Do you have a fat pet?

sro2118

Yes. When my beagle mix was 5 she was pretty overweight. I knew she had gained weight, but did not realize how much. To me she did not look "big." People would comment that she was big, but I thought it was because the last time they had seen her she was a pup. Meanwhile, she started going to the bathroom in the house and drinking a lot of water. I thought it was a urinary tract infection. Its wasn't. It turned out to be diabetes. She is now dependent on 2 insulin shots a day (7am and 7pm), daily blood tests and vet checks every 3 months for the rest of her life. She eats a regulated amount of low fat food and can have broccoli for treats. If I could do it all over again I would of paid attention to her weight gain. She could have been predisposed to diabetes, but I am sure it did not help she was overweight. Either way if she was at her proper weight maybe she would have not gotten diabetes at 5 years old. She is now 7, but looks like she is an "old" dog with mild cataracts (from high blood sugar) and thinning fur. Doggie diabetes stinks for everyone. She is down 10lbs in about 2 years now. She looks better, but it breaks my heart sometimes.

pwnderosa

I've got 4 cats. 2 are the picture of health, one is a little underweight due to overactive thyroid but is getting better. But the poor little stray I picked up outside a cheap motel last year with severe digestive "issues" and underdeveloped back legs due to malnutrition as a baby....that boy has learned to EAT and is starting to get fat. And since he has stubby little legs, he's a lot slower than the other cats during playtime and doesn't care for jumping so it's tough to get him enough exercise, not sure how well I'll be able to get/keep him in shape for the years to come, but he is sure is worth the extra effort.

cloudj9

(crap.. how do you put a picture up.. lol)

thats my dog.. and my friends cat... my friends cat is fat though.

ThatSoundsHard

My guinea pig is HUGE

3dogsrunning

Because I am so helpful, here is a link to the tutorial to post photos (not really, I just like to see animal pics :happy: )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/540392-posting-pictures-on-the-boards-tutorial

ETA - oh and thanks for the comments about my boys :flowerforyou:

youcandooeet

My pet is on the border of healthy and underweight My vet has me supplementing her healthy dogfood with chicken to try to help her gain a bit. (She's 9 pounds, and for her length he would like to see her around 12 to 14. That's a lot of weight at those low numbers!!)

cbart2818

Nope! Our dog depends on us to make sure he stays healthy. He is fed better than us lol and we make sure to exercise him to keep him fit.

Here is our boy Copper.

DrMAvDPhD

We have four pets. Both dogs are normal for their breed. One cat is overweight and the other is probably slightly underweight. I think the statistics sound about right.

1shauna1

@angeliams how adorable! So cute! I have two; both are normal weights. One is 15 lbs and the other 21. They are westie mixes, and one is two, the other four. Right now they are pretty active and living in an apartment I walk them several times a day. As they get older and less active, I will adjust their food for their activity level. I know having a pet at a healthy weight helps them live a longer and healthier life and I want to keep them around as long as possible!

EDIT: As to the free-feeding....I guess I do that. But I put out half of their recommended in the morning and the rest for dinner. They don't really try to eat each other's while I'm gone to work....it's still sitting there when I come home!

melinda200208

Nope! My dog goes for runs/walks with me almost every day! She loves it!!!! P.S. LOVE all the dog pics!!!

The_Enginerd

My girls are a little chubby right now. I fed them the recommended amount on the cans/bags, and they managed to gain a couple of pounds from what they weighed when I brought them home from the shelter. I have restricting their food and trying to get them to play, and they seem to be down in weight. They still have a little chub to work on.

ETA: I have seen some seriously fat pets though. My dad's dogs weigh probably twice what they should. They look sort of sad :ohwell:

bonniecarbs

I watched my cat go from svelt to a little pudgy over 11 years. She has never liked to play. she will romp around a little and after about 2 minutes she says "forget this". She doesn't eat that much, and I feed her Dr. Foster and Smith dry cat food , and a 2 tablespoons of wet food twice a day.

scarrletti_girl

My kitty has fluctuated in weight, it seems like when I gain she gains when I lose she loses. I think the last time I weighed her she was like 10lbs but she is now at my moms place because our apartments don't allow pets so her weight could be anything right now. But I always thought of her to be average/healthy.


