Is Obeseity Abuse?

but he has a lot of other health issues affecting him.

Cali was talking about dogs that obviously are able to come to the park, have fun, go places with their family, etc.

I'm with Poodlemommy. Overweight dogs aren't better off in shelters, or even dead. They shouldn't necessarily be removed from their owners care. I could think of far worse things someone could do to a dog - albeit being very, very, very obese is quite cruel. But, I do work in a vet office, I do see a lot of mildly overweight dogs (rolly polly things), but we honestly do not see dogs that often that are SOOO fat they can hardly walk or unable to live happy lives. For example, we had an older lab in kennel tonight. (Not much smaller than the other lab pictured in this thread.) You couldn't see a waist line, but she was happy, hardy, and for the most part, just fine. Yes, it is not healthy, but there are worse things. I don't think by ANY means the owners of the lab in kennel tonight are abusing their dog.

See, this is where I have a problem. People aren't defining what obesity is. Some make it out to be 10lbs overweight. Some say that if the dog can't walk it's obese. Some say that being fat and obesity are the same thing.

Yeah, I think that's where a lot of the disagreement in this thread is coming from.

I've yet to see a dog that was so fat it couldn't walk (thankfully). I'm just talking about obviously overweight dogs. The beagle I mentioned was FAT--it looked like it had swallowed a watermelon sideways--but it still frolicked around at the park. Sad and unnecessary? Yes. Reason to remove the dog from the house? I don't think so. I'd rather see a dog be fat and loved than thin and ignored in the backyard, or God forbid hit or kicked.

Lizmo, for me personally, I would define a MORBIDLY OBESE dog as unable to do the age appropriate things that normal weight, healthy, dogs can do. Go for a mile or two walk (most dogs can do WAY more) without issues (like needing to sit and rest, breathe just fine, etc), hop in or out of a car, get on and off a couch or bed without assistance (yes, some YOUNG fat dogs get HELP up and down) just basic things our own dogs do every day.

A little "plump" around the middle isn't good.......but it isn't the end of the world and a large portion of dogs live and are active that way their whole lives. I think it's not hard to tell a "chubby dog" from a morbidly obese dog.

And when I say it IS abuse, it's those dogs I am referring to who can't live life doing what other dogs do because they are simply too fat to participate in life.

I had a very overweight childhood dog. She was miserable. She had bad join problems and gained weight because of it. When she was younger she could eat what she wanted and not get fat. As she aged we still overfed her and when her joints got bad she turned into a whale. She was fat till the day she died because my mom always overfed her. So sad.

After having Spank and Bandit I learned what a dog SHOULD look like. Bandit isn't fat at all but he isn't as toned as usual. It bugs me but he'll get back there slowly. I like my dogs lean and muscular. Thick thigh muscles are my favorite.

It can't really be defined because there can be so many factors. A rottweiler that is 5 pounds overweight can probably be overlooked. But a chihuahua that is 5 pounds overweight is a huge problem. If a dog already has health problems affecting their joints, then ANY excess weight should be prevented. IMO, if we're talking about an average sized adult dog (so maybe 40-50 pounds), then anything over 5lbs overweight needs to be addressed.

I'm kind of on the fence about this one.

I don't think it's something where the dog should be taken away and the owners put in jail or anything but EDUCATION would be a must in cases where a dog is so overweight that it can't move or do anything on it's own.

But take me for example... sometimes a dogs weight just gets away from you. I took belle to the vet a couple weeks ago and she has put on 15 pounds. I couldn't BELIEVE IT. I knew she was putting on some weight and we made changes to try to help with that but no WAY did I ever think she had put on THAT much weight. But I see her everyday. I spend 95% of my day around her and she usually only goes to the vet once a year so isn't being weighed on a regular basis and the weight just slowly came on and on and on and I didn't notice it until it got to THIS point. turns out she's been eating both meals... her dinner AND Beezers dinner.

It wasn't because I am just an idiot owner or because I don't care. now of course she's not to the point where she can't run around or play or anything else but I can see now how this stuff sneaks up on people who otherwise wouldn't normally let it happen.

