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Original article by Dr. Joe Inglis, BVSc, MRCVS*. Edited for blog publication by Kelly Gredner, RVT, VTS (Nutrition)

For many people, a fat pet is a funny pet — just look at the rise of hashtags such as #chubbydogs on TikTok, which have been viewed more than 390 million times, and the endless pictures of fat pets popping up on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. 

But the reality for these pets is far from funny — just as for people, being overweight or obese brings with it a range of health issues which can be life-changing and even life-threatening. The main health issues associated with excess weight in pets are similar to those found in overweight people:

• Arthritis
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Liver disease

…and these conditions can lead to serious long-term problems and a reduction in life expectancy.

It’s clear that we should be taking obesity a lot more seriously if we really want to prioritize the long term health and well-being of our pets. And however innocuous it may seem to watch a few #chonkydogs videos, or share amusing pictures of grossly obese cats, it all helps to normalize and trivialize what is a very serious health situation.

You can find numerous low fat/weight loss supportive recipes through Tom&Sawyer! Fisherman’s Best Friend, Coconut Chicken, and Beef & Broccoli are great starting points and are all found in our Low-Fat Trial Box! 

The most important thing to do is to make sure your pets are a healthy weight. This can be harder than it sounds. Even just recognizing that your pet is overweight can be difficult as many owners see their beloved cat or dog through rose-tinted spectacles, and can be in a state of denial about their weight. Rather than using scales, the best way to be objective about your pet’s weight is to use a technique called body condition scoring. 

Body condition scoring is where you assess your pet’s body condition against a scale, usually from 1 to 9 with one being extreme emaciation and nine being grossly obese. To work out your pets condition, first take a look at them from the side and the top. For an ideal condition score of five out of nine, you should be able to clearly see the outline of their rib cage and pelvis, and, from above, a distinct waist between the ribs and hind legs.

Then, run your hands over their ribs. If you can’t easily feel their ribs, body their condition score is likely to be greater than a six out of nine, but if they’re very prominent with little covering, they could be an underweight (one or two out of nine). There are lots of online guides to help you assess your cat or dog in this way.

If your pet has a body condition score greater than six out of nine, indicating that they are overweight or obese, it’s time to take action – which means more exercise, and fewer calories in their diet. At Tom&Sawyer, we have 10 Top Tips to help with safe weight loss for your pup. These include greater physical activity and an appropriate diet!

Increasing activity should be undertaken gradually, and with care so as not to exasperate any joints or mobility issues. It could be possible to help your pet burn off some of their excess weight over a few months of increased activity.

It’s also important to look at their total daily calorie intake and make sure this is at the right level to support their ideal body weight. Reducing treats and accounting for them in their total daily calorie intake can help. If your dog or cat is very overweight, it’s important to discuss safe weight loss with your veterinarian. 

Helping your pet in this way is well worth the effort – for both your sakes. If you can keep your pet in shape, you’ll generate so much more happiness and humour in your active life together than any number of #chonkydog videos could. 

*Originally published in Cotswold Life, this article by Dr. Joe Inglis, a UK-based Veterinarian and expert in animal nutrition, has been republished here, with minor edits, with the author’s express permission.

Original article by Dr. Joe Inglis, BVSc, MRCVS*. Edited for blog publication by Kelly Gredner, RVT, VTS (Nutrition).

When we have new puppy patients, veterinary hospitals are busy with their regular vaccinations schedule – but it’s not just medical treatments that are crucial at this young age. From diet to training, exercise to socialising, numerous things play a significant role in a dog’s future wellbeing. Prevention will always be better than cure!

All of these areas of health and wellbeing are important, but diet is arguably the most important of them all. A healthy, appropriate diet in those early years can bring health benefits from weight to energy to long-term wellbeing. The wrong diet can present a real danger to dogs’ future health.

The science of the gut microbiome is fast advancing and starting to show clearly how beneficial healthy diets with fresh whole food ingredients can be for dogs. The gut microbiome is full of bacteria and the role of the bacteria is to do much of the work of digesting food to make it available to your dog. The earlier your dog’s diet can start supporting their microbiome the better.

From my perspective as a vet I am convinced that the best way to feed a puppy for long term health is to include as much fresh whole food nutrition in their diet as possible, and this can be achieved in lots of ways, from adding a complete and balanced gently cooked meal to a top-quality dried food, right up to the ideal diet being 100% gently cooked meals with all the nutrients required for a puppy!

