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They may
be fat and happy, but they may also be in danger.
 It's
the picture of contentment . . . your favourite furry four-legged
companion, curled up on the floor in a patch of warm sunlight,
snoozing with a belly full of the steak scraps left over from last
night's dinner. Oh yes, he's content. But is he healthy? Not
likely. Ensure your pet's health goes beyond resisting the sad
eyes and whimpers that plead for leftovers. Ignoring the content
of your pet's food and his need for exercise can lead to dangerous
health habits that may haunt both you and your pet in the future.
Improper
diet for your pets can lead to health problems serious enough to
endanger their lives. Diarrhoea can result from allergic reactions
to foods, sudden changes in diet, sickness, or dietary indiscretions
(such as eating rubbish). If not treated, these reactions can lead
to dehydration and weight loss. Extra kilos on an overweight dog can
be associated with heart and respiratory ailments and skeletal
stress, and obese dogs and cats are more prone to diabetes. A poor
diet in your cat can result in urinary tract infections, which can
block the ability to urinate. As a result, your cat could become
critically ill within as little as 24 hours. And just one treatment
to clear a cat's urinary tract can cost several hundred dollars.
As many as 89 percent of dog and cat owners
feed their animals table scraps occasionally.
Controlling Fluffy and Fido's diet and being aware of what to look
for in the food you buy is as important for your pets as it is for
your two-legged family members. As many as 89 percent of dog and cat
owners feed their animals table scraps occasionally. But
unfortunately, not only is people food often too high in fat for an
animal to appropriately metabolise, but your pet may become a more
finicky eater, refusing
healthier pet food when the table scraps are gone.
But
table scraps are not the only pitfall when it comes to nourishing
those four-legged friends of ours. Many pet foods also have a high
fat content, which, of course, Fluffy and Fido love. The more they
eat it, the more they love it, and many eventually refuse to eat
anything else.
So what
should
the concerned pet owner look for in buying acceptable food for pets?
High fibre foods
are nutritionally balanced and complete. It usually takes a 10 to 20
percent fibre diet to change the weight of an obese pet. But a
lower-fat food will probably not taste as good to your pet as his
regular, fatty canned food, and he may refuse to eat it at first.
Gradually changing finicky Fido's diet over a few weeks should solve
the problem.
Source;
www.healthypet.com |
