Weight Monitoring

Many of the pets we see become overweight as they mature. They have an easy and comfortable life with food available every day and often not enough exercise. 

If you feel that your little darling is overweight (or if the vet tells you this!) you are welcome to make an appointment for a ‘Weight Consultation’ with one of our veterinarians. 

According to International Body Condition Score the ideal body condition of domesticated dogs or cats is when the animal has a good layer of muscle covering the ribs and back bone, so that the ribs, and the tips of the hips and back bones are palpable but not visible, and with a waist between the ribs and the hips. 

All indoor cats should have a small amount of fat in the tummy area between the hind legs, which is not equivalent to a beer belly in humans. 

Obesity can lead to many diseases in cats, especially diabetes. If you are worried about your fat cats, come in and talk to us and we will help you. It is very important to diet your fat cat very slowly and gradually. 

The vet may also discuss this and recommend a weight loss diet during a health check or consultation and give you advice on the right combination of foodstuff for weight loss for your pet as well as how to encourage exercise. 

The vet will set a target weight & a time span to lose this weight over. 

Losing weight too fast is not healthy, and as these animals are much smaller than us, we may plan for them to lose a few grams per week. 

Once the diet plan has been set we will then be happy to make free “weight monitoring” checks for you to follow up, usually every month or two months, and these will be with one of our British Vet nurses or our Australian trained Vet Assistants. 

It can be very rewarding to see a little fattie regaining a slim healthy shape and becoming more active and flexible!