Obesity

[milos_mommy]

at the vets office yesterday, every SINGLE dog in the waiting room, save for a 4 month old bichon, was overweight. I'm not talking kind of overweight, i'm talking OBESE. When Milo went in, the vet said "Swimming is keeping his weight down, he's very trim and fit", granted Milo's leg muscles are hard as bricks, so i figured he was just commenting because of how muscular and lean he is, but when my mom brought her Wheaten, who is average weight, not really muscular or active or anything, but far from fat, he commented that Benji's weight was great too.

A gaint schanuzer, i'm not even going to guess this dogs weight, i'm going to say around 100 lbs, a small miniature poodle who had a body like a sausage, a bulldog, probably not much taller than Milo, looked like it weighed a good 60 lbs, a doberman weighing in at 104lbs, "still chunky, but much better than 2005" is what the vet said, a cocker and cocker mix who were both on the chubby side, some sort of ENORMOUS mixed breed, who was so fat it could hardly walk.

Oh, there was a sheltie who was healthy looking...

Are dogs all obese everywhere, or just around here??

 

[britishbandit]

No, there are obese dogs all over. I get quite disgusted at times. And the sad thing is, if you comment on them, say something to the owner like "Man that dog is HUGE!", they usually respond with "Thank you!". Errrr?!?! I didn't mean it like it was a good thing. Sometimes they say "Well he/she is spoiled, and gets a lot of treats". Well IMO, that's not spoiling a dog, that's giving your dog health problems.

Sometimes, on very rare occasions, it's a health problem that is the cause, and the owner is trying to get their dogs weight down, but as for the majority around here, it seems to them, the bigger the better. *sigh* At Petsmart one day last year, I saw all kinds of overweight dogs. A Bernese that looked about 200lbs, at first I thought maybe it was just all hair, but he was in for a trim, and looked even worse when he was done. He was straining to walk, and yelped a few times along the way, my guess is he was in pain. A Rottweiler at about 160lbs, and looked terrible. A weim that that looked like it had a beach ball inside it's belly. I mean all kinds of breeds that were just grossly overweight.

 

[Melissa_W]

It's pretty common I think. The fittest looking dogs I see are at the dog park.

When the vet examined Kai, at first he said he was under weight. Then he changed his mind, saying that he thought he was just right. He said that he was so used to seeing overweight dogs, he was starting to forget what a fit dog felt/looked like. Sad.

 

[ihartgonzo]

Yes. At the dog park even, I notice that MOST of the dogs are overweight, when I pet them. Only a few... and those dogs are usually puppies... have ribs/spine that are palpable.

I think it's just as much of an epidemic as obesity is with people. Lazy people = lazy dogs. And, many people feed their dogs food that is high in sugars & fillers, which pack on unhealthy pounds.

I'm the opposite! I literally feel my dogs ribs pretty much every day, and I check the condition of their whole body weekly... then adjust their raw meals accordingly.

 

[mantine]

I think it is becoming a very bad trend with the dogs being over weight. I dont think people realize that 10 extra pounds on a mid size dog is like an extra 25-30 pounds on us. When I was younger we had a rottie mix with hip dysplasia and my moms husband would feed her pork rinds, one for him and then one for her...you get the point. It was hard enough for her just to walk to the corner and back with out being in pain an hour later, let alone with all the extra weight on her. I couldn't get him to stop.

People love thier dogs and just like parents and grandparents always want to feed their kids/grandkids they do it to their dogs cuz they "love them". Thats just my opinion.

 

[Beanie]

Vets also don't say anything.
Auggie went to the vet in January and weighed in at 23. TWENTY THREE. I saw that and thought "OMG... how did that happen??" I'm guessing he packed on the pounds over the winter just like we can, because he was stuck inside so much after the bad snow.
But the vet didn't say anything about it!! I was shocked that he didn't tell me he weighed too much. Sure, he wasn't obese or anything, but 23 was way too much for me to feel comfortable with. Auggie is a smallish dog so having him lose 4-5 pounds was rather hard... I'd hate to have thought about what might have happened if he actually got obese.

 

[jess2416]

Not to brag....

BUT I think Chloe is one of the fittest dogs I have ever seen, and I actually had someone ask me if I fed her everyday

YES I do feed her, she eats more than the average dog....

 

[Dekka]

I teach agility, and have had to tell people I won't let their dogs on the equip till they slim down. And many people will say..(now there dogs are not obese, just a bit fat) "but my vet says 'fluffy' is a fine weight" I smile and say vets are saying that for a pet dog.

 

[Kase]

When I work at the groomers there are soooo many dogs that weigh much more than they should do.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Vet tried to tell me Cider's obese. I had to ask if they ever get dogs with any coat in as she looks like a drowned rat when wet and I can feel her ribs quite easily..

Pet people constantly tell me she and now smudge can't be a cocker they aren't 'big enough' around......

 

[elegy]

Vets also don't say anything.

oh some do. and then they get backlash from offended owners. the one vet i work for puts "recommend weight loss" on probably 85% of the travel sheets for dogs he sees. the recommendation is keyed into the computer and then shows up on the owner's receipt. people get upset about it, and many of the dogs continue to get fatter. it's incredibly sad.

when i had luce down at the big referral hospital for her knee recheck there was a hugely fat intact male pit bull in the waiting area. he was just gross.

