Those of you that know me - or have adopted a dog from me - have probably received a lecture about the dangers of overfeeding. Many roll their eyes or nod blankly hoping that eventually I will finish my speech.
This week, Nightline covered a terrific story about how America's pets are suffering from the obesity and inactivity of America's humans. The story also offered some insights as to how we can correct this problem without much effort.
I thought I would share the story with the few followers of this blog.
It breaks my heart when I see dogs that are middle aged (8-10) who can no longer run or go up and down stairs because of their weight.
With the number of obese dogs that come through this rescue - I have seen firsthand the health-related issues that accompany obesity. Most of these health issues can be avoided with proper feeding guidleines adding years onto your dog's life.
We recently took in Cheyenne - a morbidly obese Pit Bull who is only 10 years old - but can barely walk.
Her previous owner stopped walking her and started to feed her out of guilt when her husband commited suicide - leaving Cheyenne alone for many hours each day. We are walking Cheyenne every day now - to work the weight off her - but it is sad to watch. She struggles to breath after just a short bit of execise - and cannot lift her body up steps or into a car.
Eventually she will lose the extra pounds and be a happy, healthy girl again - but finding an adopter for a pit bull, not to mention an obese, senior pit bull, is going to be quite a challenge! The good news is that Cheyenne has a beautiful temperment and gets along with humans and other anmals without issue. So hopefully that will help her.
Here is a picture of Gouda - my own 10 year old Pit Bull. He is the same age as Cheyenne - but you would never know it. I keep praying that he will start to get old as he likes to climb book shelves, and open the refrigerator door in search of yummy snacks...It takes a whole day of running around to get him tired! The point being - that age is not a good excuse to have an overweight dog.
We are alway complaining that dog live such short lives - and having our best friend leave us behind this world after 10-12 years is heartbreaking. If we just focus on proper diet and exercise - many dogs can live well upwards of 15. Please give your dog that chance to be your share life for longer - excercise - feed quality food in moderate amounts. You both will be happier in the end!
1 comment:
My dogs are both overweight and both on a strict diet.
The hard part wasn't convincing the dogs- they love the idea of playing fetch for pieces of kibble or going for longer walks, and the bigger dog stands obediently beside the scales every morning. The hard part was convincing the humans of the family to change ideas of what 'enough' kibble looks like, and showing them that the dogs won't starve on a much smaller portion.
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