Female Heart Disease, Exercise Your Pet

Today I read a great article about one of the few female heart surgeons in the USA. She is Kathy Magliota, M.D. and her not only is her goal to be the best surgeon possible she is also intent on eliminating her profession, well sort of. She is appalled that most women are not aware that heart failure causes more deaths than any other disease, including all cancers. She says that cancer awareness programs are so much more organized and do their job very well. She wishes that the same was true for heart failure. She also says being over 55 is the age is the start of the critical age for this disease. Now here is the inspiring part of Dr. Magliota’s story, she is married to a liver transplant surgeon and they have two children. So, the most frequently ask question to her is “how do you balance all that you have going on in your life and still stay healthy, especially taking care of your heart?” She says that first, she is not 55 yet and she eats lean meat and lots of veggies, second, she doesn’t have a family history of heart disease or diabetes. Also, she does not go to a gym for exercise but does wear a pedometer all day and makes sure that she walks at least 10,000 steps per day. What a gal, keep up the good work Dr. Magliota, you are a breath of fresh air for the health care industry.

On this site I am always talking about your exercise program or how you can sneak in some kind of heart pumping (called aerobic) activity in your life, but I have only touched on taking you companion animal out for some exercise. Here are some pointers for helping to reduce obesity, diabetes and heart disease in your pet(s). Plus, you will also benefit with some of these activities:

1. Take your pet on a daily walk or run, which ever fits your current fitness level at this time. The fresh air and regular exercise will be good for both master and pet.
2. Regular vet visits are very important to include the annual physical exam.
3. You should also give plenty attention to your pets psychological needs. With Boston Terriers (our choice of pet they always get their attention since they demand it and are very giving themselves. Cats on the other hand have their own way of affection.
4. Spray or neuter if you don’t have plans for breeding.
5. Feed your pet a vital diet, possibly a combination of canned or dry pet foods.
6. Maintain optimum weight—while our female Boston stay mighty slim our older male Boston is a larger boned dog, so he carries more weight. We do watch him closely and a few times the vet has said that Buffman needs to lose a few pounds. So, we watch his food consumption and get him out for a good run.

Like any exercise program if the pet hasn’t exercised in a while and you decide on doing this for them please make sure that they have a physical exam and they are ready for some sunlight.

Mike Greer