Who owns podgy pets?
Detail:
17 February 2010: by Sandra Pearce
As we are almost bang on the first anniversary of the PFMA’s campaign to cut pet obesity, it is ironic that vet charity PDSA said this week that more than three-and-a-half million UK dogs need to slim down.
In a nine-month health assessment of close to 8,000 dogs last year, 35 per cent of the pets were found to be overweight, said the PDSA.
However, before alarm bells start ringing, I am assuming that the dogs in question were being treated at the PDSA, which provides free veterinary services for the pets of needy owners. Now I might be making an incredible leap of assumption – and doing a major injustice to these owners – but I would guess that a number of these pets are fed left-overs from the dinner table and low-budget convenience foods. As it is, a PDSA vet acknowledged that many owners did feed scraps and fatty treats.
So how accurate a picture is this of the entire UK dog population and, more importantly, of the customers who pour through our retailers’ doors week in and week out?
In catching up with retailers and manufacturers over the last week, it is clear that obesity is still very much on the radar. However, I’m starting to build an interesting picture of profiles of different pet owners. Yes, there are owners who come into pet stores with podgy pets. Yet retailers who run in-store nutrition clinics say numbers registering for this service are growing, and they have seen a number of success stories of pets that have slimmed down.
However, in the main, pet owners who visit pet retailers regularly and buy premium food products seem to have healthier pets.
You tell me what’s going on.
As we are almost bang on the first anniversary of the PFMA’s campaign to cut pet obesity, it is ironic that vet charity PDSA said this week that more than three-and-a-half million UK dogs need to slim down.
In a nine-month health assessment of close to 8,000 dogs last year, 35 per cent of the pets were found to be overweight, said the PDSA.
However, before alarm bells start ringing, I am assuming that the dogs in question were being treated at the PDSA, which provides free veterinary services for the pets of needy owners. Now I might be making an incredible leap of assumption – and doing a major injustice to these owners – but I would guess that a number of these pets are fed left-overs from the dinner table and low-budget convenience foods. As it is, a PDSA vet acknowledged that many owners did feed scraps and fatty treats.
So how accurate a picture is this of the entire UK dog population and, more importantly, of the customers who pour through our retailers’ doors week in and week out?
In catching up with retailers and manufacturers over the last week, it is clear that obesity is still very much on the radar. However, I’m starting to build an interesting picture of profiles of different pet owners. Yes, there are owners who come into pet stores with podgy pets. Yet retailers who run in-store nutrition clinics say numbers registering for this service are growing, and they have seen a number of success stories of pets that have slimmed down.
However, in the main, pet owners who visit pet retailers regularly and buy premium food products seem to have healthier pets.
You tell me what’s going on.
By:
Sandra
Date/time :
19/02/2010
Replies to this topic...
