When you sit down to enjoy some of your favourite snack foods, it is quite hard not to be tempted to share them with your favourite four-legged friend, especially when they are looking at you with their big beautiful hungry eyes.
But as the human digestive system works quite differently to those of our four legged companions, offering our pets treats off our plate is providing extra calories in their diet that will add up to extra kilos.
As in people, pets carrying extra kilos of weight place extra demands on virtually all the organs of their bodies. Animals that weigh over 20% of their ideal body weight are considered obese. The health risks to overweight pets are serious and every pet owner should be aware of them. An overweight pet may be susceptible to health problems such as:
- Diabetes
- Damage to joints and bones
- Heart disease and high blood pressure
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