Active treats: a welcome addition in weight management

Calorie control

Clearly, pet owners still do not understand how to control caloric intake in foods, treats, chews and supplements and how quickly their beloved pets can become overweight.

The food calories must be adjusted when edible treats and chews are offered to pets. A pet owner must maintain the proper level of daily calories for that pet’s age, sex, health conditions and activity over different climatic conditions. If calories are not adjusted and nutritional balance is ensured, the impact can lead to a higher risk of diabetes, heat intolerance, pancreatitis, cancer, hip dysplasia, skin and coat problems along with lethargy.

Today, the number of foods that are labeled for weight management are approximately 13% to 15% of the dog market and 8% to 10% of the cat market. These are labeled ‘healthy weight’, ‘weight control’, ‘light/ lite’, and ‘weight management’. They make claims of low fat and low calories. With 40% to 50% of pets classified as overweight in developed pet markets, the need for solutions intuitively seems much higher. 

Rewarding activity

Dogs are driven by their noses. It would seem to make sense to use the dog’s nose to increase activity. Most dog treats have been built specifically to connect the human to the pet — bonding them with resulting action of a reward.

Since a dog will chase something it is interested in (by the call of its nose), the treat does not have to be handed to the dog (keeping it sedentary). Encouraging the dog to chase the treat or get involved with the treat increases the burning of calories.

Recent products have added the ability to have small treats come out of toys as the dog chases or plays with it. This increases the desire of the dog be active. Other edible, injection-molded treats (with high palatability) are flat and have become ‘flyers’ that can be tossed over short distances with the dog giving chase. If you can get your dog to love the taste and then chase it down, it still gives the impact of rewarding to the pet owner but encourages activity in the dog.

Stimulating curiosty

Cats are different. They are driven by shape, texture, mouthfeel and acidic flavours. Cats generally do not like soft-moist products that contain sugars so most cat treats have been made in a dry format. There are toys that can get cats moving and active; chasing or slapping after the movement.

Cats are notoriously curious yet they are less likely to get more active by treating. However, if the pet cat has grown up involved with their owner around food, the potential increase of activity chasing a tasty round treat increases. Similar to dogs, some toys that allow small treats to fall out occasionally can be an effective stimulant to increase play. Some have tried dangling string-type treats and making toys that shoot out treats to keep the focus of the cat.

Positive effects of L-Carnitine

If ‘active’ treats can be formulated with higher fiber to reduce calories and increase satiety, that is a major step to reducing calories intake while increasing activity. Beyond that, some consideration must be given to reducing the weight of the treat as even a low-calorie product is no good if it is too large for that particular pet.

Lastly, most are aware that L-Carnitine helps to burn fat calories and lay down muscle. It is used in the human market for that same reason. Including an efficacious level of L-Carnitine is another step to ensuring active treats help support weight management.

Finding the right balance

We fully understand that balancing foods with treats and chews is difficult for most if not all pet owners. There is no easy manual to follow and most products were built as singular products and not part of a larger food regime. Developing the attention of the pet with a rewarding and nutritionally focused treat is another option in our ability to reduce the health impact of overweight pets.