasions for such reasons, but it is simply something that needs a good measure of attention, if the health of these pets should be considered a priority.

  Although some breeds of dogs are particularly prone to obesity, such breeds as the Labrador, Daschund, Beagle, Alsatian and Rottweiler, the condition is never discriminatory if the potentials for its occurrence are well set. 

  Also, dogs fed homemade meals, table scraps and snacks have a greater tendency to be overweight than those fed commercial rations exclusively.

  Obesity is becoming important nowadays because of the emergence of a new set of owners pets that simply want to show off and reflect their status on their pets. 

  There is also the issue of increased dietary fat levels and improved palatability of commercial foods that tempt the pets to eat more, even as there is also an increasing number of neutered dogs and cats confined to living indoors without a regular regime of exercise. 

  You see, it is so funny that, it is only our environment that I see people owning big dogs, like the Rottweiler, Alsatian and the different types of Mastiffs and are living in flats without much space in their compounds to exercise these dogs.

Join Our Channels