Looking for a fresh diet to support your new puppy but don’t know where to start? Try our Healthy Start Puppy Trial Box!

Diet doesn’t just affect health through the microbiome though — the calories in a puppy’s diet are also a key factor in energy and weight control.

Obesity is a major issue for our dogs, with over a third of all dogs in the North America thought to be overweight or obese. Dietary habits (both for the dog and owner) feature in the reasons for a puppy being overweight or obese, and the associated increased risks of a wide range of related health issues including heart problems, diabetes, arthritis and many more.

There are many ways you can reduce the risks of your puppy becoming obese, including your choice of feeding regime. Processed dry foods are super convenient and often more affordable than other types of food, but they are much more processed than fresh foods which makes a real difference to the nutritional benefits your puppy receives. Due to their convenience, it is also super easy to over-feed your puppy (such as leaving a bowl of kibble out all day). Rather, we want to focus on meal feeding!

It’s important to weigh your puppy as regularly as possible and combine this with measuring and monitoring their body condition so you can make a really good assessment of how appropriate their current weight is for them.

This just means looking at your puppy and running your hands over their ribs and hips, a healthy puppy will have a thin but clear covering of fat under their skin, but not so much that the bones of the ribs and hips are difficult to see or feel. You should easily be able to feel the ribs when you run your hands over their flanks, but they shouldn’t be obvious when looking at them.

If it’s hard to feel the ribs, and there’s no obvious waist between the ribs and hips, your puppy is carrying a little too much body weight and you should slightly reduce their daily food intake. If the ribs feel too prominent and very easy to feel, increase their food until they reach a healthier body condition. Regular check-ins with your veterinarian will also help keep you and your pup on track!

If you follow these basic principles, and make sure you’re feeding for a healthy microbiome with plenty of fresh wholesome ingredients, you’ll ensure your dog grows up at a healthy weight and can enjoy a long, happy and healthy life.

*Originally published in Cotswold Life, this article by Dr. Joe Inglis, a UK-based Veterinarian and expert in animal nutrition, has been republished here, with minor edits, with the author’s express permission.

Original article by Dr. Joe Inglis, BVSc, MRCVS*. Edited for blog publication by Kelly Gredner, RVT, VTS (Nutrition)

Did you know that your dog is basically made of bugs? 

OK, that’s not exactly true, but scientists estimate that the average dog’s body contains around the same number of microbial cells as it does dog cells —  and most of these are concentrated in their digestive system where they play an essential role in the digestion of food, and also contribute to a wide range of other important bodily functions.

The community of these organisms that live within the digestive tract, or gut, are known as the gut microbiome. And there are literally trillions of them.

Most of the bacteria in the gut are completely harmless – with many being classified as ‘good’ bacteria which are involved in aiding digestion, boosting immune system health, or supporting brain health.

There are less welcome bugs in the mix as well, with many species of ‘bad’ or disease-causing / pathogenic bacteria usually present, but if these are balanced out with ‘good’ bacteria they don’t usually cause active disease.

There are also bacteria that are known as opportunistic pathogens – this means that most of the time they are harmless, but if they get the opportunity then they become pathogenic. This means that your dog’s body is performing a continuous balancing act within the gut microbiome to ensure that these ‘bad’ bacteria don’t start to dominate and overwhelm the ‘good’ bugs.

The gut microbiome is involved in lots of essential processes for health, including:

1. Helping to digest food
2. Manufacturing vitamins (like vitamins B12 & K)
3. Transforming fiber into short chain fatty acids (food for the gut lining)
4. and many more!

Some of the compounds the bacteria produce are essential for health but cannot be produced by the body itself, so dogs (and ourselves) depend upon the ‘good’ bacteria to produce them. In addition, the canine microbiome has an essential role in the dog’s immune system and overall health; it can educate the immune system, protect against pathogens, and through these, and its metabolic actions, it directly or indirectly affects most physiological functions.

There are lots of factors that can influence the health of your dog’s microbiome, from their diet and lifestyle to their age and social lives – but the biggest impact often comes from diseases, particularly those affecting the digestive system such as gastroenteritis leading to inflammation of the gut wall. Digestive disorders can lead to changes in the balance of bacteria in the gut, known as dysbiosis, which can then lead to secondary health problems linked to the products that the gut microbes produce.

