When someone's dog is overweight...

I'm not sure that I'd say anything. Some people really do think it's funny and cute to have a fat dog. I had a family friend who had this enormously overweight Beagle, they would laugh and laugh and say what a porker she was. I felt SOOO bad because obviously it's not the dogs' fault it's being overfed and underexercised.

I am overweight. I hate when people say something, as if I didn't know cutting back portion size would cause me to lose weight or something...duh.   I don't push that on my dogs though, they don't get table scraps or more than a few treats per day.  I hate when people do that to their dogs, but I'm not sure how effective saying something would be,

 I don't mention it unless people ask, most of the time. I am a pet groomer, so I do get asked fairly regularly. If the dog is fat or borderline, I'll mention things like baby carrots for treats, and sweet potato chews instead of biscuits. I'll also tell them that excersize is important, for ALL shapes of dog.

If people don't wanna hear it, nothing you say matters.

I have been on both sides of the fence on this one.  My last dog, a Brittany, was a robust, rotund sort of guy.  He was the chubby puppy left behind that no one wanted.  The vet said he had an odd bod from 8 weeks old.  Low riding belly on the floor with short stubby legs.  After nuetering him -it was like someone blew the poor boy up with a straw overnight.  Nothing we did took weight off him.  And I would have people come up and say to me "gee your dog is fat" or "that is the fattest Brittany I have ever seen".  Now mind you he was chubby but he was hardly obese.  I mean he could run etc.  My point is people assumed we had no clue about it.  For gosh sakes I worked in dog food at the time and I was well aware he was porky.  I had him on diet food, no treats and it broke my heart to not be able to treat him.  Now on the other side I have a dog that is gangly and thin.  Very thin.  Boney thin.  And now I hear daily "gee that dog is so skinny, feed him a bit more".  I love having a thin dog after the last one, and enjoy that he can eat like a horse and never gain an ounce.  It is music to my ears to hear about it.  Once again I sort of have an odd bod dog.  I must attract the funky ones!  Don't let my husband hear that LOL.  I think it is best to mention the poison part, but not to mention the FAT part.  Perhaps an anonomous print out off the computer about animal obesity and the shortening of life aspects would work?

Not like it is a surprize but I am a real Busybody about things like this... ( this would include people's two legged kids too.)  I generally start a conversation about the age of the dog and how long they expect it to live. That leads in to what kind of food the dog is fed and how, Free feeding etc. I can coax a rack into talking to me and I often seem to...  I always tell them my biggest regret as a dog owner is that I let my first RR get too fat and it shortened his lifespan. That often gets them to listen a bit. Through out the conversation assure them over and over that it is obvious they love her to bits. Suggest simple tricks for putting her on a diet that will not dig deeply into pocket or even effort... things like green beans sprinkled with a smidge of garlic powder  to replce that same  amount of kibble.  You can even tell them you had a recent scare to start the conversation off, that the vet thought something about your dog's diet may be creating a problem so now you are doing a lot of looking into what will work the best... By putting yourself in the same boat of indulgent loving owner and then confessing to a fright you are not pointing out their failings. You can agree they really can put one over you, like your dog convinces your SO once in a while that you forgot to feed them...

Once the conversation is open a truly loving owner will listen even if it doesn't look like they are.... most important thing tell them over and over one away or another how sweet and special their dog is.

Good luck !

Bonita of Bwana

glenmar

I'm afraid I'm a little too blunt sometimes.  I'll laughingly say, my goodness, what a little PORKER, or look at the dog and say lovingly, good golly what HAPPENED to your girlish figure.

But, then, I can tend to be too blunt anda little on the witchy side when folks aren't doing their dogs any favors with overfeeding.

or....

GAWD! She/he must weigh a TON! And take up the WHOLE bed! (I've seen dogs go on diets after the 'weighs a ton' deal....sometimes they just laugh thou)

As for the chocolate....have you seen Callies chocolate post?? Go read it, then tell them about it.....Chocolate=doggie crack=doggie crack OD=dead dog.

Ok, basicly....not so manny words, and nicer......

I've wondered this.  A friend of ours rescues geriatric dogs at the shelter he volunteers with...so he has a total of 9 dogs right now.  Two are not seniors, but the rest are.  All of them except maybe 2 are what I'd consider to be obese.  He feeds them Pedigree, which I told him was like him eating McDonald's and Pizza Hut for 3 meals a day, and I think they free feed and get lots of treats.  I mean, on one hand, I'm so glad he rescues all these dogs, but on the other hand....they don't need to be that fat!

Perhaps because I am older, because I say what I say either lovingly or gently, folks don't get offended.

In all my years of dog parenting, I've had ONE vet that mentioned an overweight dog.  One.  Suggested the green bean trick and when I said she wouldn't eat them he told me, oh well, she isn't hungry then.  Ummm, no, she'd leave HER green beans and go eat everyone elses food.  He didn't mention that free feeding with a large number of dogs doesn't work, didn't mention that free feeding is ok if you control who eats what and how MUCH goes in the bowl rather than just keeping it full all the time.  I didn't know any better.  He didn't help.

So yeah, plenty of vets out there would rather not offend an owner than to actually take a chance.  And, I've also had one vet who told me that my gsds should gain weght.  This gal told me that she doesn't like to see skinny dogs (they are not skinny, but I do keep them lean and well muscled) and that too many people are buying into the myth that lean is better for the joints.  HUH??

