I am so upset reading my TV mag to see that this programme shows a 14.5 stone rottie who eats 16lb of steak and chocolate each week!

Disgusting!

I know, i've just seen it in the tv mag.....it's so sad, i'll be watching the programme :-)

it really annoyed me to, how can a dog have a happy fulfulling life, as it probably cant go for a walk or gets so stressed on it's walk.  apparently its the programme that is a spin off of its me or the dog, according to an email i received through college for volunteers
sarah and Keisha

Apparently they stopped taking entries for the Guiness book of  world records for "biggest pet" as people were feeding them up on purpose to get in the book

Flippin' 'eck - these people must be loaded!  I wonder if the owners are overweight as well.  When obese children are hightlighted on TV aren't the parents usually on the large size too?

I am making sure my mother in law watches this. Her Cavalier weighs in at 16 kgs -when she got him (aged 5) he was perfect and weighed 8! :rolleyes: Anyway, we have had many discussions with our vet about this dog, and he says in his experience it is a classic case: very thin old lady with very fat dog. He says it's almost always the same -thin owner gives all the food to the dog. I can imagine it -my own dogs are never the slightest bit over weight, but me myself.........well!

Do these stupid people not realise that they are slowly killing their dogs??...  feeding the dogs lbs and lbs of chocolate?? What's wrong with these ridiculous, thick people!!!!!!!

Feeding lots of of chocolate may well turn it into a QUICK death as well.

IMO letting a dog get obese is as much cruelty as starving them...your still shortening their life.Saying they didn't kow any beter or felt sorry for the dog when it begs etc is no excuse
Archer

I bet the owners will be all laughing and joking on the programme and so proud that they are on the tv, showing off their fat dogs and thinking they are brilliant!

LOSERS!!!!! The whole lot of them!

Hey guys,

I agree with most of what's been said BUT before we all start name-calling, a lot of the things that we know now about nutrition and what NOT to feed is relatively new on the scene. Take the old lady with the fat dog, she needs information, not being called ridiculous. There are lots of things going on in the background that could have a direct influence on what and how much she feeds. What i mean is that if someone is elderly and on their own, their dog may be their main thing in life, if they have never been told that bad nutrition will cause health problems/shorter life, how would they know?
Its only relatively recently that the whole thing about chocolate/grapes etc, has been widely reported. Unless you are 'in the know' there are still plenty of people out there who have never heard of this.

Thats not to say that I think it's excusable, I own Labradors and CRINGE at what people feed their own Labs, no wonder there are so many obese ones out there!

Just a thought chaps

Ali :)

Take the old lady with the fat dog, she needs information, not being called ridiculous. There are lots of things going on in the background that could have a direct influence on what and how much she feeds. What i mean is that if someone is elderly and on their own, their dog may be their main thing in life, if they have never been told that bad nutrition will cause health problems/shorter life, how would they know?

Yes you are right and some people just can't do it all the same, even with being told. I don't wish to speak ill of my mother in law because she means well, but 2 years ago when her dog had gained so much weight the vet told her (via us, she cannot go herself as she is disabled) that he could not clean the dog's teeth as anaesthetic would be too dangerous. The teeth needed cleaning, so she was told she had to get the weight down. In fact  we started to supply her with the food to give him, in exact measurements, and told her the strict orders were that he was to have NOTHING else -nothing at all.

The next year he had gained more weight. By now we were getting desperate, and this is a Cavalier, so needless to say by then the heart had started to show a murmur.  Again strong measures -not only I  and hubby but grandson all went together to the vet, all went back with messages to mother in law. The dog MUST lose weight or he WILL DIE. By now we all figured real shock tactics was the one and only solution.

One year later and the dog had gained another 2 kilos! :rolleyes:

It isn't even as if she can go out and buy dog treats -WE do her shopping! She can't buy unsitable dog food -WE buy it. (And yes, of course the dog gets walked by other people.) But she simply gives him her OWN dinner. She's in total denial, always saying he's not fat at ALL.

