Evidently fed up with the 65 percent of Americans who are already overweight or obese and not following their advice, nutritionists are going to the dogs. Really. At least 25 percent of dogs and cats in the Western world, including the USA, are obese and need to lose weight, according to a report recently issued by the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council. In other words, a quarter of the 77 million cats and 60 million dogs in this country have become couch potatoes. The experts’ solutions for dealing with paunchy pets include cutting calories, avoiding snacks and table scraps and more exercise. The advice hasn’t worked for humans, especially the part about table scraps, but experts are apparently hoping for better luck with our four-legged friends. How can you tell if your dog should lose weight? The same experts say that if you can’t feel its ribs, a dog is too fat. If you can pinch an inch of fat over the ribs, the dog is overweight. There will also be fatty deposits on its back and tail and no waistline when the dog is viewed from above. Except for the fat tail part, pets are resembling their owners. In addition, the following tell-tale signs might indicate that your dog is ready for a diet and an exercise program. You discover paw prints on the refrigerator door and definite nose prints on the leftover Jell-O salad. Smaller family pets, such as hamsters, gerbils and parakeets, are mysteriously missing. All that remains of them are a few scattered feathers, empty cages and tiny three-inch collars. All wildlife has vanished from your yard. You can’t remember the last time you saw a squirrel or a night crawler or heard a bird sing. You are notified by the police that a dog resembling yours has been attacking every pizza delivery person within a four-block radius of your house and running off with the goods. To make matters worse, you recently noticed that your dog has what appears to be pizza breath. The dial on the bathroom scale appears to be chewed, or gnawed, to the point of destruction by something or someone with unusually sharp teeth. Your dog sits up and howls uncontrollably during televised dog food commercials. His leash, a necessity for walking around the block, always seems to be missing. He continues to outgrow dog collars at a steady rate and now wears a man’s 38-inch leather belt around his neck. Your dog has a curious, almost primitive, look in his eyes whenever he sees small children walk by the house. The gaze, which reminds you of the distant look in hunters’ eyes in the fall, is usually accompanied by excessive drooling. Finally, someone or something has crudely scrawled two words — roughly resembling "doggie treats" — on your grocery list. The words are apparently written with an unusual combination of ink, backyard dirt and slobber.
