An epidemic that is unseen does not mean it does not exist. The word unseen simply means we don’t see it even though it may be right in front of our eyes.
There are a lot of reasons why obese pets stay under the radar in our homes. The biggest reason is because people don’t want to see it, and they love their pets.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition is taking yet another run at getting people to try to slim down their pets. Why? If people did get their pets down to ideal weight, wouldn’t they lose sales and revenue? The answer is a definitive “nope.”
Pet obesity remains the single largest contributing factor negatively affecting pet health. It kills more pets annually than most if not all communicable diseases in the U.S. Overweight pets are a challenge for all veterinarians and it affects just how much they can help in many health situations.
Pets that live within a normal weight range for their breed and age will live longer, healthier lives. As a result, Hill’s and others just may make more revenue. Who knows?
What Hill’s is doing is not new; others among the big three or four pet food companies have tried before. Most visible within the last 20 years has been Purina.
Not only did they use social media as it dawned on the otherwise barren landscape of human communication, they organized and conducted a multicity tour with veterinary nutritionists, local veterinarians, sales folks and canine athletes who put on demonstrations. These usually took place in parks or fairgrounds.
Purina also had generous samples of their products on hand, flying discs, collapsible water and food dishes, and lots of T-shirts and other trinkets to give away. These events were big. I went to one held at the International Fountain in the shadow of Seattle’s famous Space Needle.
There were more than 2,000 people there and nearly twice as many pets. People stood in line for the freebies. And packed in with all this was messaging designed to prevent or manage pet obesity.
People quickly learned to come to these events near the end of the day. You see, worn out salespeople did not want to pack up all the remaining stuff they brought for the event and the giveaways became even more generous.
Attendees often made multiple trips to their vehicles to glean off all the free pet food, treats and tchotchkes they could carry.
Now how many fat dogs and cats got to a healthier weight is unknown. But one must give props to Purina for trying.
It is Hill’s time at the plate. They have developed an acronym for their End Pet Obesity campaign and that is LOVE.
The letters stand for: locate your pet’s ribs, observe them from above, view them from the side and evaluate feeding behavior. Doing this as instructed on their well-designed website (bit.ly/3iJiOpT) and printed materials will help pet owners determine if their pet is obese and by roughly how much.
Hill’s is joined in the effort by Vernard Hodges and Terrence Ferguson, stars of the National Geographic television show, “Wild’s Critter Fixers: Country Vets.” This is a great move as both doctors obviously love the work they do and represent the profession well.
No mention yet as to whether or not Hill’s will host any community events. They are giving $5,000 to one lucky person who takes their simple online pet obesity survey.
Yes, they are using the contest to glean email addresses.
Powell is the retired public information officer for Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. This column reflects his thoughts and no longer represents WSU. For questions or concerns about animals you’d like to read about, email charliepowell74@gmail.com