It's awful,this is a dog that would for a Cav have had a good heart had he been the correct weight. As it is now, the vet has given up, saying all we can tell her now is that one day she will simply find him dead and it will be her fault and that's it.

Yes we have dicussed removing the dog from her, but even the VET said it wasn't a good idea. It was like this: my husband had divorced his ex and moved back home to live with both his parents for a few years, they had an elderly dog. Then he met me, and we bought a house. All of a sudden his dad literally dropped dead of a heart attack -went out in the morning , never came home. Then my husband moved out as planned. Then the old dog had to be put to sleep. Then the grandkids moved far away. So suddenly my mother in law had NOTHING left, and she asked for an adult rescue dog to keep her company. We picked one at the local stray kennels, but it died of parvo the day before we were to collect her. This Cavalier was bullied by one of mine so we figured perfect solution and gave him to her. 

The vet now reckons that if we take the dog away, she simply won't cope -she is disabled, old, and has had several heart attacks already. And the dog, well he looks at me each time I see him and move as far away from me as possible, close to his new mum, making it very obvious he isn't going to come with me again. The vet said he reckons not even the dog's heart could cope if he had to live elsewhere all of a sudden.

It's a no win situation.

I am same as you in that I am the podgy one but dog is in lovely shape as are OH and 3 skinny kids.  Just can't imagine spending all that money on food and not indulging themselves. Unlike skinny old ladies who just indulge their dogs with constant supply of titbits.  My skinny mother always brings over sweet biscuits for my dog

Hi Mentalcat

I was referring to the ridiculous woman pictured in the TV mag with her rottie!!

Little old ladies can also surely tell tho if their dogs are grossly obese if they can't walk or breathe properly!? 

It doesn't take a genius to work out these things.

Besides if they were responsible dog owners they would have read about dogs before having one to see what could potentially kill their dogs not feed them full of the damn stuff!  Therefore imo they are irresponsible:rolleyes:

Completely agree Labmad....EVERYONE knows that obese= not good!
Archer

>Besides if they were responsible dog owners they would have read about dogs before having one to see what could potentially kill their dogs not feed them full of the damn stuff!  Therefore imo they are irresponsible

I'm assuming, of course, your own diet is absolutely ideal and you never feed your family fatty foods - you're all the perfect weight and are highly fit. ;) ;)

This isn't about me JG!

But for the record, yes I am at a healthy weight thank you.

C'mon a bit of background reading would surely tell someone how to look after their dogs!!!! gee!

It's not rocket science to see when a dog is too fat! I'm guessing that the fact that it waddles and gets out of breath would be one giveaway....

>But for the record, yes I am at a healthy weight thank you.

That's all right then - after all, it wouldn't do for the pot to call the kettle black! :)

It's common sense really imo.

besides even if I was a 50 stone whale who ate mars bars all day....If I was buying a dog, I would like to know how to look after it properly to give it a happy and healthy life!!  :-D

Of course I'd have to employ a dog walker and nanny for it but there you go.....

>It's common sense really imo.

Absolutely! But the longer I live the more I realise 'common' sense is a very rare thing. :( There are people who think dogs only get worms if they eat earthworms from the garden ... :(

Really??!

Good grief what's wrong with people?? 

My friend has a ridiculously overweight 'miniature' Yorkie. The little dog weighs 11lbs (average for a normal sized Yorkie is just 7lbs!) She had surgery for luxating patella before she was a year old. She is now 3 and a half and has developed cruciate problems with the knee that was operated on. The 'good' leg is also showing signs of perhaps needing surgery in the not too distant future and the front legs are starting to bow from the added pressure of her shifting her weight to compensate for the rear legs :( :(

My friend loves her dog and treats it like a child. Both her vet and i have tried to make her see that she is actually causing the dog unnecessary suffering by not getting her weight down to alleviate pressure on the joints but she can't see that she is doing anything wrong I know my friend will be devastated if anything happens to the dog but I just can't seem to impress on her that her actions are shortening the dog's life and imparing the quality of life overall :(

I hope she'll watch this programme and see that she is one of those owners too and that feeding Indian takeaway to a Yorkshire Terrier is not doing the dog any favours at all.