 

[Babyblue5290]

The small dogs around here are ALL obese. They range from obese to severely obese, or as I like to call them, walking tables!!

Though seriously, it's really sad Poor dogs!

I'm telling you though, I haven't seen a small dog around here that isn't at least overweight. The larger dogs here, some are some aren't. Mostly not though.

The ones that come into the shelter, all of the Malamutes I've seen where SEVERELY overweight! And I mean SEVERELY!

 

[drmom777]

Around here they are fat too, and boy do the owners get mad if you say anything about it. I am particularly upset when I see fat sporting dogs and hounds, I mean, every lab here is fat, but fat pointers and GSPs are pitiful. One person has an enormously obese Spinoni Italiano. Its a travesty. The poor thing looks like a gigantic bratwurst with legs. It can barely waddle.

Mt vet is also amazed at my trim pups. I keep Uncle Fred pretty thin, on the vets advice. Because of his early malnutrition and skeletal problems we don't want to put stress on his joints. Minnie is trim, too, and it isn't easy to keep her that way. Some people don't think she is a purebred beagle because she is slender and muscular and just isn't what they are used to seeing. It's pretty funny.

I think people just overfeed their dogs because they can't be troubled to entertain them im other ways. It's easier to throw your dog a few treats than take him out for a good run, or a rousing game of fetch. So I think a lot of it is pure laziness, the same thing that leads to obese kids.

 

[BostonBanker]

I'm the opposite! I literally feel my dogs ribs pretty much every day, and I check the condition of their whole body weekly... then adjust their raw meals accordingly.

I'm the same. I've been feeding slightly larger portions of RMB the last few days because I was trying to use some up, and have been panicked because I feel like she already looks heavier.

Darn, I wish someone else would control my food and weight that way .

 

[Laurelin]

Well, I think there's different reasons for a dog to be obese, not just because the owners are stupid.

Nikki is a tad bit... rotund... lol. She was always really skinny as a young dog, but she's had really bad joint problems in her old age, so she put on some weight. She has some really severe arthritis which she's on meds for but she still isn't very active anymore. She's had her food cut a lot lately, but she still hasn't lost anything. She swims occasionally, but even that causes her to be stiff for days so we don't even do that much anymore. Of course it didn't help that the old vet had ehr on steroids for her arthritis for a long time. *smacks head* But anyways, we're trying. Once again, another reason to buy from a good breeder who's dogs don't have joint problems. So far she hasn't gained anything in a long time, but she's still not losing anything. *sigh* Not trying to make excuses, but just trying to explain.

We do have a lot of fat dogs around here. And young ones too! My grandmother has a two year old rat terrier that makes Nikki look really skinny. That dog should not be overweight at all. She's young, and would be active, but she just gets a ton of treats and little exercise. And most vets DON'T say anything which is not good. Our old vet never mentioned it to us AND put her on steroids. (Not to mention other things)

 

[Laurelin]

Oh and what makes life fun is right now we have one overweight dog, two dogs I feel could gain some and one that feels just right to me.

Trey just will not gain weight no matter what. He eats like a horse.

 

[drmom777]

Sorry, Laurelin, I didn't mean to sound so strident. Of course you have to make exceptions for dogs that can't be active because of age or infirmity. We do the best we can. My big problem is keeping Minnie's nose out of Uncle Fred's food bowl.

One time she managed to escape and ate his food as well as hers. She was visibly rotund and had a strange waddle in her step all day, it didn't make her sick though. I figured that it was the equivalent of- if she usually ate two eggs and two pieces of toast for breakfast, suddenly deciding to have ten eggs and ten pieces of toast. Vomit inducing, no?

 

[Laurelin]

No worries, I'm not really sensitive about that topic, lol. It's just something I know is a problem with Nikki. It's just frusterating that it's hard to fix because she can't really do that much anymore. We took her to a surgeon to look at her back leg which is where she gets realyl stiff, but there's nothing they can do.

 

[CelticxConnections]

From what I see there are not a lot of fat dogs where I live. There are a few that are VERY nice looking even. Saddly I think it has something to do with the fact that some of these dogs do get out and run to "see the town".

Even at my 4-H there are not that many fat dogs. There are two pugs that could loose a few pounds, a HUGE lab, poor thing looks like a big box, and two goldens, one that is older. The other golden makes me sick, it weighs more than Baron (about 100lbs and he's a tall dog) and its owner brags about how big she is. Fat dogs make me sick.

 

[Zoom]

I have to do a double take when a fit dog comes in, because 97% of the dogs I see are fat if not grossley obese. I actually got written up because I refused to feed the 47 lb beagle 1 1/4 cups THREE times a day. The last time she came in, it was only 3/4 cup TID. I said I would do what she was on the previous visit, I could not in good conscience feed her double. Silly me. We also have a golden mix that comes in that is 105 pounds. Should be 50lbs. Mom says he has a "thyroid problem"...and is still eating 6 cups of food a day. I call him Coffeetable.

It turns my stomach to see dogs this big, to hear them wheeze when they waddle from their room to their daycare area and then not be able to play because they're out of breath and about to have a heart attack.