Lucymj
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Post by Lucymj on Sept 4, 2005 16:31:16 GMT 1
I am so annoyed! I have just spent the day at a country fair/show and at least half the dogs i saw were grossly overweight. What is wrong with people? Are they blind?!!! I am constantly told my dog is too thin. According to vets she is spot on, but people compare her to their obese dogs! Rant over now, it just makes me so angry!
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sobagirl
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Post by sobagirl on Sept 4, 2005 16:43:42 GMT 1
I have to agree with you! I've just come back from Aberwrystwyth and there were loads of fat dogs! I only saw two that were looking well, and surprisingly, they were labradors, with a waist!! I really don't think there's any excuse to have over weight dogs. They only eat what we feed them, unlike horses and even cats who will go and kill something. Diabetes is on the rise isn't it in dogs?
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Lucymj
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Post by Lucymj on Sept 4, 2005 16:47:57 GMT 1
Yes, and the rest! It is disgusting and is totally my 'pet hate'. There is no excuse. I feed scraps and leftovers to my dog daily, but i ration her complete feed accordingly - it is not exactly difficult! Why do people not see the cruelty of letting their dogs get so fat?!
The worst example i saw today was a springer spaniel. Was a foot wide i swear - compared to my springer it could have been an entirely different breed to someone who didnt know better! Poor thing waddled and panted all day.
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carol
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Post by carol on Sept 4, 2005 20:36:46 GMT 1
AAh don't. It's almost criminal. About three years ago I was working for a family who bought themselves a golden retriever pup. My daughter is a friend of the family, and went over there last week and they asked if she'd like to walk the dog. My daughter was appalled, she said the dog, a bitch, is so fat she can barely move. It's a big family, two parents and five children, and the dog only gets walked out twice a week, the rest of the time she lives in the kitchen with brief outs to the garden. It's so sad, she was healthy lively little pup when I knew her.
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Lucymj
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Post by Lucymj on Sept 4, 2005 20:56:23 GMT 1
Some people are so ignorant they just shouldnt be allowed to own dogs. I will be the first to admit my dogs doesnt get walked every day, but if she doesnt get a walk we play fetch for half an hour and she gets a damn good run around at the yard etc. It makes me sooooooo cross. There is a weineraner (sp?) in the next village to us and when my OH saw it (he knows NOTHING about dogs) he flipped! It is frighteningly fat and is walked regularly to be fair so how much must they feed it?!!!
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Post by gwenoakes on Sept 4, 2005 21:10:36 GMT 1
Agree with all above. We have a staffie and watch very carefully what she is fed as she has been speyed and we know they are prone to weight gain. We take her to the vets every 2/3 months to be weighed and if she has gained we cut food accordingly. So very easy to monitor in this day and age. She is walked at least 2 if not 3 times a day and gets exercise at the yard also.
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Post by lucymj not logged on Sept 4, 2005 21:25:39 GMT 1
The excuse that really gets to me is the 'oh yes he is fat because he is getting old!'
Well being fat makes him feel even older! Okay, if they cant go on long walks why are they still being fed the same amount they had when they were young and ran for 6 hrs a day?! Aaaaargh........ rant rant rant!
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bayhorse
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Post by bayhorse on Sept 4, 2005 21:43:43 GMT 1
Thing is with a lot of fat dogs the only exercise they get is round the block on a lead and walking to the owner's pace, who think the dog is getting a good work out. They need to be able to run free, chase balls and use their muscles!
There's no excuse to have a fat dog, it is entirely up to the owner. If mine look a bit porky I just cut down on their food!
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Post by sueabbery on Sept 4, 2005 22:45:14 GMT 1
I quite agree there are many fat/overweight dogs due to owners over feeding and lack of exercise. But also some dogs like humans do have the problem of gaining weight even when on a restricted diet. My previous Labrador was huge but all he had was a coffee mug of dried food in the am and 2 bonios at bed time and he had plenty of exercise to. Now the Labrador I have now is from the same family/breeding he is lean/fit eats 3 times as much as previous lab go figure!
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Post by daniwithchester on Sept 4, 2005 22:56:51 GMT 1
hmmmm, this is one of my pet hates too - Im a dog groomer and I quite often have to groom fat dogs that are SO overweight that they can hardly stand up. I have even refused to groom these dogs in the past by telling the owners that its cruel to make the dog stand up for the time it takes for me to clip/trim it in the hope that it shocks them to do something about it.
It also makes me very angry that most of the overweight dogs are ones that have been taken on as rescue dogs from charities and I think that the new owners just feed them up in sympathy. I am very tempted to write to our local dog re-homing centres and ask why they don't do follow-up checks and if the dog is overweight either take it away or make the owner put the dog on a strict diet or have a good excersise plan for it - these types of dogs just need 're-rescuing' really!
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Post by jennyb on Sept 5, 2005 10:43:22 GMT 1
I have the same issue sometimes - but with my horse!!! Most of the horses at my yard are good-doers and are overweight, so when the owners see my horse, who is pretty much right for his height and type, they think he is underweight and say things like "why don't you give him some sugar beet" and stuff.....grrr!!!
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Post by marywelsh on Sept 5, 2005 10:44:26 GMT 1
also my pet hate my rotties are fit not fat but i constantly see ones with big fat bodies and tiny heads i hate it, because they live outside they don,t get scraps their treat is a denturerasp once a week when i go shopping
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cokey
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Post by cokey on Sept 5, 2005 15:52:18 GMT 1
I have to take issue with sobagirl. My golden retriever is constantly scavenging for food in the garden, at the field, on walks! She would never stop eating if she wasn't told to leave stuff! God only knows what it is that she's eating, but she's always finding bits of stuff to chomp down. And she killed and ate a mouse this morning. Quite frankly she's disgusting!
But, as a result, she doesn't get fed as much as she would at meal times. And still has a waist and a good waggle!
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Post by gordo on Sept 5, 2005 16:04:48 GMT 1
My newish dog came from a private competition home where she took part in agility to a very high level. At 7 they retire the dogs so I took on this one. Sadly though, the past has caught up with her and we have had to severly cut her exercise as she is hopping lame in evening hence weight gain. Only on BARF diet but can't seem to shift weight.
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sobagirl
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Post by sobagirl on Sept 5, 2005 16:33:43 GMT 1
Gordo - I'd like to put my 2 on the BARF diet. Do you get your bones from the butcher, and how much does he charge?
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