It's not rocket science to see when a dog is too fat! I'm guessing that the fact that it waddles and gets out of breath would be one giveaway....

Read my long reply a bit above. No not everyone can see it. My mother in law is CONVINCED we're all lying to her and she even asks any visitors she gets to agree with her about the dog NOT being fat. Only last week she told me the hairdresser says some dogs CANNOT lose weight, it's their meatbolism. :rolleyes: And this is a dog that is 100 % above his normal weight. AND she has had dogs for well over 50 years! It drives me insane, it upsets me a LOT, but no she des NOT realise what she is doing to the dog despite having been told over and over.

heres a sad fat pet story for ya-
today an elderly lady called stating she was looking after her daughters cat, she said she wanted it pts- her reason was that the cat was on deaths door and desperately needed putting out of its misery- so fair enough i said bring it down and we can have a look at it and pts? she then said oh well im not staying with it, i cant deal with that, my daughter wants it pts whilst she's away too as its less stress for her!!!

anyway this cat comes in- weighing more than 8kg- could hardly walk, very depressed. the vet checked it over and said apart from being obese its healthy and we will not pts- so we got her to sign cat over to cats protection.

basically these people had left this cat to eat as much as it wants, then when it got stuck in the cat flap, and couldnt get in or out of the house, they'd had enough!

poor cat stupid people!simple as...

There are 2 men with chronically overweight dogs who come up the dog fields, one has a husky/spitz type dog and the other a spaniel. The owner of the husky/spitz feeds his dog food, whatever they are having and at least 1 bounty a day:rolleyes: The spaniel has 3 meals of tinned and dry mixed and shares the old mans food plus treats out walking. Many people up the dog fields have tried to advise both owners on the dangers of obese animals and i actually explained to the first guy that chocolate was poisonus to dogs to which he replied they were her favourite. The old man actually said that the spaniel was always hungry:rolleyes: They see themselves as kind loving owners who are willing to share everything they have with their belloved pet, unfortunately the reality is the opposite and no amount of advice or tellings off they both receive from the vet will convince them otherwise I think it is so sad as the spaniel plays for a bit and then takes himself home as he is tired. Owning a piggy beagle and growing up with dogs made me realise that a dog would eat itself to death, my nan had a dal once who opened the cupboard, ate the bag of dog food, threw up as it was too much then when she went to get cleaning materials he ate the vomit unfortunately people see it as love. I hope some of these people watch the program and wise up, I always try and keep merlins weight steady as i worry it will affect his heart and joints and cause him future pain.

I'm fat and my husband is thin as a rail.  He eats to live and I live to eat. :rolleyes: I can understand the comments about thin owners wanting to fatten up their dogs.

I am constantly yelling at my husband not to feed the dogs.   My husband will look down at his plate and panics if he notices that he ate all his meat - he's just got to have something left for the dogs.   He also insists on giving them a treat when he leaves the house - because he feels guilty about leaving them - even though I'm home!  I've had to cut back on the dog food fairly dramatically, just to account for the fact that my husband insists on feeding them.   And at least what they do get is healthy meat and veg - no junk. 

Owning a piggy beagle and growing up with dogs made me realise that a dog would eat itself to death, my nan had a dal once who opened the cupboard, ate the bag of dog food, threw up as it was too much then when she went to get cleaning materials he ate the vomit

My Cavalier nearly did eat himself to death -it was very much touch and go and a night at the vet's. It was after my wedding and the kids had fed him loads of leftover stuff without us noticing. They won't do that again!

I wonder if the Husky/Spitz is an Elkhound, so many people let their Elkhounds get overweight,and they just cannot see it when you point it out to them.

It is the one thing I always go on about to any of my puppy owners, can you feel the ribs and find a waist.

my own dogs are never the slightest bit over weight, but me myself.........well! eek

Ditto - he-he!

Ditto ditto :rolleyes:

It's the computers that do it!  Need to get out more