The United States is battling multiple health concerns in people directly connected to over-eating and the subsequent imbalanced nutrition. All human beings build their own nutritional regimen through food choices. These are primarily purchased based upon preferences (organic, non-GMO, cost, nutritional claim, “free of” claims, etc.), but run through the sieve of appearance, aroma, taste and food memory. The impact of choices is often not felt for years. Unfortunately, an abrupt health condition pops up at a doctor’s visit, leading to rapid health adjustments and dietary change. So many health conditions have weight management at their core.
In 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that obesity prevalence impacts one in five adults but is as high as 36% in some regions of the country. Obesity is measured with body mass index. If the person has a BMI of 25 to 29.9, they are considered overweight. If they have a BMI over 30.0, they are considered obese.
Pet obesity and the pet owner connection
The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention data in 2023 reported almost 60% of cats and dogs are either overweight or obese. Morris Animal Foundation quoted similar statistics. Surprisingly, 28% of cat owners and 17% of dog owners acknowledged that their pets were overweight. Many consumers do not view their pets as “a little chunky” and do not recognize the impact extra weight has on their pet’s health until it is a challenge to correct.
Since humans do not balance and control their own foods, it is not surprising their pets are overweight or obese. From our own assessments, it would appear that pet owners feed 30% to 50% more calories from other treats, chews, supplements and scraps on top of their complete and balanced foods. This leads to an imbalanced, poorly fortified daily nutritional regime. Since a pet’s lifespan is much shorter statistically compared to its pet owner’s, these nutritional imbalances lead to more immediate impacts especially when connected to genetic predisposition of different health disorders.
The classification of overweight pets or obese pets may vary. It is reasonable to project 10% to 20% above ideal body weight as being overweight. Over 30% of ideal weight would be classified as obese. In practical terms, a Golden Retriever with an ideal weight of 75 pounds would be overweight up to 90 pounds. Pushing above that can be called overweight or obese, but clearly it is unhealthy.
According to the Purina lifelong canine restriction study, a dog’s median life span could be expanded by 15% (nearly two years in Labrador Retrievers). According to a lifespan study out of the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, the risk of death in dogs that are overweight is greater than those with normal body condition.
Who is responsible for regularly monitoring and adjusting a pet’s weight and health?
The obvious answer is the pet owner/parent. They should know their pet’s ideal weight, which can come from their local veterinary clinic. They need to be able to manage the caloric requirements of their pets, which change with age, sex, breed, activity, spay or neutering, climatic conditions and overall health. They need good advice, easy-to-understand tools and support to best help their pets live long and healthy lives. However, consumers must know the health implications when they over-indulge their pets with multiple foods and treats.
Calorie requirements and pet owner accuracy
In 2014, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) approved the addition of a calorie statement on all pet food product packages. The goal was to provide another tool to help control caloric intake. Calories per kilogram and per unit of measure were listed to guide good feeding decisions. So, why hasn’t the percentage of dogs that are overweight or obese declined?
In 2019, Coe et al. tested the feeding accuracy of 100 pet owners in Canada with different measuring sizes. Individual accuracy ranged from -47.8% to +152.2% across all devices and volumes. The conclusion was, “Dog owners often mis-measure kibble portions.”
Calories cannot be destroyed
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reaction. The body is one big chemical reaction. While the idea of a phaser obliterating fat cells is a Star Trek dream, what we eat (or what our pets eat) has to go somewhere. It is either added to the body, driven off by heat, or defecated and urinated away. Overeating or over-indulging (mis-managing nutritional products) has to be the major factor in these overweight pets. As a means of simple support, we often suggest to consumers that they do not feed more than 10% of total calories from non-food edibles.
If a pet owner feeds three 50-calorie treats per day, that translates to 54,750 additional calories each year above the calories provided in the food. The balance built into the food is also potentially challenged. If these calories were 80% digested, 43,800 calories have to go somewhere in the body (higher energy needs, heat expenditure or fat laydown). Fat is 8.5 kcal/gram. Hypothetically, if it all went to fat, this could be over eleven pounds of calories to contend with. Exercise and heat expenditure can help. The problem is that most consumers feed more than 150 calories per day.
