The Importance of the Medical Scales for our Pets
As adults, we hope our weight stays more or less the same when we step on the medical scales at the doctor’s office with each visit. For the most part it usually does. It may be a few pounds up or down, but the main importance of the doctor’s scales once we’re older is to track trends in our weight over time. Frankly, we don’t really need the doctor to tell us when we’re gaining or losing weight. The fit of our trousers tell us that. As do our own bathroom scales.
On the other hand, when we bring our pets to the veterinarian, the weight of our pets is a little more important. Not only does the veterinarian track out pets’ weight to see if they are gaining or losing, but they also need to know the weight within pretty tight limits to determine the proper dosage of any medicines they might be receiving. When you think about it, if we gain or lose a few pounds, it’s really a small percentage of our total body weight. When a cat or dog gains or loses a few pounds, it’s usually a much more substantial percentage of their body weight. It may even change the required dosage of medicines and preventative drugs like HartGard if the change puts them into a different weight class.
When your dog steps up onto the floor scales in the veterinarian’s office their health is really at stake. Giving them the dosage of these medicines for a smaller dog risks leaving them with an insufficient amount of the drug to have its proper effects. While giving a higher dosage to a dog that has lost weight may result in giving the dog more of the medicine than is either needed or safe.
Weight also has a profound effect on the lifespan and overall health of cats and dogs. While we might see gaining a little extra weight as a normal sign of getting older and less active, there’s really no excuse for letting our dogs and cats eat too much. Overweight cats have a much higher incidence of life-threatening conditions like diabetes or kidney failure if they are overweight. Dogs, on the other hand, tend to experience some of the same health conditions that humans have when they carry too much weight. In dogs, the incidence of heart disease, shortness of breath, fatigue, and arthritis all go up dramatically with weight gain.
Dogs and cats really have no choice over their weight. It’s up to us to feed them the proper foods in the proper amounts. Table scraps, while very tasty, are not good for dogs as they often contain a very high ratio of calories to nutritional value. The portions of food that our pets get largely determines their weight, and that portion size is up to us.
Keeping your pets healthy and keeping them around longer is largely dependent upon keeping them fit and trim. If you notice a weight change in your pet of even a few pounds when they step on the floor scales, bring it up to your veterinarian and ask them about proper portion sizes for your cat or dog.