Dogs and Cats Getting in Shape for the Shape They’re In

The Petcast dropped, so pick it up and give a listen HERE to my most recent Steve Dale Petcast from WGN Radio.

Dr.RuthAnn Lobos

Dr. RuthAnn Lobos, lead veterinarian at Merrick Pet Care gets us all into shape and talks about how to help our dogs to gradually do the same the same, without doing too much too fast. Getting exercise is so very important for our pets’ health and well-being, but this has to be done safely so our pets enjoy working out and aren’t at least likely to be injured.  For pets who aren’t in condition, same as in people, the secret to success is gradually building up to doing more.

Dr. Lobos offers surprising tips on how to pay attention to your dog’s tongue to determine if your dog may be starting to overheat. Dogs have more issues keeping cool than people, so they can more easily suffer from heatstroke.

True canine athletes,  like agility dogs, you want to make sure you choose a diet with excellent Omega 3 fatty acids. And definitely a higher protein content for intense and long distance canine athletics.

Dr. Lobos talks about how exercise is important even for older dogs, and offers ideas about how to go about it.

Overweight and Obese Dogs and Cats

Dr. Lobos describes how this may impact their general health and why obesity truly truly is a disease. Remember these words: Movement is a good thing! And crash diets are a bad thing, particularly for cats.

There are all sorts of medical issues caused by overweight, and in particular, obese pets. This isn’t only a matter of discomfort, obesity in pets causes inflammation. And in cats, as a result, obesity and also diabetes is an epidemic.  We discuss if it’s possible that obese cats may even be clinically depressed.