Are You Killing Your Dog With Kindness? - unhealthy feeding habits lead to obesity - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 2000

It can be tempting to hand over a dinner scrap to a begging pet, but rewarding such behavior causes more harm than good, maintains C.B. Chastain, professor of veterinary medicine and associate dean at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine. It can lead to obesity, the most common nutritional disorder of dogs in the U.S.

"When a pet is obese, the real problem is the owners' inability or unwillingness to acknowledge the problem and its seriousness in the first place. These owners continue to feed the pet excessively in a misguided effort to show their love to the pet. Some will kill their pet with this type of kindness."

The easiest way to detect obesity is through a simple physical examination. If a dog's weight is in a normal range, its ribs are easily felt, but not easily seen. Other signals of obesity are exercise intolerance, lethargy, shortness of breath, and difficulty sleeping.

Like humans, the most effective methods of managing canine obesity are reducing calorie intake and encouraging more exercise. Whether taking a daily walk or playing a game of fetch, Chastain cautions that any new exercise program should be introduced gradually. The best results do not necessarily occur from strenuous exercise, but from workouts that are daily or every other day and at least 30 minutes long.