Goya and the dog

"The parasol" , one of the paintings that remains at my granny's house. My mum brought it one day from the El Prado museum, a lithograph to decorate our small living room with an electric brasserie under the table.

I remember spending hours mesmerized at the smiles, the colors and the little black spot on the lady's skirt.....soon after, I was 4 years old probably,  I was able to be more assertive with my art admiration  and discovered that it was a dog! a dog!! that little thing looking like a "churro" (Spanish type of fried flour doughnut)
From the very same day that I discovered that that little thing at the bottom was a dog, my imagination went flying and had dreams of going for walks with that dog in the meadows of the peripheral San Isidro park in Madrid.
Every day for 10 years I admired the painting in the small living room, hearing the laughs of the couple and the barking of Perla the dog ...yes I named him as if he was mine.
So Perla or Perli, or Negrito, watched me with his lively eyes and silky coat under the Spanish sun, how I will do my homework and eat my afternoon snack.
I wanted to be the lady with the umbrella , I wanted to have Perli  sleeping placidly curled up in my long dress on a Sunday morning.
So I suppose that that dog was one of the first animals in my life, true, in a Goya's painting but I must say he has always been alive and barking in my dreams and in my mind.
Perli you will be glad to know now that I have become a vet!!

The incidence of certain chronic diseases in pets has skyrocketed up to 90 per cent in the past five years Banfield Pet Hospital points out spectacular increases in obesity and arthritis in dogs and cats

The prevalence of chronic diseases in pets has grown dramatically in recent years. The increase in longevity of pets in part thanks to the improved veterinary care that they receive puts them at the same level as people in this type of problems.

News on PRNewswire.com web highlights a publication done by the American company Banfield Pet Hospital of a study on how the incidence of chronic diseases in dogs and cats is evolving.

The State of Pet Health 2012 Report has been carried out on patient files from veterinary centres Bandfield Pet Hospital Network, with data collected since 2007. A total of 2 million dogs and almost 430,000 patients cats of the American Veterinary network have served to estimate the prevalence of overweight, arthritis, and chronic kidney, thyroid, and heart problems.

The Figures in that study are worrying: the number of overweight dogs has grown up to 37% since 2007, while that of cats has done so in a 90%! The prevalence of arthritis, the second chronic disease that is most spread, has increased a 38% in dogs and a 67% in cats in the last five years.

And data relating to the owners are, perhaps, more worrying, because according to the State of Pet Health 2012 Report only 36% of the owners of these  dogs and 28% of the cat owners say that they will take their pet to the vet to control these problems.

All chronic diseases studied are closely related: 40% dogs with arthritis are also overweight, as well as the 37% cats; 42% dogs and 40% of diabetic cats are overweight; 40%of dogs with high blood pressure are overweight; and 60% of dogs with hypothyroidism are also overweight.

Data on the increase in overweight and obesity in pets, which affects one of every five dogs or cats in United States correlate fairly well with the increase of this diseases amongst the citizens of that country, according to data that the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides. The 35.7%adult Americans are obese or suffer from overweight.