Suffield Veterinary Hospital

October 2005 Patient of the Month

           Meet Mischief (called Missy) the cat, and Huckleberry the beagle, both owned by Lisa DeFord and her family of Suffield.  We selected this photo from several adorable shots taken by Motophoto in Enfield because it shows well why they were selected as Patients of the Month:  They are slim and trim!

            Beagles are notorious chow hounds, and are among the breeds most likely to become overweight.  Couple that with expressive eyes that make them world class beggars, and you have a recipe for obesity.  Missy lives her life safely indoors, away from the risk of cars, coyotes and cat fights.  But like many indoor cats, she’d become a couch potato, packing on extra pounds.

            When friends started commenting on Huck’s waistline, and the DeFord’s began noticing that Missy looked chunky, they decided it was time to make some changes.  With feeding advice from our Dr. Dawn Burke, they switched from regular to low calorie pet foods, and carefully measured the portion for each meal. Lisa began reading the nutritional labels on the foods and selected only quality foods with reduced calories per cup.  By doing that, she was able to reduce the number of calories per day that each pet ate by about 1/3 without a significant cut in food volume.

            A year later, the results are dramatic.  Huckleberry has lost 13 pounds, and Missy has lost 4 pounds, which works out to losing about 30 percent of their chubby old body size.  They both are sleeker and more active.  Missy loves to hide and ambush Huckleberry as he walks by, and sometimes jumping over him, sometimes attacking his belly.  He is totally unfazed!  After some roughhousing, you’ll find them stretched out in the sun together or taking turns commandeering the favorite pet bed.

            Mischief and Huckleberry are not the only success stories in the quest for pets to lose unwanted and unhealthy extra pounds.  But too often, when our annual physical examination leads to weight reduction advice, a year later we see the pet with a few additional pounds, not fewer.  The extra weight is wearing on joints and circulation, increases the risk of diabetes, pancreatitis and certain types of cancers.  One large scale study by Purina showed that overweight dogs have a life expectancy more than two years shorter than pets that are kept slender.

            For being living proof that it is possible to get your pet to shed those extra pounds, we are happy to name Mischief and Huckleberry our October 2005 Patients of the Month.

Suffield Veterinary Hospital

Dr. Ann Huntington - Dr. Anita Sabellico - Dr. Dawn Burke

 Dr. Jean Herrman – Dr. Tracy Powell

577 East Street South (Route 159), Suffield, CT 06078 (860) 668-4041