How to feed your pet
Feeding directions or guidelines are also mandated by AAFCO. The regulations do not stipulate providing guidelines over a variety of activities or nutritional needs. Space on packaging is limited. Most brands have consistent calorie requirements within their own portfolio, but what variation is there among brands and types of food? In a small cross-section of chicken-based products, I randomly chose ~21 dry and 20 canned brands (large, medium and small) off a respected direct delivery website. The caloric information and suggested calories for a 50-pound dog are shown in Tables 1 and 2. Calculations are also made as to how many fat calories are provided in foods.
TABLE 1: Dry pet food feeding guidelines are just that — guidelines — but may be the only guidance pet owners have when it comes to feeding their pets.
It must be understood that these are guidelines. Good nutritional principles also suggest exercise can help reduce bodyweight, but all of this still must be challenged by the list above (age, sex, breed, activity, spay or neutering, climatic conditions and overall health). The activity level of a pet is hard to show in one table. With more information about a particular pet’s current body condition or health, any good health professional would adjust the amounts. At home, this is for the pet owner to adjust.
But some observations are warranted.
Pet food caloric content and pet caloric needs
As fat content in the food increases, calories should increase. Based upon the suggestions of these products, this is generally true; however, there are obvious miscalculations (see Tables 1 and 2) shown in red. Some brands have remarkably high levels of calories per cup which cannot be easily explained. Some are calculated on a dry matter basis, which is not allowed in AAFCO.
TABLE 2: Miscalculations in calories can leave pet owners with no ability to properly determine how to feed their pets, which is why more, clearer information is needed.
Many dry food brands have relatively similar levels of calories for a 50-pound dog (1,000 to 1,150 kcal/day). However, there are others that are outside that range (for whatever reason). As an aid to consumers, perhaps the brand’s target calories should be shown so consumers can compare brand to brand?
Institutively, the calories per day should be relatively similar among dry and canned foods, but there is a much more diverse calorie target in canned foods. Canned food recommendations are higher than dry foods in general. There were several brands that suggested wide ranges of cups per day. Daily calories were always projected from the lowest rate and not the upper rate. Again, it might be good to show a brand’s calorie targets to consumers as an aid to compare brand to brand, dry to canned, etc.
It is my experience that pet owners only look at feeding rates suggested by the brand and don’t use the calorie information provided — most consumers are not inclined to do the math it takes to use the information. If a pet owner looked at one package advising 1,242 kcal/day of dry food and looked at another advising 894 kcal/day, what are they to think? If a pet owner switched from a dry food at 1,242 kcal/day to a canned food of 1,460 kcal/day, what are they supposed to do? While the consumer is still responsible, without overall food regimen planning, consumers overfeed their pets.
Lastly, if a pet lives in sub-zero conditions and is highly active, having over 50% fat calories might make sense to help them keep generating heat to stay warm. But, when fat calories are twice as much in canned foods than in dry foods, there must be a rationale. We could and should publish recommendations on how to feed all edible products together within a brand. Each brand should lay out their own justifications of caloric intake to help support a long and healthy life. That doesn’t ensure everyone will dig deeper or even use the information, but it is a reasonable step to using calorie information to help pets live longer and healthier lives.
Briefly: Top 5 takeaways
- Many pet owners do not view their pets as overweight and do not recognize the impact extra weight has on their pet’s health until it is a challenge to correct.
- Pet owners need good advice, easy-to-understand tools and support to best help their pets live long and healthy lives.
- In 2014, AAFCO approved the addition of a calorie statement on all pet food product packages; unfortunately, many pet owners mis-measure kibble portions.
- Feeding directions or guidelines are mandated by AAFCO, but the regulations do not stipulate providing guidelines over a variety of activities or nutritional needs.
- The pet food industry could and should publish recommendations on how to feed all edible products together within a brand.