Overweight American Dogs

I previously wrote about our struggle with Big Ras Bob the Giant Mutant Mountain Poodle when he developed systemic cancer - a dog version of Hodgkin’s Disease - and our surprise that there was actually a chemotherapy treatment for dogs. Which we of course invested in, hoping that maybe his cancer would go into remission as it sometimes does with people who undergo chemotherapy.

It might have added three months to his life, though in the end we did have to take him in for “The Shot,” crying all the way. The most awful thing about the chemo was that it not only made poor Bob’s beautiful hair fall out in fistfuls, it also made him gain weight like nobody’s business. Some of that was no doubt the drug effects themselves, but another part of it was that he was voraciously hungry all the time and we just didn’t have the heart to deny him. By the time he died he was at least 20 pounds overweight, which is a very considerable amount for a fine-lined dog such as a poodle.

It reminded me of a friend we had way back in the 1970s, who was sort of short and chunky even though he was a confirmed vegetarian. I figured it was just his particular frame and metabolism, because you’d have to eat a whole lot more carrots, spinach and rice than he ever did to put that much weight on. He had a dog named Fasha, a mostly white beagle-like mutt with serious attitude, who proved the adage that people and their dogs tend to look alike. Fasha was as chunky as our friend, but actually did eat enough to account for it.

I’ve been reading in the news about the worsening obesity crisis in America, where the ‘average’ person weighs nearly twice what most people in the rest of the world weigh. Just another symptom of our fondness for conspicuous consumption, as well as the shift in our food supply toward ever more processed foods that contain excessive amounts of high fructose corn syrup that does nothing so much as pack on the pounds. Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles don’t help, and now even our children are obese because they no longer spend lots of time outdoors playing at running and climbing games. And that’s a symptom of our increasingly estranged neighborhood arrangements and the dangers kids face these days that simply weren’t a big concern when I was growing up.

As we get fatter, so do our dogs and cats. As many as 30% of our dogs are overweight according to vet surveys, and the actual problem on the ground could be worse. Our lack of exercise translates to dogs not getting a lot of exercise either. And just as our extra poundage contributes to all sorts of health problems and early death, that is true for dogs as well (but, interestingly enough, apparently not for fat cats).

Poodle people are generally not too tolerant of fat poodles, as they spend inordinate amounts of time and money buying them the best foods, getting them meticulously groomed at the best salons, and generally showing them off for the gorgeous animals they truly are. A fat poodle isn’t particularly endearing, and you don’t see that many of them. Perhaps poodle people aren’t all that overweight either. Or, I haven’t known any fat poodle people - of the standard-imperial variety, though I have seen some chubby toys and minis.

If our dogs reflect our lifestyles as well as our very selves, perhaps their weight gain should alert owners that some real changes need making. The links below offer good information about the problem and advice from vets and pet food manufacturers on how to help your dogs lose weight and live longer. I’d like to hear some stories about poodle people out there who have dealt with an overweight beauty, and how this helped them become more conscious of their own lifestyle choices as well. Comment away!

Links:

The Overweight Standard Poodle

Overweight Dogs Are A Big Problem

Articles: Weight Loss In Dogs

Pedigree Weight Maintenance

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