We see a large amount of pets that we would class as either overweight or obese. For a lot of people, giving their pets extra food or treats is a way to express their love to their pet. Although your pet may look happy in that moment you cannot see the long-term effects it takes on their body. Being health care professionals for your pets we are fully aware of the effects it has on most major organs.

We are often taking blood samples in clinic to be studied either in house or in external labs.

The picture is of a tube of blood taken from a pet suffering from pancreatitis. In this case we are looking at blood that had been spun in a machine a high speed until it separates into cells (red/white bloods cells) and plasma.

In this tube you can see an upper white level and that is in fact fat that is being carried in the blood. Now to put that into perspective that sample was 0.5ml of blood and you can see how much fat is in it.  Although this pet had pancreatitis, we do see these results in over weight pets. Imagine how much harder the body must work with that in its blood (a healthy weight pet does not have this white layer at all)

For those that are concerned about your pet’s weight, our recommendation would be to come in and a get nurse to examine your pet’s body condition. Then we can make an assessment about whether your pet needs to lose some weight for their health. We will then make a plan with a goal weight/size and how it can be achieved.