That me and kitty Christmas of 2012. (Before I started my diet.)

errorika

I work at a kennel and it's just awful the number of severely overweight pets that come through. The owner of the kennel is usually pretty blunt with them and will tell them straight up their dog is fat and then discuss what to do about it. Most people are pretty responsive and genuinely didn't think their pets were overweight. The majority of the time when people see a dog at a healthy weight, they think he's too skinny because we're so used to seeing fat pets. It breaks my heart to see dogs so fat they can barely walk outside to go to the bathroom.

ETA Here's my Heinz 57 pooch As healthy as can be at 62 lbs

cmeiron

I've always been really conscious of my pets' health, even when I've been lax with my own - they have no control over it, so it's up to me to make sure they're eating a proper amount of food (we portion control - no free-feeding ever) and getting enough exercise! Our two dogs, and two of the cats are lean, mean and muscular. Our one old outdoor boy is tubby - he made friends with the neighbours' cats so he can go visit and snack on their crunchies (they're free-fed outdoors) :grumble:

kmm7309

My poor Lexie is too fat...


And my poor Harley is too skinny...

3dogsrunning

kmmm - can you see Henry's ribs? Its hard to tell from the pic but he doesn't look too skinny to me. I would guess based on the pic he is a good weight, but again, its hard to tell

Cindy679

The German Shepherd (Jasmine) is not fat - but she's three and super active...the Boxer (Allie) is a tad bit overweight. My fiancé thinks that treats are a form of affection and I battle with him about it all the time. I think Jasmine keeps Allie a bit more active, but Allie really prefers to hold down the couch (unless she thinks you have a treat for her, then she moves pretty fast!)

The vet said that a Milk Bone is the equivalent of a glazed donut in people food, so we often split the milk bone between the two dogs. Hopefully, that helps a little bit...oh and the boxer is 12...so she's slowed down a little in her old age.

nygrl4evr

We have 3 dogs (hound mix, corgie-terrier mix, and a pit-boxer mix) who are all at a normal weight. One cat who is in the top half of normal but the vet doesn"t say anything so I think he is fine. Our female was 23 lbs last August and having trouble cleaning herself. I didn't know what to do because we were still at my mother's house at the time and she was stress eating. My mother insisted on feeding them at 5AM when she got up so my girl was eating hers and any leftovers the others didn't finish. She also wasn't playing because my Mom's new male cat was picking on her so much that she would spend all day hiding under the sofa while we were at work and then slept all night with me. Fast forward, we moved out into a house with 3 floors, and she is now losing weight, yeah! I switched her to a diet food for indoor fixed cats. It says it helps them burn fat better. And she is getting back to her old self, she is playing with the toys again! She chases them around like crazy and lots of time her play goes from floor to floor so she is really working it. Cannot wait until next month when she goes back for her one year checkup. I am really excited to see what her weight is because everyone comments that she is looking smaller.

nygrl4evr

The German Shepherd (Jasmine) is not fat - but she's three and super active...the Boxer (Allie) is a tad bit overweight. My fiancé thinks that treats are a form of affection and I battle with him about it all the time. I think Jasmine keeps Allie a bit more active, but Allie really prefers to hold down the couch (unless she thinks you have a treat for her, then she moves pretty fast!)

The vet said that a Milk Bone is the equivalent of a glazed donut in people food, so we often split the milk bone between the two dogs. Hopefully, that helps a little bit...oh and the boxer is 12...so she's slowed down a little in her old age.

