Is your pet overweight
The healthy weight of your pet is one of the most important things you have to manage in relation to their overall health. Any extra weight can lead to health issues.
Just like humans, even if your cat carries a few hundred extra grams or your dog a few extra kilos, this can play a significant role in their overall health. Keeping your pet a healthy weight will help to prevent disease and extend life expectancy. As well as ensuring you provide a healthy diet and adequate exercise, make sure your pet has regular health checks to catch any early disease changes and to monitor weight gain. Here are some tips on keeping pet weight in check.
Choose the right foods
Specific eating plans – where you monitor what and how much your pet eats – are a good way to manage weight. Such “diets” (that’s a loaded word isn’t?) are tailored to pets by ensuring they are palatable and tasty while remaining low in calories to promote weight reduction. They also have adequate protein levels to maintain muscle mass and protein levels to curb hunger by allowing them to feel fuller for longer. Your vet can help you formulate an appropriate plan for ideal weight management/loss in your pet. Just remember, before purchasing any food, it’s important to know what weight your pet should be so you know how much to feed.
Managing eating habits
Another way to manage your pet’s eating and weight management is by splitting their feeds. Giving half of the daily dietary requirement in the morning and half at night will reduce hunger throughout the day. You should also promote increasing activity/exercise levels as not only is this a good weight management tool, but it also ensures a healthy, active animal. This involves more play activities like chasing games for your cat or ball games for your dog. Persistence pays off! A healthier pet is a happier pet.