Fat Dogs

Did anyone else see this show on animal planet? There was a 40lb cavalier! the vet said he should be more like 19. I know that this breed can run both large and petite but this poor guy was not meant to be this big.
It was so sad.
His owner was so ignorant, one clip showed her coming back from the vet where she was told that "Wallace" had less than a year to live because of his weight and heart problems. When his owner came home she fed him 6 pieces of cake!
Its so frustrating when you see people who claim to love their animals but don't care enough about them to give them proper care.

Started to watch it (think the first clip was with a VERRY overweight Rotty), but quickly got disgusted and left. So sad, I just can't bear to watch. A bit salacious for Animal Planet, I think...:-| -Natalie

I would agree

(the show is called "Fat Pets")

The cavalier owner makes and effort to slim him down, but you have to wonder if she kept it up.

Oh my god, I didn't see it. That is insane - 40 lbs????????

what was the show called on Animal Planet? A 40 pound cav??? Its almost kinda hard to believe that the owner would let the dog get so big especially when MVD is such a big issue in the breed

I saw it and I couldn't help but wonder if the cav owner had her dogs hair cut intentionally, to make him look thinner for the end of the show!s

I watched the whole show and in all of the cases, except for the cat that had a slow metabolism, the owners were offering way to many snacks to begin with. Not to mention the owners feeding cake and meat from the table.

I didn't see the show but I will have to look for a re-run of it. Unfortunaley obesity in pets is not uncommon. At work we see alot of cats that are extreemly overweight. We had a short haired cat come in the other week that was matted, it was a short haired cat! The poor cat was matted because he was soo fat he couldn't groom himself.

That's so sad about the cat. I've heard of that problem before.

That's really pitiful about the Cavalier. If someone asks me if their Cavalier is overweight and I think they are...I don't hesitate to say so. And I don't say it to be mean. A lot of times people are completely informed about the health issues in Cavaliers and when you start telling them about the negative effects of the extra weight and the heart issues...sometimes you can see the light bulb light up! And I feel better that I may be saving them some heartache down the line.

But....weight is definitely dependent on size. Jake is 21 lbs and a great weight. When he's wet...he looks like a skinny little drowned rat. 21 lbs on other Cavaliers would not be healthy.

The Cavalier did lose 4 lbs, and at the end of the show it was chasing cats so it looked like the 4lbs seemed to make a difference in energy level.
At the begining of the show the dog only wanted to lay around.
I just hope the owner keeps up the weight loss program because at 40lbs it needs to lose a heck of alot more than 4lbs.

The most sickening thing on the show was when the Rot owner took her dog to the doggy spa, the groomer told her her dog was fat and she said "SHE IS NOT FAT AND I'LL THANK YOU TO NOT INSULT MY DOG."
The Rot was 200lbs.

Im thinking that poor dog doesn't have a chance at life due to its owners ignorance=(

Ugh...Unfortunately almost all of the dogs I see with their owners around here are morbidly obese. Every beagel that I have seen has it's belly almost to the ground!! At the vet's, I saw a Weimeraner who looked like someone had inflated his body with air because he was so round. He had to have been at LEAST 40lbs over weight. It was dispicable.

It don't think vets stress this enough with their clientel because they are afraid of offending or losing customers. They are definitely going to lose the dog in the long run if they don't speak up!!