I am not surprised on the comment about Milk Bones, we buy our dogs the smallest bones available. The pit - boxer mix at first looked at me like really (he is my husband's dog from before we met)? But it has worked out great because they thankfully don't have weight issues.

nyrina4life

I have a Chihuahua that is about 14lbs. He is taller than most Chi's, so I think he is mixed. He may have an extra pound or two, but not bad. I also have 3 cats (two are my fiances). Our newest kitten is a Snowshoe mix with Siamese and he is still growing (may be about 5 months old?). The other cats are big. Both of the larger cats are sneaky. They find ways into the dogs food bowl, on top of their own.

Imara6mara

I saw some really disturbingly fat pets when I worked for a vet.

Like a dachshund who has "a rash on their stomach" that was from his belly hitting the ground when they walked.

A Boxer that weighed 175 lbs and was so obese that his little nubbin of a tail looked like an innie belly button. Big surprise when he developed heart failure. :frown:

A cat who was literally too fat to poop. The poor thing was so sedentary and out of shape that even the muscles to move food through the intestines were too weak to work, so she had frequent fecal impaction, despite being on laxatives full time.

A pair of 150 lb or so golden retrievers whose owners thought it was a good idea to buy them vanilla sheet cakes for their birthdays. Just for the dogs to eat.

This is so sad. I read this and then started imagining a 'Biggest Loser for Pets' reality show on Animal Planet. Maybe something like that would help people realize how bad things can get and how to help them get back to a normal weight again.

errorika

This is so sad. I read this and then started imagining a 'Biggest Loser for Pets' reality show on Animal Planet. Maybe something like that would help people realize how bad things can get and how to help them get back to a normal weight again.

This is a great idea!

JustJennie1

I saw some really disturbingly fat pets when I worked for a vet.

Like a dachshund who has "a rash on their stomach" that was from his belly hitting the ground when they walked.

A Boxer that weighed 175 lbs and was so obese that his little nubbin of a tail looked like an innie belly button. Big surprise when he developed heart failure. :frown:

A cat who was literally too fat to poop. The poor thing was so sedentary and out of shape that even the muscles to move food through the intestines were too weak to work, so she had frequent fecal impaction, despite being on laxatives full time.

A pair of 150 lb or so golden retrievers whose owners thought it was a good idea to buy them vanilla sheet cakes for their birthdays. Just for the dogs to eat.

This is so sad. I read this and then started imagining a 'Biggest Loser for Pets' reality show on Animal Planet. Maybe something like that would help people realize how bad things can get and how to help them get back to a normal weight again.

While that's a good idea it's not the animals fault for being fat it's the owners fault for over feeding them. Having a show like that would do nothing for the animal because ultimately they will go back to the way they were because the owner will continue to over feed them and not care.

missjojo31

my cat is a little overweight, but about 3 homes feed him along my road.

hbrittingham

Here's Danny, wearing his orange vest as we get ready to go out hiking:



And here are Jasmine and Jasper:



Here is Danny wishing that I would feed him more than I do:

mfrkorey

i had a friend in high school who had a 26 pound cat. and not a maine coon. this was a fat mother ****ing cat. the thing would literally wobble back and forth as it slid its belly across the ground to get to its food bowl.

^ cat shaming.

not cool.

:laugh: :laugh:

bio01979

my 2 cats are overweight though I tried not to let them get that way. One of the cats was eating all of the other one's food lol so I would put out a bit more food to make sure the other one would get enough

they are also indoor cats and don't get a lot of running around.

having overweight cats in particular is very dangerous and if you have a cat that is overweight PLEASE be very careful when trying to put it on a "diet" and talk to your vet about how to get it to lose weight safely because cats are prone to hepatic lipidosis if their body starts using too much of the fat stores for energy

it can be fatal and can happen in all cats if they stop eating for 2-3 days for whatever reason but it is more of a risk in an overweight cat

I had to force feed my cat for 2 weeks and I still have to make sure he is eating enough for the next 4+ weeks because he almost died

Terryism

I do not have fat pets, it's way easier to limit what they eat than to have discipline to do the same... I was a vet assistant for 11 years also, so I know the risks.

pseudomuffin

Nope! I have a very trim and athletic pembroke welsh corgi, I just wish I could live by his example haha



This is Waffles