And it’s not just the disorders themselves that can cause problems – the treatments that vets often prescribed, such as antibiotics, can also have negative effects on the microbiome, leading to a vicious cycle of ever worsening gut diseases such as colitis, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis. On the other hand, a stable, balanced microbiome, undisturbed by antibiotics, can help prevent excessive inflammation, while also helping the immune system to respond appropriately to infections. 

A lot is still not fully understood about the microbiome, and we are learning new things about it all the time.For example, we are starting to appreciate the importance of how a dog’s diet is prepared to the health of their gut microbiomes, with significant differences in the microbiome of dogs fed dry foods versus those fed fresh cooked or raw diets.

To feed the gut, give it fresh food! At Tom&Sawyer our recipes are filled with ingredients that fuel the gut. From Turkey Gobbler filled with antioxidants from kale, cranberries, and butternut squash, to Goji Berry Beef that packs a punch with goji berries, blackberries and blueberries. Shop our menu to feed your pup (and their gut)!

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Despite all the unknowns surrounding canine microbiome science, it is clear that the microbes in our dogs’ tummies hold many of the keys to health and well-being, and by analyzing them we can potentially transform the future of pet healthcare!

*Originally published in Cotswold Life, this article by Dr. Joe Inglis, a UK-based Veterinarian and expert in animal nutrition, has been republished here, with minor edits, with the author’s express permission.

Prevention is always better than treatment as it saves stress, discomfort, and improves long-term health outcomes. 

This is particularly true when it comes to our dogs where appropriate preventative care can transform their health and wellbeing ­- and also help to keep unexpected vet bills to a minimum.

The main areas where we protect our dogs with preventative healthcare measures are vaccinations and anti-parasitic treatments. Modern vaccinations can protect our canine companions from a wide range of potentially life-threatening diseases including:

• Parvovirus
• Distemper
• Hepatitis
• Leptospirosis

And these have a long track record of safety! Without up-to-date vaccinations, dogs are at risk of contracting and spreading serious disease which can be devastating for the individual animal and those they’re in contact with, but also lead to costly health care bills for their family.

Anti-parasitic treatments protect dogs from external and internal parasites including:

• Roundworms
• Tapeworms
• Fleas
• Ticks

Although rarely indirectly life threatening, these parasites can lead to significant long term harms including weight loss, poor condition, digestive upset, skin diseases, anemia and more. Preventatives such as deworming and flea and tick medication can significantly reduce these risks and help keep dogs in good health.

In addition to these routine preventative medications, there are also many other ways that the risks of ill health can be reduced: regular veterinary check ups are important as these can pick up issues such as:

1. Excess weight
2. Dental disease
3. Skin problems
4. Digestive health issues
5. and many more!

And, for dogs identified as being at higher risk of specific problems such as diabetes or liver disease, routine blood tests can be an invaluable tool to monitor their internal health and allow targeted healthcare measures to be implemented.

Alongside these veterinary exams and health screens there are now a number of complimentary tests that can be that can help to support health issues and recommend appropriate preventative changes to lifestyle diet and supplementation programs. T

hese tests include DNA analysis which can spot genetic factors and may lead to increased risk of specific health issues, hair sample tests which look at vitamin and mineral levels and the new field of microbiome analysis.

Microbiome analysis, or fecal analysis, is a relatively new technique but is fast becoming an important tool for the assessment of dogs. Health experts recognized the importance of the gut microbiome in many areas of health, from the gut to the brain.

The process involves taking a small fecal sample from which bacterial DNA is extracted in a lab, and is analyzed and used to provide detailed information about many areas of the dogs internal health; from the overall health of their digestive system to how it supports digestion of the their diet, and to its impact on their skin, joints, and even behaviour.

Finally, it’s important not to forget the role of diet in preventing long term health issues as it is increasingly clear that an appropriate healthy diet with fresh whole food ingredients can be fundamental to minimizing the risk of many diseases and health conditions.

A great starting point is to introduce your dog to the delicious gently cooked meals from Tom&Sawyer. Not sure which meal to choose? Try one of our trial boxes!

As modern pet parents, we have many amazing tools available to help us keep our treasured dogs fit and healthy. From routine vaccinations to advanced microbiome tests, the future of our pets‘ health has never looked brighter!

*Originally published in Cotswold Life, this article by Dr. Joe Inglis, a UK-based Veterinarian and expert in animal nutrition, has been republished here, with minor edits, with the author’s express permission.