Our vet weighs Willow whenever she goes in even if it's just for bloodwork.  And, I'm fairly certain that if her weight was an issue she'd speak up to me.  At this point, after the Prednisone Willow is at 54 lbs, which at this weight she could stand to loose a few lbs.  But, we are keeping an eye on her exercise and portions and we will monitor to see if it comes off now that the medication is done.  But, my point was, the vet is concerned and is watching it even if she didn't put her on a offical diet at this point. 

My Vet too has always kept an eye on my dogs' weight, not that I don't, but the point is he does counsel clients when they have overweight pets.  I have a cat that is too fat and my Vet advised a low calorie diet (which he is on) and asks about the cat and his weight even when I'm in for some other reason.  I have overheard him talking with other people about their pet's weight.  It is an uphill battle with some people and maybe some Vets have become tired of people ignoring the advice and they just don't bother to bring it up anymore. I'm sure if I were a Vet and someone came in regularly with an obese pet and I kept telling them about the dangers and advising them to get some weight off and if the person never made any effort, I would quit mentioning it at some point. Must be frustrating to have your advice ignored and then face the heartbroken clients when you have to inform them that their pet has such and such condition due to the obesity.

 I don't think most vets are very good at judging pets weight.  They have a chart that says how heavy a dog of each breed is meant to be and they might remember to give the owner a nudge if their dog looks to be a touch overweight. Or (like our vet) they have ideal breed weights programmed into the computer and it flashes up on their screen when the dog is approaching being overweight, or actually is.  Many don't go by the condition of the dog in front of them which is useless, because you get large and small examples of all breeds, and large is not the same as fat.  Also, what THEY would consider "a bit overweight" in a young Dane (for example) would actually be grossly fat and hugely dangerous.  Just my experience. 

For what it's worth, I don't think MP is referring to the vet telling her when her own dogs are overweight.... if I recall correctly MP keeps her dogs extremely lean, especially when young.  Now I'm GUESSING that, if anything, a lot of vets would tell her that her dogs are too skinny.    With a lot of vets, just like with the general public, they are so USED to seeing fat dogs, a healthy dog looks half starved to them!

Guess I must be lucky because my Vet weighs the dogs on EVERY visit and the cat.  I don't know what to think of the kind of Vet's described by some but I would find a new one if they were so used to seeing overweight dogs that a healthy dog looked half starved to them.

I'm not sure where MP comes into this because I was sort of commenting because of something Glenda posted.  Must have missed it.  I would be shocked if someone told me MP's dogs were overweight based on her posts.  She obviously keeps her dogs in top condition as do most on the forum because we know the health risks and in most cases our dogs get lots of exercise.  Rex put on a few pounds when I switched to EVO but I adjusted the amount and he is nice and lean again.  BTW, I am not implying that Glenda's dogs are overweight either. LOL  I feel like I have covered everything and everyone but if not, blanket apology attached. LOL Sorry for drifting off topic.............

Our vet weighs are dog at each visit, and always comments how we're doing a great job with her weight, and comments how she has a "waist" and good muscle definition.  She always says "Whatever you're doing, keep it up!"  So, that makes me feel good.  I think Misty has gained maybe 2 lbs or so this winter though, because she seems a little heavier to me somehow!

I go to doggy events/places and talk to people. People with obviously fat dogs usually say their vet doesn't say anything about the blubber. Others report vets give the usual useless advice "use a diet kibble, stop with the table scraps, no treats, walk the dog daily." well you know most diet kibbles are very high carb low protein and are like feeding your dog donuts; table scraps are very healthy if done right; treats, if healthy, tiny, and used as training rewards only, are very important for mental and physical health and can be used to burn more calories than they provide; there is no reason to ever feed a "dog biscuit", baby carrot, or similarly sized snack to any dog, ever; and walking dogs on leash at a human pace for half an hour simply isn't exercise for most dogs.

I think the root cause of doggy obesity is the popularity of grain-heavy calorie dense kibbles that might be great for hard-running hunting dogs but not for pets; and the heavy promotion of the "leashed dog walk" as a way to "exercise" dogs. Same reason why so many people are overweight- tons of sugary calorie dense foods around, and a real lack of understanding of what, exactly, real exercise entails. If you aren't sweating and gasping and tired it's not exercise.

oh, and my personal vet thinks kibble is evil, especially for cats, and likes my "skinny" fit dogs but sometimes we get sent to the big hospital for various reasons cause he has a tiny practice and no fancy equipment or strange drugs on hand. The big hospital is very popular because they look very professional. You see blubber everywhere. Asked several times what this or that vet/ vet tech thought about the fat dogs/cats in the waiting room and got "oh she's fine, nice and healthy, too bad she has XX condition" sort of answers while you stare in disbelief at the basketball-shaped "healthy" dying animal.

mudpuppy

If you aren't sweating and gasping and tired it's not exercise.

Sorry, but people and/or dogs shouldn't be gasping.

mudpuppy

People with obviously fat dogs usually say their vet doesn't say anything about the blubber.

I'd bet the vet does say something and they just tell you, others and themselves they don't so they can keep ignoring the problem. 

Mudpuppy, I totally agree that not enough exercise coupled with a bad diet contribute to most obese dogs and people.  At least with dogs we can control these things and keep them fit and it's sad that so many people just refuse to see what is right in front of them. I don't understand that type of personality but people never cease to amaze.  Being around dogs that hunt and compete for so many years it is almost sickening to me to see some of the flaccid, overweight dogs in the show ring.  Of course the show people always thought my dogs were ugly as sin because they were field bred and the two are almost two different breeds. LOL