Help Your Pets Avoid Obesity With These Steps

Obesity of pets can sometimes pose great problems to owners who are faced with the challenge on how they can help these animals improve their health. Monitored food intake and exercise are some of the key solutions to this problem.

According to Times Free Press, a 2014 study revealed that half of the pet cats and dogs in the United States are obese. The study was anchored on the wellness exams of more than 1,000 cats and dogs.

With this pressing problem, pet owners need to be aware that there is something they can do to fight obesity in pets. Here are some ways:

1. Check ingredients of dog food

Veterinarian Shannon Dawkins told Times Free Press that owners should carefully look at the ingredients of the food that they are feeding their pets. "If you look at a bag of most dried dog foods, one of the main ingredients is usually sugar. It's as frustrating as seeing all those sugar-packed cereals aimed at children," she added.

2. Give them whole foods

PetMD also noted that cats and dogs should be fed with fresh food and those rich in proteins and carbohydrates. It suggested that it would be better to lessen the commercial food consumption of pets by as much as 30 percent. Owners can instead replace this food with organic vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and mushrooms.

3. Invest on feeding toys

Another suggestion from Prevention is to give these animals food through feeding toys. One good example is the Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude which is worth around $7 to $13. It was explained that this releases food slowly so pets will enjoy a meal longer and end up more satisfied even with a small amount of food.

4. Exercise is important

It was added in the PetMD report that exercise is needed if your pet needs to lose weight. Some simple exercises which pets can do include walking and making the run after a toy.