Can a pet get into good shape while still eating treats?

Are treats linked with obesity?

A recent survey has shown that 83% of the owners regularly feed treats to their dogs. However, in the past few years, many studies have also highlighted that treats are a risk factor for obesity. These findings could explain why the prevalence of obese and overweight pets has been rising over the past few years, reaching 56% of dogs and 60% of cats in 2018 in the US.

Dieting is important

For a long time, it has been clear that obesity is detrimental for the pet’s health, leading to several comorbidities and decreasing life expectancy. Therefore, it is important to treat it and get the pet to its ideal body weight. To accomplish that, the veterinarian should make an individual weight loss plan, considering the food and medical history of the animal, the weight, body condition score and muscle mass.

Achieving a negative energy balance, whilst feeding all the recommended amounts of nutrients is the key point of a weight loss programme. Thus, feeding a low-calorie density and high fibre diet seems to be a good option to reach that goal, meanwhile providing a high volume of food and keeping the pet more satisfied throughout the day.

Vet knows best

The lack of owner’s compliance towards the veterinarian’s nutritional recommendations is one of the main reasons for failing to achieve weight loss. Common examples are owners who do not follow the correct prescribed amount of food, or would continue to give treats or table scraps. In this case, to succeed in the weight loss, allowing the owner to give certain treats in limited amounts seems to be a good solution. Commercial low-calorie density treats or vegetables could be recommended, as long as they are counted in the daily calorie intake.

Wet food as part of the diet

Another useful tip would be giving part of the pet’s diet as a wet food specially designed for a weight loss programme. The addition of wet food might give the owner the feeling of giving something extra and tasty to the animal and, since it is a complete and balanced diet, it can be added as a part of the animal’s feeding plan in different proportions.

Lastly, owners can be taught to reward their pets without using food but, instead, playing and stimulating activity or increasing other positive social interactions (cuddling, brushing, et cetera). Nevertheless, close follow-up is advised, in which the veterinarian needs to make sure the owner is not giving too many treats. Otherwise, the weight loss might not be achieved or the animal could develop nutritional deficiencies.