Written by Dr. Anna, Camden Pet Hospital
As we enter late Fall of our beautiful yet not-so-fair weather northern climate we find ourselves (understandably) not so excited to spend time outdoors and strolling down the parkway. The blustery, rainy, cold chills of November keep more and more people indoors and usually a lot less active. This is completely understandable! Your pets usually don’t love the rain and cold all that much either (well there are certainly some exceptions … huskies!); so as a result, we all end up cozied up on the couch enjoying snuggle time a lot more – nothing wrong with that!
The trouble comes when the difference in activity level doesn’t add up to the pet’s ‘energy intake’. That’s right… that’s a fancy way of saying calories. When input doesn’t equal output, there’s a lot getting ‘put’ on the haunches. The ‘hourglass curve’ of our pets turns into more of a sausage shape. It’s surprisingly easy for pets to start packing on the pounds and in fact, more often than not, we feed our pets too much! The back of the food bag even tells you to feed more than your pet needs for their weight size!
Did you know that the back of the bag has a ‘suggested’ guidance, and that guide is based off of pets that are not spayed or neutered and it’s based off of pets that are much better at burning calories than most breeds we have as pets! The average spayed/neutered pet needs about 20% less calories than an intact pet! So, to help give a better guesstimate for how much to feed, as a general rule of thumb, I usually suggest feeding your pet based on the 10# weight class below your pet’s actual weight on the back of the bag. For example, if you have a 45# adult dog and the back of the bag says 3 cups a day for 30-40# dogs, 4 cups a day for 40-50#, you would want to follow the lower suggestion of only 3 cups a day, the weight range below the one your pet falls into. This is a general guideline of course, but most pets are overweight, and it usually gets much worse when the weather gets cold and they get less exercise and activity.
My suggestion this month is to consider adjusting your pet’s food amount over the winter – don’t be afraid to adjust down a bit since they aren’t spending as much time running around. If they aren’t as physically active, they will just add those calories onto their waistline and that will lead to more arthritis troubles, a higher instance of cancer, and a shorter lifespan. Did you know a lean dog will live an average of two years longer! That’s like a person living an extra 10-14 years longer! When in doubt, for a dog or a cat, being a little thinner is better than being a little heavy. Thanks for doing your best to help keep your pets fit and healthy!