Fat Fido's resolution for the new year

< Prev | 1 | 2

Consider 'Catkins' diet for feline friends
A cat’s natural diet is mainly meat, and recent research in feline nutrition shows that cats do well on a high-protein, low-carb diet, says veterinarian Susan Little of Ottawa, Canada, president of the Winn Feline Foundation.

“We’ve been getting away for years by feeding cats dry foods with high-carb content because they can live on it,” she says. “It’s technically nutritionally complete, but the price they pay is that those excess carbs are stored as fat, which is why we’ve got this epidemic of obesity. It’s easily the most common health problem in cats; 40 to 50 percent of cats are obese.”

Lacking a regular supply of mice, or faced with a cat that turns up its nose at a diet prescribed by the veterinarian, try switching to a good-quality canned food. “All canned foods are lower in carbs than dry foods,” Little says. “Even that little switch can make a difference.”

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Make us work for our meals
I think I can safely speak for other pets when I say there’s nothing to do all day but eat and sleep. “Hunting” for food would help me and my friends feel as if we’re living up to our potential. You can place small amounts of dry food in different areas of the house for us to find during the day, put food up on the washer or dryer so cats will have to make a bit of an effort to get to it, or put it inside food puzzles such as Buster Cubes so we have to work to get it out.

Little says you can make a food puzzle at home by taking a clean yogurt container with a lid and poking a hole in it that’s just a little bit bigger than pieces of dry cat or dog food. Put the dry food in the yogurt container, put the lid on and then show your pet how to bat and roll the container so a few pieces of food at a time will drop out.

Back off on the treats
Sure, we like them, but they’re not what we’re all about. Sometimes, we just want attention. When we rub up against you or nudge your hand, try playing with us, petting us or running us through a quick obedience routine — then reward us with a piece of kibble instead of that potato chip or french fry you’re eating.

Additional coverage

You know, losing weight is just as healthful for us as it is for you. Fat cats and dogs are more prone to musculoskeletal problems that contribute to arthritis. All that extra weight on our joints make us more likely to suffer soft-tissue injuries, too. It’s harder for my fat-cat buddies to groom themselves, so they develop skin problems. And the big bad that’s linked to obesity is diabetes. Believe me, you don’t want to start having to give us insulin shots.

So anyway, that’s my New Year’s resolution. Maybe one of yours will be to help me achieve it.

Kim Campbell Thornton is an award-winning author who has written many articles and more than a dozen books about dogs and cats. She belongs to the Dog Writers Association of America and is past president of the Cat Writers Association. She shares her home in California with three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and one African ringneck parakeet.

Creature Comforts appears the third Monday of every month.

< Prev | 1 | 2