Do you have a fat pet?

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Replies

  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Yep, I have a fat cat. I learned a hard lesson about "dry food". My previous cat, who lived to be 18 years, would only nibble her dry food when she was hungry. I kept it filled up, no problems. The cat I have now does not have that self control. Before I really had much more than noticed he was overweight, he had diabetes. The vet explained that feeding only dry food (especially for a cat with no willpower) was like a human eating cereal all the time. By changing to wet food only, he is finally off medication and losing weight. But man, that cat loves food.
    No vet in all my life (and I've had a lot of pets and quite a few pets) has ever said that to me.

    Watch the teeth with a wet-only diet.
  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
    Yep, I have a fat cat. I learned a hard lesson about "dry food". My previous cat, who lived to be 18 years, would only nibble her dry food when she was hungry. I kept it filled up, no problems. The cat I have now does not have that self control. Before I really had much more than noticed he was overweight, he had diabetes. The vet explained that feeding only dry food (especially for a cat with no willpower) was like a human eating cereal all the time. By changing to wet food only, he is finally off medication and losing weight. But man, that cat loves food.
    No vet in all my life (and I've had a lot of pets and quite a few pets) has ever said that to me.

    Watch the teeth with a wet-only diet.

    Wet food is much healthier for a cat overall. It helps with their urinary tract health and is better on their teeth.

    http://www.catinfo.org/

    Unfortunately, none of my cats will touch canned food. They range in age from 12-17 and will ignore the canned stuff if I put it down. If I ever get a cat again after these three pass, I will start them on canned food from the beginning.
  • Dead_Darling
    Dead_Darling Posts: 478 Member
    When my cat was younger, he was deemed overweight by the vet. Now he's a bit older and has hardly lost any weight, the vet said he's at a normal weight lol (barely 6kgs)

    I'm taking him to the vet next week for his check up. Since I've been exercising again, my cat seems to take in starting 30DS with me :laugh: and also, the weather's much nicer now, so he's out all day!
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    One of my pets is overweightish... But I think she is just has a stocky breed of cat in her (don't know what though)... and she eats dog food... but I try to limit how much food she gets (which is hard to do with one other cat and dog in the house). But my dog and my other cat are both normal weights.
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
    I love all the stories and pics!
  • Wuggums
    Wuggums Posts: 339 Member
    My "ball of doggie goodness" is a Malamute / Coonhound mix. When we rescued her from the shelter, she was underweight at only 60 pounds. Even after 3x a day walks, she quickly became a pudgy 80+ pounds. More walks, less food, fewer treats and she's now a svelte 70 pounds. Bonus is that I followed the same program (more walks, less food, fewer treats) and it worked equally well for me!!
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
    Nope.

    When I obtained my dog (he was abandoned at the end of our road) he was pretty thin. You could see his ribs and he didn't look all that good. Fast forward to a year later and he's put on a good 20 lbs since then and is within the healthy range for the type of dog he is.

    I honestly think that whoever had him before didn't feed him and he was malnourished. Looking at the size of his paws I'm pretty sure he should be a lot bigger than he is.
  • Sactown900
    Sactown900 Posts: 162 Member
    We have always underfed our pets. Great Dane, Mastiff, Rottweiler and now a Black Lab. They live longer and have more energy.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    My dog refuses to get fat. She chases a ball for about 45-60 mins a day (constant sprints against other dog) with 15 mins of regular walking either side of that, not counting the play fighting at home, tug of war with me several times a day and whatever else she gets up to, and can empty her bowl 3 times a day if we let her. She doesn't gain weight though, at all. The one time she did start getting a bit fatter round the neck, she put herself on a diet and would only eat one meal a day. She's a Sibe/Border Collie cross and about 20kg.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    My cat is ridiculously fat! But I got him fat...so he needs to go on a kitty diet.

    *To clarify, I mean he was fat when I got him. I didn't make him fat.
  • rbn_held
    rbn_held Posts: 678 Member
    One of our 4 labs is overweight. We walk her, play fetch with her and take her swimming and she just doesn't seem to lose any. We have even had blood work done to make sure she doesn't have diabetes or thyroid problems and everything came back ok. We got her back from the boarding place this week and she was up another 1/2lb. I am upping her walk time in the evenings as long as it doesn't get too hot out. She doesn't eat that much so I hate to lessen her food intake. Maybe my boyfriend is sneaking her more treats when I am not home. But the others are all healthy weight. Go figure
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    No, I work very hard at keeping them lean, which isn't easy with a food obsessed lab. My oldest GSD was diagnosed with arthritis on his knee a few years ago. He is 10 now and it is only affecting him slightly. My vet credits it to keeping him lean.

