Hi Dr,

I have heard about a pill that can help dogs lose weight. My pooch Buddy is 55 pounds, and the vet says he should be about 45. Should I try the pill?

Steven
Yakima, WA

Indeed, a new medicine called Slentrol is now being marketed in the US for canine weight loss. I have no personal experience with the product (for reasons which are explained below), but the manufacturer claims that it suppresses canine appetite, making it easier for dogs to lose weight.

Should Buddy start taking Slentrol? I would recommend that he not. In my opinion, it is a mistake to look for an easy solution, in the form of a pill, for your dog’s problem.

At the very least, before you put Buddy on Slentrol, try some conventional tactics to get him to lose weight. Feed him a low-calorie diet, and use some of the tricks outlined in last week’s column to get him to eat more slowly. Take him for more walks, and for longer walks. Play fetch. When he begs for treats, don’t cave in. If he begs at the dinner table, lock him outside the room while you eat. If he eats your other dog’s food, feed the dogs in separate rooms. Have him tested for glandular diseases that can contribute to obesity.

The main reason I am not a fan of the concept of Slentrol is that for your dog to lose weight, YOU must exercise will power and resolve. And if your dog takes a pill, that won’t impact your will power or resolve in the slightest. So, rather than put your dog at risk from side effects or the potential for long-term adverse effects that may occur with any new medicine, I’d recommend that you take a serious shot at getting Buddy to lose weight the old-fashioned way.

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Hi. I hope you can give me a little advice. We
have a 17.2-pound female Maine Coon. She is approximately 12-13 years of age with no health problems except her weight.

Our vet says she’s overweight and that we should only
feed her 1/2 cup of Hill’s Prescription R/D food
every day. I feed her twice that but she eats what I give her immediately and then begs for more. She starts meowing around 5:30am for feeding and after she’s eaten all of it meows again. Her meowing is constant. Is there anything I can do?

Sherri

First, let me say that you are in very good company. Many patients in my practice have eating habits like your cat’s. Some pets never seem satisfied with the amount of food that they receive. The begging, vocalizing, and pestering that follow from this constant hunger can be maddening. And, I must confess, if my cat woke me up demanding food at 5:30 am, I’d be mighty tempted to cave in and feed her so that I could get some sleep.

Also, I must warn you that getting a cat to lose weight is always an uphill battle. Most cats won’t play fetch or go for walks, and in general cats are extreme couch potatoes. However, the health consequences of obesity are severe. Even if feline weight loss is a slow and arduous process, it is worth trying.

You have already taken the first step, which is to feed a low calorie diet. R/D is a weight loss diet, and others are available. These diets allow pets to feel more satisfied (in theory) while consuming fewer calories and therefore not gain weight. In theory. Obviously, this tactic alone doesn’t always work. In your situation, additional steps will be necessary.

I can think of two tactics that you can employ. The first involves tricking your cat into eating more slowly. Various toys are available that can be filled with food. As a pet plays with the toy, it slowly releases the food. The most famous example of this is the Kong toy, which can be filled with dry food or treats. Kong toys work great for dogs. Sadly, they aren’t appropriate for cats. However, I have seen plastic balls that can be filled with kibble. These balls will release the food as they roll along the floor. Ideally, your cat will bat the ball around (getting some exercise in the process), and consume a piece of food each time one is released. By the time she has emptied the ball, hopefully she will be too tired to bother you for more food.

Another approach to the problem is to convince your cat that you are not the source of her food. This can be accomplished by purchasing an automatic feeder, which offers a measured amount of food at set intervals. The feeder must be the only source of food for your cat. Once she learns that no amount of meowing will make the feeder give her more food, she may cease her annoying behavior. You may have to suffer through a painful, noisy period before this tactic is effective, but that is better than dealing with obesity-related health problems later on.

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Hi there!

I recently went to look for a cat at the pound and
fell in love with a 1 year old female. The thing
is that she has three legs (missing the back right
one). What I want to know is if a three-legged cat will
have health problems such as hip dysplasia later
in life?

Debra

There is no reason not to adopt a three-legged pet. It is not uncommon for a cat or dog to lose a leg due to disease or injury. These pets typically lead normal, healthy lives. In fact, animals who are missing a leg usually don’t seem to notice it. I have seen three-legged dogs leading the pack at the dog park.

In the wild, an animal who loses use of a leg is at a disadvantage in capturing prey and escaping threats. Fortunately, your cat won’t need to hunt for food, and I doubt that very many threats to her safety will be present in your house.

