Fat Fido's resolution for the new year

As dog and cat obesity grows, help your pet slim down in 2006

	Does your pet need to shed some pounds? Just like for people, diet and exercise are the keys.
Newscom

By Kim Campbell Thornton

updated 12:55 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2005

Kim Campbell Thornton
• E-mail

Dear Diary,

Fido here. It’s the holidays, and I’ve been paying very close attention to how my people celebrate them. There’s lots of food involved, and I find that if I stick close, some of it usually comes my way. A little too much, maybe. Last night I heard the woman saying that I looked like a Vienna sausage on toothpicks — and I don’t think she meant it in a nice way.

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I’ve noticed that they’re busy thinking up things called New Year’s resolutions, which seem to involve changing themselves for the better. Maybe I should make one to lose a little weight. I’ve been reading up on the latest news about obesity in pets — it’s epidemic, apparently — and here are some ways people can help me (and my other cat and dog friends) look slim and trim next year:

Really look at us
It’s funny how people don’t really seem to see us, even though they’re looking straight at us. I’ve been waddling for months, but my people don’t realize I’m fat. If people would just use their eyes and hands, it would be easy for them to tell if we’re overweight.

Tony Buffington, a professor in the department of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University in Columbus, says that when people look at us from the side, our abdomen should be tucked up. When they look at us from above, we should have an hourglass figure, with the waist curving inward just before the hind legs. When they pet us on the side or back, they should be able to feel the ribs or spinal bumps but not see them. If we look like a basketball with legs and a head, we’re obese. How hard is that?

Get us off the couch and on the move
All my dog pals love a brisk walk or game of fetch — when they can get it.

And my cat buddies go wild for those fishing-pole toys with the mousie or birdie on the end. Sometimes they sit for hours in front of the closet where it’s stored, just hoping someone will bring it out. A few minutes of this several times a day gets them moving.

Live vote

Do you have a fat cat or round hound?

Veterinarian Jim Richards, director of the Cornell Feline Health Center in Ithaca, N.Y., says to encourage activity by wiggling the pole so the object on the end of the string mimics a little critter scurrying along the ground or around a door. If you don’t tell them it’s a cat toy, dogs think chasing the fishing pole is a fun game, too.

Give cats an indoor 'tree' to climb
Achieve this by providing a scratching post that’s at least 6 feet tall. Some go all the way to the ceiling. Those rock! Check out the Indoor Cat Initiative for more ideas.

Measure our food
It’s easy just to leave food out for us all the time, but in case you haven’t sampled it, that stuff is tasty! It’s hard to just say no, especially when there’s not much else to do around the house when you’re gone. Consult our veterinarian about the amount we should be eating. Cats, especially, shouldn’t go on crash diets.

“There can be some really serious hits on their health when cats lose weight too quickly,” Richards says. Obese cats that lose weight rapidly are prone to a condition called hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease, which can be fatal. Slow and steady weight loss is the way to go.

CONTINUED : Fewer carbs for kitty

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