So, your poodle is pudgy or your beagle is bulging around the midsection, just like you. Worry not. A new medical aid might help–the first medication for fat dogs, approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration.
The proposed market: pet owners who don’t have time to take Fido for long walks and who can’t bear to stop sneaking him treats, especially when those big, brown eyes are begging.
If this sounds familiar, you and your hound have plenty of company. As many as 40 percent of U.S. dogs (17 million) are overweight or obese, and their ranks are swelling as Lassie and Rover chow down too much and romp around too little, mimicking the humans who take care of them.
Enter one of the world’s largest drug companies, Pfizer Inc., with Slentrol, a once-a-day oral medication that can trick a dog into feeling full and deciding to eat less. The prescription product will be available this spring at an estimated cost of $1 to $1.50 a day.
With Slentrol, Big Pharma is introducing diet drugs to a new set of customers–those who bark instead of speak–and inevitably generating a certain degree of skepticism.
“Here comes another magic pill that will solve our problems, without making us change our habits,” said Dr. David Gonsky, a board member of Chicago’s Veterinary Medical Association.
The goal, a Pfizer spokesman said, is to jump-start weight loss in pooches over six to nine months, and then wean dogs off the drug while putting them on a weight-maintaining regimen. “Veterinarians are going to find this a very helpful tool to use along with diet and exercise,” said Dr. Annette Bouwer, a vet who works for Pfizer’s animal health division.
In a four-month clinical trial sponsored by the company, 97 percent of 144 dogs lost weight on Slentrol and half lost 11 percent or more of their body weight. Vomiting is the most common side effect; other complications can include diarrhea, lethargy and anorexia, according to a Pfizer news release.
Slentrol is not meant for humans or for other pets, such as cats. Should people take the drug, serious side effects could occur.
Told of the new doggie diet drug, some pet owners were less than enthusiastic. “I think [it’s] kind of ridiculous,” said Justin Stevens, 21, playing fetch with his boxer-mastiff mix, Gibson, at the Wiggley Field dog park on Chicago’s North Side.
But the concept of a diet drug for canines has its supporters. Thomas Graves, head of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and a consultant to Pfizer on Slentrol, called it a very encouraging development “because obesity is such an important medical issue for dogs.”
Like humans, hounds who pack on extra pounds can suffer serious medical consequences such as heart disease, arthritis, orthopedic problems, respiratory ailments and cancer. A negative cycle develops: The sicker dogs become and the less they’re able to move around, the more weight they gain and the more medical complications ensue. Since 1970, rates of diabetes in canines have more than tripled, Graves observed.
The situation has deteriorated to the point that “I see more overweight dogs every day than I see normal-weight dogs,” said Dr. Steve Thompson, director of the pet wellness clinic at Purdue University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Often, when he pinches pooches to show how much extra poundage they’re carrying, owners will say, “he’s a stocky dog; this is a stocky breed; there’s nothing wrong with him,” Thompson said.
Hounds are considered obese when scales top 20 percent more than their ideal body weight, and overweight when they’re 10 percent over the ideal.
“People get so emotional about their pets,” said Dr. Bonnie Beaver, a veterinarian at Texas A&M University and a past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “We have people at my clinic who will drive their dog to McDonald’s or Burger King every week to get them a hamburger or an ice cream cone–just like they would their kids, because it’s a special treat,” she said.
Asking pet owners to stop that kind of behavior and put their beloved companions on a strict diet just doesn’t work, Beaver and other animal doctors explained. “It’s really hard because we connect food with love and because we can’t explain to the dog why we’re doing what we’re doing and taking this pleasure away,” said Graves of the University of Illinois.
But that doesn’t mean medication is the answer, either. “You can’t just give a drug to a dog and say, that’s going to be the answer to its weight problems long-term,” said Beaver, noting that pet owners have to feed Fido less and take him out more.
At a Petsmart store in southwest suburban Orland Park, Annette Schreiber was buying supplies for Rock, her boxer-German shepherd mix.
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“I wouldn’t use it,” said Schreiber of the new drug. “I like them fat. My last dog was overweight.
“He ate too much and got no exercise, and I was too lazy to take him out.”
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