Regarding your question about future problems: they are unlikely to occur. When one leg is missing, slightly more strain is put on the remainig limbs. However, in my experience this is unlikely to lead to arthritis, hip dysplasia or other major complications.

Once you adopt your cat, keep her inside. If she goes out, she may have difficulty avoiding dogs, cars, wildlife, and other cats. But as long as she stays inside, she should be fine.

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I have noticed one of my Boxers is really drinking a lot of water. She
also seems to be urinating more. I am concerned
about diabetes. Are there any other illnesses with
these traits? I am a nurse, but do not know much about disease in dogs.

Eileen

There are three things you can say to a vet that are guaranteed to get his attention. The first is that your pet is having difficulty breathing. Pets with breathing difficulties are always a vet’s highest priority, and they always get seen before all of the other pets in the waiting room. It’s an emergency.

Another way to shock a veterinarian into action is to tell him that you have a male cat who is trying to urinate but can’t. This can be a sign of an incredibly serious and life-threatening syndrome called urinary obstruction. It is unique to male cats, and almost unheard of in dogs or female cats.

The final way that you can be assured to catch your vet’s ear is to tell him that your pet is drinking more water and producing more urine.

Fortunately, unlike animals suffering from the first two problems, a pet who is drinking and urinating more usually isn’t in the throes of a serious emergency. So don’t panic. But increased thirst and urination almost always mean that something is wrong.

Precipitous increases in thirst must, by necessity, be accompanied by precipitous increases in urination (and vice-versa). However, often people only notice that one side of the equation has changed. Regardless, if your pet is suddenly drinking more water, or producing more urine, or both, you should take her to the vet.

In people, diabetes is the most common cause of increased thirst and urination. Dogs and cats also suffer from diabetes, but there are a number of other issues, such as kidney disease, urinary infections, thyroid problems, endocrine (glandular) disorders, and certain tumors, that can cause the symptoms you describe.

The long and short of it is that you should take your dog to the vet. A panel of blood and urine tests will probably determine what is causing her to drink so much water.

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My cat, C4, was involved in a cat fight just more than a week ago. Her tail was swollen, and last Monday night she showed signs of pain and discomfort and we took her to the ER at our local vet. She had an abscess. They cleared out what they could of the infection and gave us a course of antibiotics and pain killers.

She started to look and act a lot better at first, but by Saturday morning she was lethargic and hardly ate. We took her back to the vet, and he told us she still had a fever, and suggested taking a viral test while I waited. 15 minutes later he came to tell me that my cat is testing positive for FIV, and that is why she is struggling to come right.

What I’d like to know is, can it really take as quickly as 15 minutes for a vet to tell me my cat has FIV? Surely they send the blood away for verification/different test methods before they tell a pet owner their cat is infected? I am not sure whether to believe this vet or whether to take it for a second opinion. Until the fight, there had been no signs of her being sick.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jeanne
Cape Town, South Africa

FIV (short for feline immunodeficiency virus) is also known as feline AIDS. The virus that causes FIV is closely related to HIV, which causes human AIDS. There is no evidence that FIV poses any risk to humans. FIV is present worldwide.

FIV is spread among cats by fighting or, less often, sexual activity. Cats who do not go outside are at almost no risk for the disease. To catch FIV, a cat must be involved in a serious fight in which she is bitten by an infected cat. These types of cat bites frequently also result in an abscess, which is a type of infection.

FIV infection weakens the cat’s immune system. Many cats who are infected show no symptoms and live essentially normal lives. Others, however, suffer from problems such as recurrent or difficult abscesses, or from gum or respiratory infections. It is typical for infected cats to seem perfectly healthy before they are diagnosed. The scenario you describe for C4 is quite typical of the disease.

The most basic screening test for FIV is available at many veterinary hospitals and takes about 15 minutes to run. It is accurate most of the time. However, when a positive diagnosis occurs, many vets (myself included) recommend following up with a more advanced, more accurate, and more expensive test called western blot. This test confirms the diagnosis.

Unfortunately, given that C4 has a history of fighting, as well as an infection that is not responding to appropriate antibiotic therapy, it is very likely that the test your vet ran was accurate.

In areas where combination antiviral therapies are available, human AIDS can be treated with great success. Sadly, cats do not tolerate these therapies. FIV is a disease that, at this time, cannot be treated effectively. However, there is some good news for C4. If you look after her health carefully, treat any problems that develop early on, and keep her indoors so she can no longer be injured by fighting, she is very likely to live a healthy, happy life for several years to come.

There is an additional, important reason to keep C4 inside. If she gets into fights outside, she may spread FIV to other cats. So for her sake, as well as that of the feline world in general, you should not let her out.

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