Is your puppy getting pudgy? Does your terrier need to drop a few excess pounds?
Like many adults in the United States, an increasing number of pets are overweight or obese.
Alison Sweeney, the host of the popular television weight-loss reality show "The Biggest Loser," is using her experience in humans to focus on the problem in dogs with a new diet plan for canines.
And judging from a recent study, which showed 35 million canines in the US are overweight, there should be no lack of canine clients.
Sweeney decided to take on the problem in dogs when her veterinarian told her that her Boston Terrier needed to slim down.
"I realized that I had totally not been paying attention to my dog's health," she explained in an interview.
Sweeney is not alone. More than half the dogs in the United States are overweight, according the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, which was founded to combat the problem.
"It's enormously serious. The percentage of obese pets isn't known precisely, but it is surely very high and for the same reasons as obesity is high in humans: they eat more food that they can work off," said Professor Marion Nestle, of New York University, and the co-author of a book on pet nutrition.
"Obesity in pets causes the same problems as it does in humans. It increases the risk of heart disease, some cancers, type 2 diabetes and joint problems."
Sweeney said one of the primary reasons for overweight canines is that people feed their dogs leftovers, which is particularly fattening.
"Feeding a dog an ounce-sized (28.3 gram) piece of cheese, it's like me eating one and a half hamburgers," she explained. "That's a lot."
Five extra pounds on a medium-sized dog is the equivalent of nearly 20 pounds on an average size woman, according to Hill's Pet Nutrition, which produces the Science Diet Weight Loss System that combines pre-portioned meals with biscuits.
Two extra pounds (0.9) on a smaller breed, such as a Chihuahua, is the equivalent of nearly 60 pounds.
(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
你的爱犬越来越发福吗？你的宠物狗需要减肥吗？ 就如同成年人肥胖大军日渐壮大，美国的宠物超重或肥胖比例也日渐升高。 很受欢迎的减肥真人秀"减肥达人"节目主持人埃里森•施威尼正将自身的减肥经验用在宠物狗身上，并为它们制定出新的节食计划。 最新调查显示，美国有3500万只宠物狗超重。依此推断，需要给爱狗节食的客户应该不在少数。 当宠物医生告诉施威尼她的波士顿梗犬需要瘦身时，她决定好好研究一下如何帮宠物狗减肥。 她在一次采访中解释道："我意识到我完全没有在意小狗的健康隐患。" 施威尼遇到的情况并非个例。根据预防宠物肥胖协会统计，美国有超过半数的宠物狗超重。该协会的创立就是为了解决宠物们的超重问题。 纽约大学的马里恩•内斯特尔教授说："情况非常严重。宠物的肥胖比例还不太清楚，但的确很高，而且其中的原因和人的肥胖比例很高一样：它们吃了过多的食物，身体消耗不掉。"马里恩还曾和他人合著一本有关宠物营养的书。 "肥胖给宠物带来的危害和人类一样，会增大心脏病、某些癌症、II型糖尿病、以及关节病的发病率。" 施威尼表示，宠物狗超重的原因之一是人们给它们喂剩饭，而剩饭的脂肪含量很高。 她解释说："给一只狗喂一盎司（28.3克）奶酪，就相当于人吃下一个半汉堡。量很大。" 根据顶峰宠物营养公司的数据，给一只中等体型的狗多喂5磅食物，就相当于一位中等身材的女性吃下近20磅。该公司为宠物们推出了"科学节食减肥系统"，将狗粮提前分好分量，并配以小饼干。 给吉娃娃这种体型较小的宠物狗多吃2磅食物（0.9千克）就相当于标准体型的宠物狗多吃近60磅。
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