Sunday, January 31, 2010

Overweight owners own overweight dogs

I found this article in the Australian newspaper this weekend.

Strange but true

THE adage that dogs look like their owners is true, at least when it comes to being overweight. Researchers weighed dogs and cats and their owners at a veterinary clinic. There was a strong link between the dogs' weight and the body mass indexes of their owners: fat dogs were more likely to have large owners. In contrast, the cats' weights weren't related to their owners', the study in Public Health Nutrition showed. Does this reflect cats' independence?

Public Health Nutr

2010;13:102-106

(Nijland M, et al)

This finding does not suprise me much at all. There is so much more need to control dogs eating and exercise habits. Dog owners can much more easily control how much food they give out and how much walking they do. In contrast it is very diifiuclt to exercise a cat or even refuse a demanding cat food. In saying this vets also need tobe very sensitive when talking about overweight dogs

No comments:

Post a Comment