3153. A 4-year-old Spitz loves to eat. High total cholesterol

Sat May 12, 2018

Ref: 45856.  The mother and son brought the 4-year-old female spayed Spitz for the annual vaccination. The dog was overweight at 18.2 kg.  Her Body Condition Score 7/9.

The son bought pre-cooked food from  www.goodwoofsg.com.

"My Spitz just loves to eat this food," the son said. "The company is HSA certified.  I feed her 40g 2x per day. Now she is overweight!".  "It is best to do the health screening by a blood test," I advised. "The last was done last year."

BLOOD TEST FINDINGS
Total cholesterol  8.20 mmol/L  (3-6.6)
Triglycerides        1.19 mmol/L (0.33 - 3.27)

The mother was advised to feed a therapeutic diet called Hill's R/D. "Give 10% of total amount of food (pork + rice) per day during the first week, then increase to 15% and so on for the following weeks. Your dog will get used to the new food and will not reject it. Most owners feed 100% of R/D and give up when the dog rejects it, hence failing to reduce the weight."

Within 2 months, the Spitz had reduced weight.

--------------------------

Ref 50424.  A 14-year-old male neutered Golden Retriever on the same day.  The eye skin area was bald due to eye rubbing on the floor.  Bad breath. However, the ears were clean as the owner had maintained them regularly.

The owner was worried as the dog kept sneezing and had coughing for 2 days. Possibly a kennel cough as the dog was not vaccinated. Her total cholesterol results are shown for comparison to the Spitz above.

BLOOD TEST FINDINGS
Total cholesterol  5.40 mmol/L  (3-6.6)
Triglycerides        0.98 mmol/L (0.33 - 3.27)