chubby pets
 

My family had an overweight boxer for a while named Tara. My mom's motto was "They only live so short and they love the food!" So we spoiled her and she got fat for a few years. I started reading up on it though and it is actually not fair to the dog at all to do this, it increases all types of health risks and the truth is, they PHYSICALLY cannot control their eating habits (their instincts do) so it is in fact CRUEL to have an overweight pet. We got Tara on a healthier diet and stopped feeding her all our leftovers after dinner and she's at a healthy weight and she's also 13 years old right now (life expectancy for a boxer is only 12). So please people, even if we have trouble managing our own weights, please be responsible with your pets.

I'm sure there are very few people here who know their pet is overweight and do nothing to work on it. Unfortunately, especially with cats but also with some dogs, it isn't so easy as being "responsible". My cat is fed less calories per day than our vet recommends, in a food trap so he has to exercise/play to get at it. Still, he is extremely overweight. We have been working on the issue for several years, and we have stopped the gain, but have not gotten him to lose weight no matter what we try.

My childhood dog was put on phenobarbitol for seizures. This drug caused him to gain weight (it is a downer). We were able to control it somewhat with diet and plenty of walks, but he will remain overweight as long as he is on the phenobarbitol. I personally think it is crueler for a dog to suffer from seizures than to be overweight.

Please consider that there may be individual circumstances you are not aware of that have nothing to do with cruelty and responsibility before judging people with overweight pets. Just like with our own weight, our pet's weight is a more complicated issue than just "feed them less".

I'm not sure about dogs, but agree with Mandalinn when it comes to cats.

I have six. They all eat exactly the same food from the same dishes and they do not get treats. One is overweight; the rest are not. She is one of the younger ones and one of the more active ones too and started gaining after she was spayed. Unfortunately that seems to happen to a lot of females of many species -- although I have had cats in the past that did not develop the problem.

Just like with people, they are all different, and I imagine that's true for dogs as well. Although I have heard that dogs are somewhat more prone to eat everything on their plate regardless of hunger; whereas cats usually do not eat beyond satiety.

My dear Miss Callie is chubby. In fact, she has what we term, a "dog gut". We portion out her cat food, which is the dietary cat food available by prescription through our vet, twice a day and she eats less than the amount recommended for weight loss by our vet. She never gets table scraps (none of our four cats do). She goes outside every single day for a few hours of exercise. The ONLY treat she gets is a tablespoon of diet canned cat food, again prescribed and purchased through our vet. And she is CHUBBY.
Interestingly, we have her mother here and her half-sister. Her mother is thin, thin, thin, and eats the same if not more than Callie. Her half-sister is within normal weight limits, eats the same as Callie, but supplements her diet with mice (Blech!). Samuel, our male cat, eats the same, and is higher in weight BUT is a solid, muscular little boy (not neutered until he was an adult). I would LOVE to have Callie be a normal weight. I'm at my wits end with her. I've done all I can do. I think that in Callie's situation, nature is at work. Our vet says that calicos tend to be a heavier cat, so we just plug away as best we can. And we still love our chubby monkey!
Maya
:)

Just coincidentally . . . my "chubby" is also a Calico . . . that's her in my avatar. But I did, years ago, have a pair of Calico litter-mates who did not gain an ounce after spaying. :dunno:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../cheetos-1.jpg

now this is my cat cheetos! lol he is tippin the scales big time! im not sure what he weights i adopted him from my sister! :)

I know how serious the issue is--but I will say, mine came to me (adopted) weighing 32lbs, so technically, I got him below that, even though he's still overweight.

I know how much a concern it is--I heard every 1lb overweight in a dog is like 10 on a human, so my dog is indeed overweight. BUT, I can still feel his ribs, which is a good sign and I take efforts to improve his diet.

It's hard finding the right mix for each animal, almost as it is for each individual.

Be upset with those who keep the bad habits, not those who try to find their way out of them.

Sounds Silly But It Works!!!
 

Let me tell you I get some of the strangest looks when I go shopping for my dog's food. :eek:

The vet was very upset about my dog's weight and he was insisting on a perscription diet food, well I know my pooch and as chubby as he was he can get very picky, so since I had just found him a commercial lower cal kibbel he liked, plus who wants to pay those high cost special foods!!!!???

I told the vet I wanted to try my mother's suggestion first and when I told him, the look on his face was of horror... :fr: so he said fine, but in 6 months if no change "YOU ARE GOING TO BUY THIS FOOD!!"

My mother has always been a big Prevention magazine reader and into vitamins and suppliments. So she said two vegitables good for dogs are carrots and green beans.

So my pooch gets a fistful of green beans at lunch time, and then before his kibble he gets a small bowl and then his allotted 3 cups of kibble,

he lost 25 % of his body weight in less than a year!!!
and he thinks he is getting a major treat!!! He LOVES greenbeans, many times he wont eat his kibble unless he has gotten his beans!!! :drool:

I figure that we eat salads before dinner, and extra veggies to fill up on so it make sense to me.

So when I go to the BJs and get 2 dozen cans of commercial sized of beans, people comment that I must really love green beans and when I tell them, I think they think I am kidding at first.

Hey I works for us!! !:broc: He also loves brocolli too!!

but they must be cooked for him, but I have met people who say their dogs will eat raw carrots like bones. They only raw mine will eat is when he shares my salads, with dressing!:hungry:

My 5 year old chihuahua is considered "obese" at 11.5 lbs and I only feed her once per day. She was spade last week and the vet recommended I put her her on a reduced calorie prescription Science Diet dog food so I bought it. Ten pounds was almost $25 but she is worth it!

Wow, I'll suggest these to my mom. My parents' dog is quite fat and I'm reallly worried she might get health problems down the line. She's been that was since she was spayed, and I try to walk her a lot every time I visit but nothing works. She's pretty active and stuff but just doesn't lose the weight.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...h_DSC00004.jpg
Here she is. She is the friendliest dog ever. ^_^