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Obesity is a health concern not only with humans, but also in pets. This article mentions some of the health risks pets face by being overweight-

Even knowing the risks, it sometimes can be tough when you have a pet that gains weight very easily. In my household, this is Havoc. I have no problem keeping my other pets in good weight. It just seems to come naturally to them, but with Havoc, it is very hard to keep the weight off. In the summer it is harder. My dogs actually eat less in the summer, but they are also less active in the heat.

On Thursday, Havoc’s weight caused a problem. He likes to sleep with my mom, but he wasn’t able to jump up on her bed. He also was very slow when he had to go up the steps. I’ve had a Dachshund with back problems, but the way Havoc acted the rest of the time certainly wasn’t how the “back problem” dogs I have seen acted. So I took him into work with me for a general check-up. The first thing I did was weigh him. Even though I knew he was chunking up, I did not expect to see 31 pounds on the scale. Some type of weight loss was definitely needed, but I wanted to rule out any other type of problem that could contribute to his gaining weight or be a reason to cautious during the weight loss process. We did bloodwork including a CBC, General Health profile, Heartworm/ Tick disease test and a T4 test. The T4 checks the dog’s thyroid level. Dogs can be hypothyroid which means their thyroid gland is not producing enough hormone. Symptoms include hair loss, skin infection, lethargy and obesity. Along with being overweight, Havoc has been losing hair on his tail. Dogs can have these symptoms and not be hypothyroid so testing is important. Havoc’s T4 test that we did inhouse came back normal. Even my vet was surprised, to him Havoc looked like a hypothyroid dog. So we sent a blood sample out to a lab for more extensive testing and are waiting for those results.

In the mean time, since Havoc checked out fine during the exam, we are starting him on a wait loss program. Our goal is for him to lose 5 pounds and get down to a slim (for him) 26 pounds. We are going to work on this by reducing the amount of food he is eating (my mom, who has been having fun training Havoc, will use less and smaller treats). He’s been getting a 1/2 cup of dog food twice a day, we’ll drop him to 1/3 cup twice a day. We are also going to increase his activity. Havoc loves playing fetch with a tennis ball so we are going to play more. It’s been unseasonable cool lately, so we can do this without worry about him over-heating. We are also going to go on walks. Usually, I exercise the dogs in the yard, but this will get us out and about in a nice low impact kind of way.

Check back and see how we progress. If you have a pet, who needs to lose weight, join us!