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Nutritional Counseling
The food and treats you feed your pet are essential to their health, vitality and longevity. We also know the decision on what to feed and treat grows more difficult each day. There are literally thousands of brands available to the pet food consumer nowadays. Unfortunately, the majority of the marketing of some products is geared towards our human interests rather than what may actually be best for your pet. We recommend feeding foods from the reputable manufacturers. For us that means they also make prescription diets. Their diets, as a whole, have much more scientific, veterinary research behind them to prove they are healthy diets.
Keeping your pet at a healthy weight is an important part, of your pet’s health and vitality. A pet that is overweight or underweight may be experiencing an illness and may be more susceptible to disease and injury. Obesity is a complicating factor in heart conditions, arthritis, liver conditions and other ailments.
We offer free weight and nutritional counseling for your pet. We have 2 Hills certified nutritional counselors and have our own biggest loser pet contests, Woof Watchers and Jenny Claws. Your pet may see a weight counselor at any time, but we recommend your pet weigh in every 30 days.
We also sell a variety of low calorie food and treats in our online store. For example, Hills has a new prepackaged food and treat, so that you cannot cheat and give your pet extra treats. Please click on our online store for more information.
To evaluate your pet’s body condition, we utilize a body condition rating system to score body fat for cats and dogs:
Cats
1 Emaciated
Ribs visible on shorthaired cats; no palpable fat; severe abdominal tuck; lumbar vertebrae and wing of the illia easily palpated.
3 Thin
Ribs easily palpable with minimal fat covering; lumbar vertebrae obvious; obvious waist behind ribs; minimal abdominal fat
5 Ideal
Well proportioned; observe waist behind ribs; ribs palpable with slight fat covering; abdominal fat minimal.
7 Heavy
Ribs not easily palpated with moderate fat covering; waist poorly discernible; obvious rounding of abdomen; moderate abdominal fat pad.
9 Grossly Obese
Ribs not palpable and under a heavy fat cover; heavy fat deposits over lumbar area, face, and limbs; distention of abdomen with no waist; extensive abdominal fat deposits.
Dogs
1 Emaciated
Ribs, lumbar vertebrae, pelvic bones and all bony prominences evident from a distance. No discernible body fat. Obvious loss of muscle mass.
3 Thin
Ribs easily palpable, with minimal fat covering. Waist easily noted, viewed from above. Abdomen tucked up when viewed from the side.
5 Ideal
Ribs palpable without excess fat covering. Waist observed behind ribs when viewed from above. Abdominal tuck evident.
7 Heavy
Ribs
palpable with difficulty, heavy fat cover. Noticeable fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent or barely visible. Abdominal tuck may be absent.
9 Grossly Obese
Massive fat deposits over thorax, spine and base of tail. Waist and abdominal tuck absent. Fat deposits on neck and limbs. Obvious abdominal distension.
Your Pet's 2012 Resolution:
Help them get Healthy!
As the New Year begins and we make our new year's resolution to lose weight, let's not forget to add our overweight pets into the plan. As reward-based training becomes more popular, so does pet obesity. This is a serious issue and obesity is a leading contributor to diabetes in pets. Overeating, a predisposition for obesity, lack of exercise and eating the wrong types of food are the most likely causes of your pet's weight gain. Overweight pets may be suffering physically as a result of carrying the extra weight, and obese pets, like obese humans, do not live as long as their more active and weight appropriate counterparts. Obesity in pets is a condition over which the owner has significant control.