THE BUNNY FAT

How much food we eat is just as important to health as the type of food we eat. Being even just 20 pounds overweight increases our risk for high-blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cancer and early death. These same roles apply to our animal fi.i.ends. Unfortunately, our pets are driven to eat. Excess fat helpful during times of famine - for example, during hard winters or during periods of drought. The compulsion to seek food ensures a species' survival across millions of years of evolution.   

Today, however, our beloved pets live in a sea of calories (much as we do). There are pellets in the food dish, table scraps ffom our leftover meals, and aisle after aisle of treat foods at the pet supplies store. Thumper still seeks food for those lean times because it is her natural instinct. She does not know that her next meal is only hours away. So she keeps checking her food dish and begs for more when it isn't there. Often the kind-hearted human's response

to this behavior is, "Oh, Thumper is still hungry! She needs more food." Of course, Thumper happily eats the extra food. Six months later, no wonder Thumper is seriously overweight.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

For starters, overweight rabbits (and cats and dogs and pretty much all animals) are susceptible to the same obesity-linked diseases as humans are. Extra body weight forces the heart to pump harder, and this raises the resting blood pressure and causes a disease called hypertension. Excess body fat pushes more fat and cholesterol into the bloodstream, and those lipids collect on the blood vessel walls, the way that soap scum collects on the sink surfaces when you wash dishes. This fatty scum causes a disease called atherosclerosis.

The extra weight also makes it harder for Thumper to dash about the house or playroom, and that means she is less likely to get the healthy benefits of exercise. Exercise keeps the joints limber and holds arthritis at bayo Exercise also lowers the levels of certain hormones that increase cancer risk. And exercise burns fat, lowers serum lipids and creates a healthier heart that is more resistant to heart attack. The sad truth is that fat rabbits don't live as long as lean rabbits.