This diagnostic approach utilizes a series of body frame (morphometric) measurements to determine the pet’s ideal weight.
Metabolic’s ability to alter metabolism causes detrimental genes to be turned off and beneficial ones to be turned on. Genes turn on or off according to the body’s perceived needs. Though mammals have many genes, not all of them are working or “on” at any one time. Think of gene expression as an off-on switch. Study participants had varying degrees of change, but every participant had some positive change. Healthy gene expression increased and unhealthy gene expression decreased in every cat and every dog. Hill’s Pet Nutrition studied 20 cats and 20 dogs, comparing gene expression related to metabolism. The degree of effect on metabolism can actually be measured. Now the obese animal’s metabolism acts more like that of a lean animal, chewing up body fat to reduce the body fat index to a healthy, 15-25% range. If we feed a food that only restricts calories, the body of the inefficient metabolizer enters an anti-starvation mode, slowing metabolism even more to maintain body fat.Ĭontrast that with Metabolic’s effect on that same pet’s metabolism. Dogs and cats with inefficient metabolism profiles naturally store fat as a reserve, then defend those reserves in case they are needed. Its ingredients activate your pet’s metabolism to regulate appetite and burn fat. Metabolic, however, works in a totally new way. Too much of even the diet food and weight loss was stymied. Up to now, diet food had to be carefully measured and just as carefully dispensed. How does it work? Not like any pet food ever created before. 96% of dogs and 81% of cats lost weight in just two months. It is noteworthy that these were not laboratory dogs and cats, they were client-owned pets. Hill’s Pet Nutrition introduced its Prescription Diet Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution ( Metabolic) pet food after studying its effects in real, in-home trials with 314 pets. The tools calculate Body Fat Index, ideal weight and feeding allowance, as well as a chart showing how much weight your pet should lose and the time required to lose that weight safely. There is a Web site for computers and an app for smartphones. The data is put into an Internet-based tool that Hill’s Pet Nutrition provides. Your veterinary hospital’s staff will weigh your pet and take four measurements of dogs and six of cats.Ģ. Studies show that feeding allowances based on BCS alone result in half of pets consuming too many calories.Īccording to APOP (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention), in the last five years the incidence of overweight or obese dogs has increased by almost 40% in the US, and the number of overweight or obese cats has increased 90%.ġ. The ideal weight based on Body Fat Index is then used to determine how many calories the pet should consume per day. Thus, a too-heavy dog can have his Body Fat Index (BFI) determined, and an accurate ideal weight established, even while he is obese. Instead, morphometric measurements give specific values for body parts that do not change as a pet gains or loses weight. Obesity is thought of as “the new normal.”Įven the often-used system of Body Condition Score (BCS) is subjective, depending on the doctor’s assessment of fat overlying the ribs, the amount of waist in front of the pelvic bones, the sag of the abdomen in the standing pet and other visual and tactile perceptions. A “right-sized” pet appears too thin to us. Pet owners (and veterinarians) see so many obese pets that, in our minds, the standard has been changed.
Healthy Weight Protocol (HWP) is a scientific measurement of pets, as compared to mentally comparing the size of your obese dog with other obese dogs. Hill’s Pet Nutrition Metabolic diet, in canned and dry forms, for both dogs and cats, is a scientific breakthrough for weight loss in both species.