MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I know there are various issues around the reasons why humans get fat/why they can't lose weight. But with pets (unless someone is feeding your pet without your knowledge, as does sometimes happen with cats that wander into other houses) they only eat what their owners give them, so there should be no excuse for having an overweight/obese pet, surely?
My MIL has a collie x dog, who should be naturally quite slim and athletic, but this poor dog is a barrel! Vet has told her to change the dog's diet etc, but she won't. Her last dog developed diabetes, poor thing, because she let him get overweight and eat all sorts of things he shouldn't have been eating, and she only changed his diet when he got ulcers on his legs and the vet said he was close to needing to be put to sleep 🙁
Her vet told her that she needed to sort the weight problem out and she didn't, it's been getting worse, so he told her in fairly graphic detail the health problems the dog could have if it wasn't tackled. Her response was to change her vet! She told us about this and OH said to her the vet was right to say that and why was she still overfeeding the dog when she had been told not to. Her response was to tell us that she wasn't going to "starve and deprive" the dog like we do for the sake of it being skinny and making the vet happy. Our 8 y o Rottie/Lab x has been confirmed as a healthy weight, has no health problems and even looks like a younger dog, according to our vet. Both breeds are prone to weight gain and joint problems so we have always been conscious of preventing those.
I think there's a feeder gene in the family, as BIL's wife is really obese but their house is always full of ice cream, pizza and Coke. Sadly their son is going the same way too. The weird thing is that MIL and BIL are skinny. They just seem to like to feed other people/pets.
Thank Christ we don't live near them!
Pics of fat the dog please.
they only eat what their owners give them
You're joking aren't you?
Well my dog only eats what he gets at home, unless you count him eating grass when he's out on a walk, but last time I checked grass was not going to make anyone fat....
He will steal food off the kitchen side if he can get to it, so if we leave it within dog reach then it's our fault!
Pets can hardly wander off to McDonalds to buy a Big Mac with their pocket money now can they?
Our pooch is slightly overweight at the moment, and I mean slightly, like 400-500g, she should weigh ~2.9Kg, she's currently at about 3.3Kg, it's flippin' difficult to manage the weight of a dog that small, when she can lose a significant chunk of her body weight by doing a big poo!
But in ref to your OP, it does seem to be a common problem as a lot of cats and dogs end up overweight, and if it happens slowly it's easy for owners to miss and see it is a normal and be in denial, ignoring advice form family is one thing but why people ignore vet's advice I do not know 🙁
I checked grass was not going to make anyone fat....
My student days would say otherwise 😉
We adopted a dog a year ago that was just over a 1000g over weight and its been a battle to gt her to where she needs to be.
My student days would say otherwise
LOL
Agreed it's not easy, our dog was getting a bit overweight at one point and it took him nearly a year to lose the 3 kilos the vet said he needed to drop with him getting on a bit. Admittedly he's a bigger dog so it doesn't show on him so much. But we agreed that it was more important for him to be healthy in his older years (and for us to avoid massive vet bills) than it was for him to have loads of treats and leftovers.
MIL also too scared of other dogs to allow hers to walk off-lead, which also means she doesn't get to run around and burn it off as much.
Its an old woman thing, my mum's labradors were all fat. I think it's a misplaced nurturing instinct or something.
You're joking aren't you?
I don't think there's nutritional value in the soft furnishings.
ell my dog only eats what he gets at home, unless you count him eating grass when he's out on a walk, but last time I checked grass was not going to make anyone fat....
That's your dog. My dog will steal anything left lying around as dogs do being scavengers.
Both of mine are horrendous thieves and find all kinds of dead things to eat whilst out of walks, I reckon I only feed them 80% of there food intake.
They both have a keen eye on the blackberries at the moment and are eagerly awaiting this years harvest; as they have finished off all the apples they can get by shaking the trees.
Both are a healthy weight though (One's 29 kgs and the other is just under 40kg), although one is a bit 'chunky' but you can still feel ribs, you just can't see them clearly.
Our dog is too cute for his own good. There's isn't anyone on the park who doesn't give him a biscuit. He's still a healthy weight though, you can see his ribs.
Most people that I know overfeed their dogs and think a 5 mins walk around the block constitutes enough exercise. Our neighbour told me yesterday morning that I was being cruel making the dog run 14 miles with me, luckily she didn't see me take the dog out later on in the day for another hour (I was on my bike this time) or I might have received a visit from the RSPCA. The neighbours dog is unsurprisingly a right fatty.
They both have a keen eye on the blackberries at the moment and are eagerly awaiting this years harvest; as they have finished off all the apples they can get by shaking the trees.
Ahh, you see mine won't eat fruit apart from grapes. He will scavenge the occasional dropped ice cream or sandwich crust in the park though. If dogs have access to things they can scavenge, of course they will. As stated above, mine will steal food at home if he can get to it so it's up to us to ensure he can't get to things in the kitchen. Mostly if people want to give him treats in the park, they will ask before doing so, and I'll usually say yes unless it's something that's totally unsuitable, like if it contains bones he could choke on. (KFC leftovers therefore a no-no).
What MIL feeds her dog is high-carb, high fat (bowls of milk, buttered toast, buttered potato, chips from the chippy, for example). Coupled with not getting sufficient exercise, that's why the dog is well overweight, and I'd argue that the vast majority of that is within her control, even if the dog occasionally finds bits and pieces on the pavement or whatever.
bowls of milk, buttered toast, buttered potato, chips from the chippy
😯
Ahh, you see mine won't eat fruit apart from grapes.
aren't grapes poisonous to dogs?
Don't give grapes to your dog they are not good for them.
We're lucky in that our dog is naturally busy all the time, he rarely stops apart from late evening and to sleep overnight, so he burns off whatever we feed him. We do only give him two small meals a day though. Nothing else.