    I also think that a lot of people don't even realize their dog is overweight, they don't know what lean looks like.

    97a2c02b-b2e7-4a91-9134-e6acfa21bedb_zps6fe18287.jpg

    all three
    IMG_0832_zps82dfae7b.jpg
  • Buddhasmiracle
    Buddhasmiracle Posts: 925 Member
    I have three dogs and three cats. All of them are at a perfect weight except for my female cat. She's really fat.

    I do dog training and boarding and I see a LOT of fat dogs. Funny thing is, the owners will say that the dogs are super picky and really don't eat much. They are normally free fed and fed way too much. Once they are with us for a week or so, they start eating normally and eat the food when we put it down, mainly because we pick the dishes up after 20 minutes whether they have eaten all of their food or not.

    I have a golden mix who is boarding with me right now. He's a beautiful dog who was a foster puppy of mine a couple of years ago. The owner/adopter was telling me that their previous golden mix was a "big" dog who weighed 115 lbs, but wasn't fat. He also doesn't think the current dog is fat. He is. He's probably 15 lbs overweight. I have explained this to the owner but he wants to believe it's all hair. It's not. He feeds him 2 cups of dry twice a day and puts canned food over the top to encourage him to eat. The reason he doesn't eat well for the owner is because he's not hungry! It's crazy.

    Wow. You must see it all with the owners.
    I took an into to agility class with my pit and it was quite a work out and lots of fun for both of us.
    She's powerfully built and excelled at many elements and a couple of the others -- running in and out of the poles in a line were a challenge.
  • BluejayNY
    BluejayNY Posts: 301 Member
    I agree in that I have seen so many overweight pets and the owners were clueless.

    My dog is a healthy weight. My cat is a little higher than I would like her to be but I am adjusting her to a new food and will be slowly reducing the amount.

    After being a veterinary technician, I am all too aware of the health consequences of pets being overweight. Its my responsibility to make sure they are eating the proper nutrition and getting enough active time.
  • Buddhasmiracle
    Buddhasmiracle Posts: 925 Member
    No, I work very hard at keeping them lean, which isn't easy with a food obsessed lab. My oldest GSD was diagnosed with arthritis on his knee a few years ago. He is 10 now and it is only affecting him slightly. My vet credits it to keeping him lean.

    I also think that a lot of people don't even realize their dog is overweight, they don't know what lean looks like.

    97a2c02b-b2e7-4a91-9134-e6acfa21bedb_zps6fe18287.jpg

    all three
    IMG_0832_zps82dfae7b.jpg

    Gorgeous dogs!
    I think you're right. Alot of people don't know what a lean dog looks like. All the vets I know work so hard with their clients to help them slim down their dogs and cats.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    My dogs are skinny, but they dont have access to food 24/7. My kitty on the other hand has porked up since we banned her from outside exploration on the count of coyotes and hawks.
  • 7Kirkwall
    7Kirkwall Posts: 15
    Sadly- yes. My peekapoo dog that I have, has been a great weight for her entire life (6 years). But I took in a stray cat last year and after I had her spayed she stopped wanting to go outside and got quite fat. She is now on a kitty diet and excersise program (chasing mouse on string as often as possible). : )
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    To be fair with free feeding, there are dogs (and I assume cats) that can manage it just fine. My neighbor's dog is underweight and she is free fed. Before we had the other two, my husband kept the food for my older GSD out, he could have helped himself but he didn't. It was only given to him at meal times.
    My lab on the other hand, will eat until he throws up then eat some more (I learned this when he got into the room where we stored the dog food). Free feeding would simply not be an option for him. Other dogs aren't necessarily gluttons like that but free feeding still leads to them gaining weight.
  • joellevh
    joellevh Posts: 27 Member
    I have a 32 pound Maine coon cat. He's a tad chunky!
  • MsEmmy
    MsEmmy Posts: 254 Member
    Mine aren't overweight (and yes, you can get fat whippets, I've seen them!) but my uncle rescued a dog and spoiled her so much she is overweight. After a few times being tactful, last time I saw him I told her he was knocking years off her life - killing her with kindness. He took it quite well, but my dad saw the dog last week and she's still fat. She gets lots of exercise (at least three times a day) but she does those beagle eyes for treats and my uncle falls for it :( He rescued her from a puppy farm (mill) where she had been used for breeding so she is much better off with him, but she does need to lose a few pounds!

    My cousin in the US has two small dogs and although they aren't overweight, they rarely get taken for walks. She has quite a large yard so they can run around but that's no life for a dog - they need to get out and smell the peemails! The mad thing is, my cousin is trying to lose weight and bought a treadmill to walk on while her dogs are sitting there needing a walk! She loves the dogs, but I think not walking a healthy and able dog is lazy :(

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