NOW people that feed their dogs mcdonalds and such... yeah they need some education

Thanks ACoop for your difinition of obesity. It seems obesity, fat, and overweight are getting confused.

Like CaliTerp, I've never seen a dog so obese it couldn't walk. I have seen one *grossly* overweight the dog made me sick, but it could still walk/get up and down without a problem.

Over feeding them is killing them slowly, in other words pretty much
poisoning them. Taking them away isn't going to do anything, they are just
going to get another dog. Educated them and give them a reality check, if
they really love their dog. They will do what's best for their dog.

CaliTerp07, a prong collar or yelling at a dog because it peed in the house and being obesity are two very different things.

Well really depends on how obesity, like the Basenji I saw. Who had to take a break every few seconds. I rather see it dead.

I agree that there's fat and then there's obese, and yes, I do think for dogs that are really obese that is abuse. I have once seen a dog that was terribly obese - not so much it couldn't walk but it was clearly hard for it to walk. It was out in hot summer heat and it was QUITE obese and I was just disgusted with the owners for letting their dog get THAT obese and then subjecting it to being in that intense heat. It was a black dog on top of it all so that sure wasn't helping the heat issue.
As for dogs that are just a bit fat, I don't like to see it but I think most people really don't know what ideal weight for a dog looks like. I'd rather a dog be slightly overweight than quite honestly too skinny. I do think education is the key. Attempting to legislate the weight of a dog just seems like asking for trouble!

I also agree with sparks that sometimes a dog's weight can just get away from you and it doesn't mean somebody is a terrible owner... it's just an honest mistake. Auggie has so much fur that unless he is dripping weight or you are really putting your hands on him to check for weight, it's hard to see his body underneath. I think I posted on here before about a couple years ago, I took him to the vet and he weighed 22 pounds, and I was like OMG... that is A LOT. The vet tech that weighed him didn't say anything and the vet didn't say anything, but I was just like OMG that cannot be right. I took him to his breeder's husband and was like "Seriously, I think he's fat. Tell me... is he fat, or just fluffy?" Yeah, he was a little beyond fluffy. Whoops. We put him on a diet for a bit and then made further adjustments to what he was eating until we found the right balance.
Now I am MUCH more aware of it and am constantly putting my hands on Auggie to check his figure, and I have a really good feel for it now - like I can tell when he's 16 pounds rather than 15. I don't have a scale of my own and we aren't at the vet very often, but I remember one time when I was picking him up and feeling around and was like "Golly, Auggie, you are getting fat again!" This was right about when I took him to the canine chiropractor and when they put him on the scale, sure enough, he was 16 pounds. Turns out when my dad had been "helping" feeding Auggie breakfast in the mornings, he was overfeeding him. But I know not everybody is going to be as concerned with it as I am... extra weight on my little athlete is not only going to be bad for his performance but more importantly it's extra strain on his joints when he jumps that he does NOT need. Anybody who doesn't have that to worry about probably isn't going to be basically obsessed with it the way I am, LOL.

That, exactly.

I'd pay good money to see that (the water therapy that is) LOL

Just found this thread but I must say I agree that it is a form of abuse to let a dog get obese. Besides being uncomfortable for the dog they develop all kinds of health issues. I've never understood people who have obese dogs unless they have a medical condition that can't be controlled.

:rofl1:

I think the bigger picture needs to be adressed, which is constant promotion of poor quality diets that are chalk full simple carbs which are converted directly into glucose, giving the dog an abundance of empty calories that are stored as fat, It doesent help that most owners are "too busy" to properly exercise their animals to begin with.
Not to mention that the feeding guidelines on the bag are seriosly flawed, I think the only thing pet food companies are concerned with is making sure the animals eat as much as possible, so the owner can go out and spend more money on food.

it also doesn't help that way too many younger vets have no idea what a fit dog looks like and are accustomed to the thinking a slightly fat dog is healthy.

Or the thought that people have that dogs should have a bit of extra weight in case they get sick... Do people carry extra weight in case they get sick? No! Because that extra weight very well might cause us to get sick in the first place!