It should be easy to manage in theory, just cut down the rations, and walk them more, although dogs can be very persuasive when they're standing their licking their empty bowl and looking all hard done by.
Mine only gets grapes when I visit my dad, as he has vines in his garden and the dog spends hours gently picking the grapes off.
Can you tell I had a bbq yesterday, and didn't put the bbq back in the shed.....
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I said he likes grapes; that does not mean that I give them to him!
Grapes & even raisins can cause liver failure in dog apparently, [url= http://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/digestive/e_dg_grape_raisin_toxicity ]opps[/url] [s]but I imagine one now and again isn't going to hurt[/s] (any vets in?) and it very funny watching a dog try to figure out what he has in his mouth and then it eventually bursting.. My little ****er has been eating my raspberry's direct from the plants, which is quite annoying.
As to the OP, I think it's animal cruelty, report them.
I will simply add that dogs are one thing but it's exceedingly hard to get a cat to lose weight. They have an impressive ability to reduce their calorie output in-line with their reduced intake.
Mine likes fruit too. He seems to love figs but thankfully hasn't realised that they grow well within reach on the fig tree.
Dog are no different from us, more in than out and they get fat. Let the dog run, take it somewhere quiet if you're scared of other dogs. Or just feed it less, it's not hard.
but last time I checked grass was not going to make anyone fat....
never seen a fat sheep? It does tend to come straight out of a dog (either end) and not digested though 😀
Allowing an animal to get that overweight is cruelty.
Cut out the "little tit-bits" and remember everything you give to a dog is the equivalent to eating 5-10x that "tit-bit" yourself. eg a human biscuit is like eating 5-10 biscuits yourself.
Grapes and anything grape based can be lethal to dogs. Just like chocolate.
also check the labels of dog treats, their contents vary massively (just like human treats).
Exercise, but regular and build it up. We used to look after a black lab that was getting a bit portly, after 2 weeks with us and our springer it lost a lot of weight and the owners kept up with the weight loss and ever since it could move around so much better, no longer running like a cow, and has added years of healthy life to her.
My little **** has been eating my raspberry's direct from the plants, which is quite annoying.
Our spaniel helps herself to tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce straight from the garden/greenhouse. She has to have a carrot after breakfast every morning and absolutely loves veg scraps and cleaning the mango stone.
Well a tumour on the liver seems to be an effective weight loss plan
🙁
My Heinz 57 bull terrier-thing-dog has lost 10kg. Don't think he's got long left now.
My Heinz 57 bull terrier-thing-dog has lost 10kg. Don't think he's got long left now.
Sorry to hear that 🙁
My new puppy loves figs. And pretty much anything else he can get into his mouth, must be said.
When our Labrador become fat as a barrel, the vet immediately asked "Have you been feeding her Baker's Complete?"
Apparently that was the cause of almost every dog she saw that had put on a lot of weight. Changed the food and the dog slimmed back down within a few months.
🙁
It's a difficult one. I'm in a similar situation with someone living close to me. Very overweight and unhealthy looking pooch that barely gets exercised. The sad thing is that the owners have plenty of money to afford dog walkers and a proper diet but they don't. In two years I've only once seen the owner walking the dog outside.
I appreciate going to the RSPCA/SSPCA might be difficult given the close relationship. Do you have the option to take her dog if/when she goes on holiday? Not a long term solution I know, but a couple of weeks on a good diet with regular exercise might show her the change in the dogs mood and wellbeing.
If your dog is stealing food off tables or counter-tops, you could try what was suggested by Guide Dogs when we were puppy walking and had a theif. Ryvita or similar spread with chilli powder left in a tempting spot. A couple of those and your dog will go off stealing food.
My sisters retriever likes eating gooseberries straight off the bush 🙂
Cheers, Rich
My Heinz 57 bull terrier-thing-dog has lost 10kg. Don't think he's got long left now.
Poor thing, sorry to hear that 🙁
When our Labrador become fat as a barrel, the vet immediately asked "Have you been feeding her Baker's Complete?"
The list of ingredients in that are a bit scary, colours, additives, added sugar....:-O
If your dog is stealing food off tables or counter-tops, you could try what was suggested by Guide Dogs when we were puppy walking and had a theif. Ryvita or similar spread with chilli powder left in a tempting spot. A couple of those and your dog will go off stealing food.
Depends on if you want to come home to a mountain of shit on the floor I guess as chilli goes straight through them in the same way as it does to us.
Mine once stole a jar of Dijon mustard and appears to quite like the taste as he ate the whole lot.
I appreciate going to the RSPCA/SSPCA might be difficult given the close relationship.
Might be a wake-up call though?
Difficult isn't it, they're basically killing it with kindness. Can't say 'no' to its sad, hungry little eyes so they stuff cake down its throat and only walk it a bit so that it doesn't get tired.
They're treating their dogs like children, but dogs aren't little people, they're dogs. Treating them differently doesn't have to equate to treating them poorly.
We have been limiting the amount of food that our giant schnauzer gets - two scoops of dog food per day.
Turns out that the hound is getting chubby again as our six yr old has been giving the dog two scoops of food a day as well as a part of her perceived list of chores.
The dog was happy...
had my dogs nuts off last week and a bit worried as have been told he will gain weight. should i reduce his food intake or carry on with the same amount of food. 3 mugs of complete in the morning and 4 in the evening with a tin of pilchards. 3 1/2 yr old great dane 64 kg approx. should of asked the vet really. allways had bitches in the past and not great danes.
I tend to look at the protein content of what I feed my two spaniels, 17% protein off season, 25% protein when working, that way they get similar amounts of feed, but don't put on weight.