Fat Dogs

I think making a dog fat is cruel and unkind and owners should prosicuted just as those who starve their pets. The dog didn't ask to be fat since we are in charge of their food.

Common obese victims in my area are Labradors and Cavaliers >.>

I often see barral sized labradors which are tripple the normal weight if not more. I can't help but think they must be very rich to happily throw money down their pets stomachs. Its expensive enough to feed a normal weight diet let alone helping to pile on the pounds.

If dogs get their energy from fat does that make fat dogs hyperactive??

Technically you get your energy from carbohydrates. Carbs turn to fat if you eat more than you're burning off. At least, that's how it works in humans (I think!) apparently it doesn't work that way with dogs, whoops!

Also, I agree that overfeeding your pet is bad but there are some dogs who have health problems that cause them to be big, some fat dogs that are on diets already, some that may have been rescued, some that may be old and therefore struggling to burn off the food they're taking in etc. There are a bunch of reasons for a dog being fat that you may not even know about so it's wise not to judge if you don't know the full story.

That's a bit of overkill education and assessing each case individually is a more common sense approach. I do agree there seems to be a lot of overweight Labs around.

I think most health issues are their because the dog got fat in the first place. Their are lots of fat dogs in the UK they can't all be related to health issues and at the end of the day we are in charge of the meals so who else is responsible?

Unless its genuinely health related I think overfeeding is cruel and unkind.

Dogs don’t need to contain any “carbs” at all
We humans can eat Carbohydrates (such as porridge or pasta)
Convert them into sugars and store the energy in our bodies to use later on
Dogs have no capacity to do this

My parents have a Chihuahua and he is as fat as a barrel, by far the fattest Chi I have ever seen. He is spoilt rotten, eats lamb chops, beef and best ham off the bone and drinks mineral water! For his in between snacks he has a bowl of Bakers on the floor thats always available to munch on.

I have told them countless time they are literally "loving him to death" but they don't listen and he is now nearly 10 years old and has to be pushed for half of his walk in a doggy stroller because he has such a bad front leg which I am sure is caused by his weight.

In my opinion it is certainly a form of cruelty, I have NEVER let a dog of mine gain unnecessary weight and I think with greedy dogs you just have to be cruel to be kind and take extra care to feed and exercise them correctly even though there cute little faces are begging for a morsel of your food at every opportunity.

Out of interest, what happens when dogs eat carbs then? I know you're not meant to feed them with a raw diet but I'm still not sure why (I just thought they were unnecessary for dogs on a high protein diet?).

What a silly naive judgemental post , one based on a total lack of understanding of individual circumstances

My brother had a Lab who was morbidly obese. The dog hardly ate a thing and was on very meagre rations. He got the 'looks' and the comments, but literally, after thousands spent on vets and meds, the reason for the obesity was never found. The dog lived to be 14 before old age took it's toll. She had been fat all her life - she was even fat as a pup.

My poor brother had many an embarrassing moment when walking her (he walked her miles - she went everywhere with him) and in the end got fed up of trying to explain to the disbelieving people who frowned on him

I think all dogs are different, I have 2 dogs, one who loses weight if he misses a meal and the other who piles it on far too easy. Fred the slight one gets a full mug more food than Mya and still only justs holds his weight. Mya who gets teeny portions really struggles. She is is 33kgs and Fred is 25kgs, Fred is only small in height too. Now Mya's not massively overweight but I don't want her to get any heavier. They both get over 2 hours exercise a day, various walks, running etc.
Now my dogs are built very differently and I still struggle with Mya.
She is greedy so I have to watch she doesn't nick Fred's food etc, I am very careful. Vet agrees she's just big built, just like people you get all shapes and sizes.
Having one that's 2kgs overweight I believe it's not just down to owners over feeding, not exercising them enough etc