Another sign of the COVID-19 pandemic: Our overweight pets and how to help them lose weight – austin360

A 'Thank You' letter to our pets

Every day of the year we are thankful for our furry and fishy friends for being the best pets.

Animalkind, USA TODAY

Dogs and cats of Austin, this pandemic has been hard on you, too. Your humans came home and are there all the time. Now you don't know what to do without them and are experiencing separation anxiety.

You also are spending hours of the day watching Netflix with your humans, who give you attention withsnacks multiple times a day. Often, they're giving you human food like peanut butter or high-calorie packaged snacks.

When they are hard at work in their makeshift offices, theyfeel bad that you're just hanging out looking bored or sleeping(but they don't know that when they were gonein the pre-coronavirus days, that's just what you did all day). They feel guilty, and so they give you another treat.

Now, just like your humans, you've put on someCOVID-19 pounds or ounces (depending on your size).

At your yearly doctor visit, they're going to make you get on the scale. The truth of your weight gain and all those excess treats will be unavoidable.

A conversation will take place and all those fun extra treats will need to go away.

You're not alone.

Pets during COVID-19: During pandemic, your new dog has missed out on socializing

Dr. Emily McCann of Firehouse Animal Health Center in Kyle says she's seeing a lot of cats and dogs come in with weight gain lately because of those multiple, high-calorie snacks.

Instead of using snacks as forms of attention, she says, humans should pay attention to what they are feeding their pets, how much they are feeding and what activities they are offering their pets.

Here are some recommendations for helping pets get to or maintain a healthy weight:

Pets during the pandemic: Could your pet carry coronavirus?

Dogs and cats should have an hourglass figure when humans look down at them from above; from the side, you should see a tuck up from the chest to the abdomen.

Most dogs or cats can lose a 1/4 pound to 1/2 pound a week with some modifications to their food intake and exercise.

Like humans, pets who areat a healthy weight have better heart health, life longevity and joints. Dogs also avoidthings like pancreatitis, which canplague dogs around the holidays when humans give them too much fatty food.

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Another sign of the COVID-19 pandemic: Our overweight pets and how to help them lose weight - austin360