Took Kaycee for his three monthly check up for his heart with his lovely vet, John,on Monday, he was very pleased with him still at the same weight & his heart still the same. He had had another Cavalier in in the morning that was smaller than Kaycee & weighed 17 kgs !!! Kaycee weighs in at 9.55 kg & my middle Cavalier Joedee has been 7 kgs since he matured !

The owners of the heavy weight Cavalier wondered why he was struggling to cope in the hot weather !!! & was lethargic !!!! Wouldn't accept it was the excess weight !! John said he wished I had been there so they could see what a cavalier should look like !

He had been clipped off to the skin by a groomer who had told the owners it was his coat that was the problem !

AARGH!!! My 2 weigh 10 kg, they are stocky types but not fat. I'd like to smack some of the groomers who do that - my college is always clipping off Cavaliers and seems to think it funny when I object. But then, I find it hard to tell people their dogs are fat as well.

Apparently this poor dog is the same size as Joedee who weighs 7 kg ! nearly 2.5 times his weight the mind boggles !!!

Sick. :( I swear my Rufus has stayed around for as long as he has BECAUSE we keep him lean. There's not an ounce of extra fat on him. Dogs are so easy to keep the weight off -we control the feeding! Now if only I could get the dogs to stop ME from opening the fridge......!

i work at a vets & a lady phoned up the other week to say her dog was uncomfortable & breathing with difficulty with his mouth open. because of this we told her to come straight down.
she arrived with the fattest staffy i have ever seen & when i told her it wasnt having breathing difficulty- it was panting because it was so fat & it was warm. she wasnt best pleased & tried to argue with me
ive also had clients tell me 'labradors are supposed to be cuddly' well theres cuddly & theres 76kg ( the fattest lab i have ever seen! )

Now if only I could get the dogs to stop ME from opening the fridge
im working on that one too! :P

Gordon Bennett! Our Labrador looks fat to me (rescued just 2 weeks ago) and she is 29 kgs! My ex took in an extremely fat Labrador and she was 53 kgs when rescued. 76 kgs, can't even imagine it -poor dog!!

It makes me laugh how people think in this world - I get a lot of comments about my GR's weight they say "he is to thin" he is 32kg and active, vets always comments what a fit and healthly dog he is Mostly these comments come from friends who have over weight dogs

i used to get people stop me to say my dane was too thin- because she has a waist & you can see her last ribs_ just the outline!  before you start thinking she IS too thin :P
she was well muscled, & yp it was usually by owners of fat dogs!
i even took her to an exemption show once to try & help with her socialisation, was told by the judge she was too skinny! he kept questioning me on what i fed her & how often she was wormed & said he was very worried. until i snapped & told him my boss (a vet who bred danes) was judging the childrens category & he was extremely happy with her, but i suggested he spoke to him if he had any worries- that soon shut him up!
strangely enough my malnourished, underweight dog is now 9 1/2 & still running around, she has wobblers & i contribute her continuing good health in part to her weight.

Unfortunately people are so used to seeing fat, unfit dogs they don't recognise a normal, healthy one when they see one. :( I know of a dal (rescued, so it stands a fighting chance) that needs to lose half its bodyweight to get it down to a sensible size.

My friend's cocker is like this.  At least 2x the weight he should be :(    but of course it's not fat - he just needs his coat clipped :rolleyes:  and he pants constantly, but it's because he's hot :rolleyes:  He can't even keep himself clean as he can't reach to have a lick of any his bits :( :( and his belly is practically on the floor :(  He won't go for walks, it's too difficult for him :( :(

He lives on Burns so shouldn't be that heavy, but he's neutered and has more treats than dog food :(  (whole sausages, half a chicken....)   I've recently spent another couple of hours trying to convince her that if he isn't eating his food ration it's because he's just not hungry and it won't harm him to go without occasionally, he doesn't need extras added in to make him eat :rolleyes:

Ah and my poor little Cav is 17.9kg at the last count.  Back to the vets tonight to see how he gets on - just tell anyone to talk to me about mounting vets bills due to obesity - that might make them feed the right amount....

Maxine

I've had a similar conversation with my friend who has a 'miniature' Yorkie with serious joint problems, not helped by the fact that the dog weighs 12lbs - twice what a dog of her size should weigh!

It has taken time and perseverance with my friend to convince her that chinese/indian takeaway, cream buns and salted peanuts - on top of the daily food allowance! - does not constitute a healthy, balanced diet.  My friend thought that by not sharing their food with the dog, they were depriving her and that the dog would feel unloved :rolleyes:  I told her in no uncertain terms that she was being far more cruel by continuing to feed the dog junk and that they are basically killing the little dog :(  She was horrified at me but agreed to cut out the junk food.  5 weeks later, the dog has lost about 5oz and already has more energy :)  Now that she can see the effects, she is determined to keep up with the current regime :)

My own dog was a tad on the podgy side at one point.  We simply cut his food back (much to his disgust as food is his favourite thing in the world. Ever. :rolleyes:) and increased his exercise with lots of swimming as his dodgy arthritic leg means walks have to be restricted. 

My Newf has the opposite problem...we can't keep weight on her.  People think she is fat but it's all coat.  If they saw her wet, they'd think we starve her!!  She's never been a big eater, just eats enough to get by on and she is extremely active so quickly burns off everything that she takes in.  She is fit and healthy though so I don't worry about her too much.

<Now if only I could get the dogs to stop ME from opening the fridge......!>

I know exactly what you mean, unfortunately!

Overweight dogs are my pet hate I clapped eyes on a 17kg Westie once...nuff said. I think people are so used to seeing overweight dogs they think the right weight is underweight. I once had a man walk past in the street and comment about my dog 'it's a greyhound and it's too skinny'. My GSP is 33.5kg - which actually soudns too heavy but he is over breed standard so it's right for him :)

Blimey my two biggest doggy 'hates' - fat dogs and shaved baldy dogs...

My dogs are lean and hard, people think they are underweight as you can see waists and last ribs and of course on the saluki and the beddy whippet a you can see pin bones and the spine in the rear part of the back (a bit, its not like they are toast racks!).

I know exactly how horrid it is to have sore joints and be out of breath due to weight, its something i struggle with and theres no WAY i would inflict that on my hounds!

>Blimey my two biggest doggy 'hates' - fat dogs and shaved baldy dogs...

You'd really hate my mate's Yorkie then....hugely overweight AND shaved to the skin!! :(  Not to mention the dressing of the poor dog in stupid hoodies and the like...:rolleyes:

Yep, id be fuming....

WHY shave a dog bald, then buy it a pink hoody?.... yeah yeah so it can wear a pink hoody and look 'cool'.

Ill hold myhand up here, Dilly dog my beddy whippet has two hoodies - purely because theywere the cheapest thing i could find that keeps his tummy away from the grass pollen in summer.

Yes, they look amusing but they serve a purpose for an allergy ridden lurcher... i also have one for my saluki girl (in a nice sober navey blue), for her baldy tummy because it was a third of the price of a proper dog coat wiht a belly warmer on it..

Dogs HAVE coats already, putting a coat on a dog who needs it is fine but causing a dog to need a coat because you shaved off its existing one, for no good reason.....

EEEEEEK.......

KABOOM

*ems head explodes*