She’s been going nuts today, stealing all my ideas for posts. Hmph. And I’m the fat girl around here.
But she didn’t get to this one: FDA approves a new weight-loss drug.
For dogs.
WASHINGTON – Is your hound round? Too much flab on your Lab? Is your husky, well, husky? A new drug may provide some help. The government approved the first drug for obese canines on Friday. Called Slentrol, the Pfizer Inc. drug is aimed at helping fat Fidos shed extra pounds.
“This is a welcome addition to animal therapies, because dog obesity appears to be increasing,” said Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the
Food and Drug Administration.
A dog that weighs 20 percent more than its ideal weight is considered obese. That takes in about 5 percent of the nearly 62 million dogs in the United States. An additional 20 percent to 30 percent are considered overweight.
The liquid drug appears to reduce the amount of fat a dog can absorb. It also seems to trigger a feeling of satiety or fullness, according to the FDA.
You know what? Dogs are omnivores and scavengers. I’ve never known a healthy dog to turn down a particularly tasty treat, especially if there are other dogs around. Junebug is the only dog around here, which means that she hides her treats in nooks and crannies about the place (such as in, oh, THE COUCH) and she will even leave her food lying around for days, though she’s more than happy to eat whatever I have. Interestingly, I had my neighbors in last night (they’re interested in buying the place) and Junebug, being neurotic about vistitors, finished the food that’s been sitting in her bowl for three days while they were here.
Because dogs are scavengers, they will eat pretty much anything that’s offered to them. And a lot of people get in the habit of offering their dogs a LOT of treats.
Dogs are also at the mercy of their owners for exercise, and too many people who own dogs don’t walk them enough. God knows I could get Miss Thing out more often, were it not the dead of winter and were I not knee-injured again.
So you get dogs who get too much food from their owners (who perhaps think their dogs would refuse food if they weren’t hungry) and don’t get exercised enough who get fat. And, mind you, they’re master manipulators, so any attempt at restricting food intake is met with a lot of whining and guilt.
All this by way of saying, dogs really don’t fucking need canine Xenical. They need less food and more exercise.
Plus, have you read the side effects?
The prescription drug also can produce some unfortunate side effects, including loose stools, diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and loss of appetite.
Because cleaning up vomit and diarrhea is less effort than taking your dog for a walk, I suppose.
And I love this bit that Pfizer felt compelled to include in their press release:
And it’s not for dog owners. The FDA discourages the drug’s use in humans and lists a litany of side effects should anyone ignore that advice.
I’d say I was surprised, but I used to do products liability, and one of my firm’s clients was a manufacturer of the relatively harmless half of Fen-phen (or is it Phen-fen?). And this was AFTER the heart problems of the other half were known. But we had friends of the attorneys calling — usually attorneys themselves — looking for the stash of Fen-phen we must surely have had or had access to.