Why don't they understand they're killing him?

[louis mum]

Its awful and makes me mad. 

I opened our local newspaper the other day and there was a photo of the fatest dog I have ever seen.  The picture was really bad, the link below is related to that article, regarding a new slimmimg pill for dogs. 

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/tm_method=full&objectid=20359666&siteid=50061-name_page.html

[Cob-Web]

Earlier last year, the owners of Rusty, an overweight Labrador, were found guilty of animal cruelty after they failed to follow the advice of their vet and Rusty continued to put on weight despite their being warned 

It cost the RSPCA £12,000 in legal bills (they also cared for Rusty for 8 months and he lost 3.5 stone while he was there); and the sentence/costs awarded were  £250 paid by each owner to the RSPCA, and they both received a conditional discharge - Rusty will be regularly monitored by the RSPCA and if he puts on weight again they will go back to court and face a different sentence 

[Penelope]

My husband and I are both overweight but TBH it makes us more paranoid about our dogs NOT being overweight!  Josie is a springer x lab (looks like a lab with springer legs and ears) and loads of people compliment us on her size as she is quite sleek.  However she is very lucky as if she does gain a bit and look a  bit wider round the waist, we just cut down on her food for a couple of days and it shifts really quickly and easily (wish I could do the same!)
Josie weighs 26k, Suki weighs 23K and Buffy only weighs 9K - have no idea what Poppy weighs, but she is really titchy so not worried about it yet anyway.
Vets should not be afraid to tell owners they are killing their pets with kindness - hopefully people would at least listen if their vet told them?

[KellyS]

 My vet does but alot of people don't listen or watch the weight for a little while and then slip back, he gets all sorts of excuses I'm having to watch Tarka at the moment as he is too porky, he keeps pinching his sisters food.

As for slimming pills for dogs!

[cockahoot]

The crazy thing is, Billy's mum goes to a slimming club to try and lose weight herself, as I do and its darn hard sometimes, much easier to control your dog's weight.   I know Billy is loved, just in the wrong way

[joanne_v]

No excuse for overweight dogs. I stuff my own face quite happily but would never allow my dogs to be a bit chubby let alone obese. They are very slim and thats the way I like it. There's no easy way to tell other owners that their dog needs to lose weight. I've tried the subtle approach with some clients but it doesnt make any diference. If their dogs were seriously overweight I'd take a stronger approach but the dogs arent that bad, just slightly above normal.

[Doggone Mad]

I hate seeing barrel-tummyed dogs - it is SO cruel  , but some owners just can't see that. 

[Bev_M]

I don't understand it either - my friend has a lab that is so overweight it looks old and ill. We have told her but she doesn't listen.

[Joelf]

That's really dreadful.......almost 29kgs is nearly as heavy as Spike (he's 30kgs) & a full grown lab!! Certainly a cocker shouldn't be as heavy as that!!

I do think the owners don't realise how much weight their dog is carrying & also how harmful it is for them in terms of the strain on their body's vital organs (as it can be for us!! )

They will certainly shorten it's life.

[Bev]

we took arnie to get weighed on saturday and he is 18.6 kgs .and we thought he was over weight the nurse said arnie was ok as he is tall and solid .but we are just going to keep an eye on it

[PennyB]

I was at the vets with Wilf where he does his acupunture/water treadmill and vet was telling me to up his protein level and put more weight on him while she led out a poor cocker that could hardly walk he was so big

I think the problem is people don't exercise them enough and feel they should give them treats all the time and thei rfood on top of the dog's regular meals

Mine are now 10.2 (Wilf) and 10.4 (Roobs)

[cockahoot]

How awful am I? on several occasions I've even considered contacting the RSPCA and these are my friends.   

[Jane S]

I have a Cocker boy come to me for grooming who was horrendously fat (I could hardly lift him onto the table!) and the owner denied he was overweight for ages, even saying the vet had said he was just right (which I very much doubt!). He was being fed one of the worst cheap brands of supermarket dog food and the children were also apparently continually dropping food on the floor to him. I'd virtually given up on any of my dire warnings about his weight shortening his life having any effect but I saw him today and he looked a different dog He's lost 4 kgs and is so much livelier than he was thanks to a new diet and no more titbits. So sometimes, you can get through to people - it just might take a while

[emilyjw]

Maybe mention that someone else may well call the RSPCA as it is cruelty... and as you now how much they love their dog how awful that would be...

My dogs eat a damn site better diet than me... they are the perfect shape, I am running a slimming thread on here...

I just can't bring myself to just eat kibble....

[happydog]

My dogs eat a damn site better diet than me... they are the perfect shape, I am running a slimming thread on here...

I just can't bring myself to just eat kibble....

I think I could force the kibble down if I had to. It's the leaping into cold muddy ditches and puddles and rolling in and eating horse poo that I would find tough