Ozempic for PETS! Portly cats and dogs could soon be offered weight-loss jabs in bid to curb animal obesity crisis, drug firm claims
Pharmaceutical fat cats are already reaping the amazing benefits of weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, with pharmaceutical companies raking in a whopping £20bn from them this year.
But really fat cats – and portly puppies – could be a new group of ‘patients’ who could benefit from the slimming shots, according to experts.
British pets, like their owners, are getting fatter for many of the same reasons: they eat too much and don’t get enough exercise.
It seems inevitable that as more and more people switch to weight loss shots such as Wegovy and Ozempic, as well as rival Mounjaro, there will be increasing interest in using them on our four-legged friends.
Research shows that the battle against pet obesity, like the battle against human obesity, is getting worse.
Fat pups could one day be given an Ozempic-like drug to help them lose weight, just like their owners. Some companies are already investing millions in trials.
Fat cats can also be found among pharmaceutical giants, with a clinical trial showing that an Ozempic-like drug caused cats to lose 5 percent of their weight
According to almost 150 vets surveyed by UK Pet Food, an estimated 50 percent of dogs and 43 percent of cats are overweight or obese.
And of the veterinarians surveyed, 77 percent said they believe the prevalence of obesity among pets has increased.
Professor Alex German, an expert in small animal medicine from the University of Liverpool who runs a specialist obesity clinic for dogs and cats, is one who believes we could one day see our pets given drugs like Ozempic.
He believes that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, could limit pets’ appetites just like in humans and therefore could be an effective treatment for obesity in some cases.
However, he added that this would depend on whether it has been shown to be both safe and effective in laboratory animals.
Professor German added that although dietary medications for pets have been launched in the past, an oral drug called Slentrol, and have not been successful, he believed that owners and veterinarians would be more likely to accept them in the Ozempic era.
“The idea that pet obesity is the fault and responsibility of the owner is incorrect, as it can be genetic and is more complex than owner failure. We need to support owners as best we can,” he said. The Telegraph.
Veterinarian Alicia Fox-Pitt agreed. She stated that she could use it in situations where an owner can no longer exercise their pet or control their diet.
“If a family member has dementia, he or she often forgets that he or she fed the dog,” she says.
It’s no surprise that pharmaceutical companies are already exploring Ozempic’s potentially lucrative market for pets.
Wegovy works by causing the body to produce a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which is released naturally from the gut after meals.
In February, Better Choice, a pet pharmaceutical company, announced it was doing just that.
‘The aim of the research and development work is to mirror the weight loss benefits of leading pet and human brands, including Slentrol, Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro, with added protein and nutrients from the company’s halo products to promote lean muscle and overall muscle mass. pet health,” according to a company statement.
Better Choice is putting its money where its mouth is and plans to spend $1.5 million (£1.185 million) on trials for a pet-based GLP-1 agonist. This is the class of drugs that also includes Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Some companies are already testing them. In May of this year, biotech company Okava Pharmaceuticals announced the results of a small trial in which they implanted a GLP-1 agonist delivery system in cats and then measured their weight for 112 days.
At the end of the study, published in the journal BMC Veterinary Research and involving five cats, four of them lost 5 percent of their body weight.
However, Professor German said he would probably still advise pet owners to follow a weight loss diet to help overweight animals lose weight.
Among the methods he uses for dogs are special diets, training programs tailored to the breed and size of the pet, and methods to extend eating time, such as puzzle feeders that require the animal to manually retrieve food from a special bowl.
He argued that this could cause overweight pets to lose 20 to 25 percent of their body weight and gain greater mobility and quality of life.
‘A therapeutic diet is safe and effective. Since we already have an option that can work as well as drug treatment, why rush to use it? [weight loss drugs]?,’ he said.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recommends that dogs get at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.
The advice for cats is more general, but the foundation states that our feline friends should still have sufficient opportunities to exercise every day, such as climbing and playing.
GLP-1 agonists work by mimicking a hormone the body naturally releases to tell us we are full.
Weekly injections such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have been shown to be very effective in helping obese people shed excess pounds, with some people losing up to 22.5 percent of their weight while taking them.
However, as with any drug, side effects have been reported. For example, some Hollywood stars are said to lose control over their bowel movements.
Officials advise people who take medications to continue taking them for the rest of their lives, or they’ll pile the pounds back on. This rule may also apply to pets who take these medications.
Drugs like Ozempic were originally designed to help people with diabetes manage their condition, but it was discovered that the treatment also led to weight loss.
The huge demand, including among those who use it for cosmetic reasons, has led to some diabetes patients running out.
As production ramps up, opening the pet market could increase supply even further.
Skyrocketing demand has also led to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk’s profits soaring, thanks to the huge appetite for the Ozempic and Wegovy vaccines.
Earlier this year the Danish company announced it was making £32m a day as countries struggling with the financial costs of fat tissue fight to get their hands on the vaccines.
Analysis shows that the combined sales of the Ozempic and Wegovy brands have generated £20.5 billion this year.
Ozempic contains the active ingredient semaglutide and although it is classified as a diabetes drug, some people use it for weight loss. Could we soon be giving it to pets?
British pets are doing better than their owners when it comes to keeping their excess fat under control, with two-thirds of all adult British pets now overweight.
It is well known that obesity increases the risk of serious health problems that can damage the heart, such as high blood pressure, and cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK, being overweight is the cause of one in 20 cases of cancer in the UK.
The cost of Britain’s obesity crisis is estimated at almost £100 billion a year.
This enormous amount includes the health damage to the NHS, but also secondary economic effects such as loss of income due to people being sick and dying prematurely.