KEEPING YOUR PET HEALTHY

Being a veterinarian doesn't exempt Dr. Charles Cox from being a sucker for his dog's big brown eyes when it comes to extra treats.

Still Cox tries to resist because he knows that obesity is the most common hindrance to a healthy old age for dogs and cats.

"The number one problem in older animals is obesity," said Cox, owner of Cox Small Animal Clinic in Jackson. "It can cause stress on joints resulting in joint problems and puts stress on the heart and other organs."

This is a growing problem among pets because many of them are living longer.

With improvements in preventive care for pets reducing the number of deaths from viral diseases and parasites, better knowledge of nutrition producing more nutritious pet food and more people having their animals spayed or neutered, animals are living longer, said Dr. Karen Bangert, owner of Skyview Animal Clinic.

"People consider pets as members of the family and so are more accepting of the idea of better care for their animals," Cox said.

But the reverse of that is that people tend to feed their animals like themselves, three squares a day with between-meal snacks, and animals don't need that much food.

"People terribly overfeed their pets," said Bangert, noting people feed their animals too much and too often.

"Most dogs in the wild eat once a day or once every other day," Bangert said. And those wild animals are always on the go rather than confined to a house or back yard most of the time.

And consider the life of a house cat that might run 30 feet before jumping onto the back of a couch to sleep in the sun. "That's not really a high-calorie lifestyle," Bangert said.

Pet owners need to feed their animals a good quality pet food formulated for their needs, Cox said. He said there are special formulations just for older animals.

They also need to get their veterinarian's advice on how much to feed the animal and stick with that, Bangert said.

"That's difficult to do when your dog looks up at you with those big brown eyes, but you need to remember it's for your animal's health not to overfeed it," Bangert said.

It's also important as pets age to get them in for regular check-ups, the veterinarians said.

"We consider age 7 as when dogs and cats start the older years," Cox said. "We like to do lab work then so if there are any problems, we pick it up at an early stage. If there are no problems, it gives you a baseline to go on as the animal ages."

Then the pet should get check-ups at least yearly or more often if problems are found.

"You have to remember that once a year for a dog is like once every four or five years for us," Bangert said. "A lot can happen in that amount of time, especially for an older animal."

Common health problems for older animals include heart problems like congestive heart failure, thyroid problems, cataracts and dental problems.

"Anything that a person can get, a dog can get," Bangert said.

There have been many advances to treat such conditions.

"Thirty years ago we were limited in what could be done for animals," Bangert said. But advances in diagnostics, drug therapy and other products have expanded what can be done to treat health problems in animals.

There is now specially formulated pet toothpaste, and Cox said he advises owners to use it to regularly brush their pets teeth or use dental chews.

There are new heart medications for dogs and new diagnostic procedures.

"I have had patients who took their pets to an internal medicine veterinary clinic in St. Louis where they do MRIs and CAT scans," Cox said. "Ten years ago that wouldn't have been considered for a dog."