Pet Insurance: Obesity cuts many pets' Lives Short

We all know that being over weight is a disorder.  It is the most common disease in animals and the excess body weight or obesity is due to the pampering of the pet owners. Studies have proved that more than 25, percent of the cats and dogs are more than the  15 percent or more than the optimum body weight. 

Pet owners give their pets whatever snacks they eat  apart from  normal food they give to their pets. This has resulted in developing obesity related diseases in their pets which in turn has reflected in the pet insurance claims due to the problems created by obesity.  Such kind of claims are going without bounds.  This issue could make the insurers stringent in disbursing the payouts in the future.

There are umpteen number of reasons why we should keep our pets fit and trim, they are given as follows:

Obesity  can make the pets susceptible to many diseases, hence lowering their life – span. Obesity is directly related to diabetes and they both go hand-in-hand with each other, symptoms being  increased thirst in dogs.

Obese pets get orthopedic problems as  stress and strain caused due to the overweight is applied on the bones and joints, which might result even in a major surgery.  This does not happen if the pets are slim and trim.

Obesity is also related with heart problems, as the heart of over-weight pet takes the overload it tends to wear out soon and circulatory related diseases come into the picture. Obesity creates difficulty in breathing and also skin related diseases.  It is also found that if the pets are overweight reproducing capacity diminishes both in the male and female species.  They are susceptible to infectious diseases also as the immunity diminishes.

To avoid such health related risks in the pets and to make them slim and trim the following  measures can be  taken:

Pets which are obese needs to be put on diet by cutting off the calorie intake gradually, this is very essential  because pets put on a crash diet end up in liver related problems. One should avoid giving them snacks and tit bits in between the meals.  Also if the pets are made to exercise and play stay trim and lean.  Always advice on the above can be got from the veterinary doctor.

The pets can be checked for obesity by running your hand on the ribs by feeling for yourself if the skin moves smoothly over the ribs, check for bulging in the stomach and abdomen in cats, dogs  and the breast size for the birds.  If suddenly the pets become lazy to move around and get breathing problems they are for sure obese.

Prevention is better than cure. Instead of repenting after the outcome, one can make sure that their pets eat the right quantities of food, do proper exercise and stay fit.