Obesity epidemic endangering family pets, experts warn

• The obesity epidemic threatening the health of the nation has spread to family pets, it was revealed yesterday.
• A growing number of overweight cats, dogs, rabbits and even hamsters are suffering from heart disease and diabetes because, like their owners, their diet is poor and they do not get enough exercise.
• In Scotland, where heart disease rates are among the highest, cats are more likely to be diabetic than anywhere else in the country and Scottish dogs come second in the national pet league for heart disease.
• Welsh cats and dogs are the least likely to suffer from heart disease or diabetes, according to a survey by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).
• The survey, which looked at 245,000 pets in hospitals run by the PDSA, found that one in 22 dogs and one in 43 cats has heart disease and that one in every 169 pets suffers from diabetes.
• Pets tend to share a family's lifestyle, so in households where sweet and savoury snacks abound and exercise is virtually non-existent, dogs are eating too much and getting too fat.
• Rabbits and hamsters are also prone to overeat in some households and can suffer both from heart disease and diabetes, although these conditions are still rare in smaller animals.
• They get out of breath on their wheels.
• ''We would usually tell the owner to take the wheel out when they have a hamster that goes blue," said Elaine Pendlebury, a senior veterinary surgeon at the PDSA.
• "But you have to be careful with diets.
• A sudden reduction can cause liver disease in little animals,'' she added.
• The PDSA table for heart disease and diabetes hot spots shows that in England, dogs and cats in the south east were most prone to both diseases while the north west saw the lowest scores for either disease.