I told someone today that I thought having a dog, particularly an old dog overweight was cruelty.
Like with people, it puts so much strain on internal organs and joints.
I think it's worse than a dog that is slightly underweight.

http://www.pdsa.org.uk/about-us/medi...-warns-charity

I think alot of the time people over feed their dogs thinking they are doing the best for the dog. I do agree that health wise it's worse for a dog to be overweight then underweight.

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Harvey - staffy
Chance - american bulldog (rescue)

19 snakes, 5 geckos, phibs, T's, inverts, fluffies and hedgehog.

I quite agree! - no need for fat dogs, it's only laziness on the owners part - too much food, too little exercise. I depise seeing them. I believe there is absolutely no excuse for it, barring a few uncommon medical problems.

There is a 7 year old Yorkie we often meet at the beach - fat as butter, waddles about, can't run but clearly wants to - it breaks my heart to compare him to my eldest, who's now nearly 9, fit & lean and still tears about like a dog half his age. Worse thing – the Yorkie owner is blissfully ignorant to the fact his dog is so overweight and continues to fill him with oodles of treats – my hints, although subtle at the moment, are going to be stepped up a gear!

I hate to see overweight owners with overweight dogs – your choice (normally) to be overweight, but don’t subject your dogs to it

I get comments about mine being too thin - but people are so used to seeing fat dogs they've forgotten what a lean one looks like!

Ok rant over – can you tell fat dogs are my number one, excuse the pun, pet hate!

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''Dogs are like chocolates, you can never have just one!''

I think it is too.. my OH's dog is overweight yet no one but me sees it as a problem - he isn't grossly overweight but it's still putting pressure on his body. I think it's horrible to see a dog overweight and my OH always sees me pull a disgusted face when we see them and he calls me a nazi of the dog world - mainly to wind me up but it's because he doesn't think there's anything wrong with his overweight, dog aggressive, ill mannered, spoilt dog..

I totally agree with you though..

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yup i think its cruel to let your dog get fat.
but i understand how it could happen, im pretty strict with sophie and how much she gets to eat. its nice to get comments in what lovely shape she is in.

i see alot of older peoples dogs at the vets looking abit plump. im guessing its because they probably give extra treats, they probably cant walk the dog as much, theres lots of reasons so i wouldnt judge someone for having a slightly plump dog, but i definatly think it is far more healthy to keep the dog slim.

When Louie has a check up at the vets (he's had two so far) he's always getting the vets eye and I'm always getting told he's very lean for a Lab (this is where they get corrected - it is on the file that he isn't a Lab but a cross).

Yet I get people telling me he is underweight, my OH's Mum used to scoff at the "little" amount of kibble I'd give him and Sadie a day and Benjie when I had him - and she's always give Benjie a little extra - thinking I didn't know we also weighed the dogs in this weekend, Benjie is 3-5kg over what he should be IMO, being a cross there is no guidelines.. but MiL shrugged it off..

Sadie has also been called underweight - years ago I left her outside a shop whilst I popped in for some milk.. the days when it was safe to, this man was fussing her and saying, you poor thing.. I politely asked him what he meant and he said she was underweight.. she wasn't but because you could feel her ribs according to him she was

It is one of the things I hate most too..

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I must admit if I see someone with an overweight dog I do feel very sorry for it it's like when you see really overweight children. . .sometimes the adults just need to know when to say no whether it's to giving their dog extra treats every day or whether it's giving in and letting their child have lots of sweets

however, my dog became slightly over weight and I didn't notice straight away because obviously seeing her every day I didn't notice the difference and then I came home and thought "she looks like a little barrel" not really really overweight but she definitely needed to lose a bit so I cut down on her food and now she seems pretty spot on. . .she's not really lean but she can comfortably run (even though she doesn't like walks very much) without getting out of breath and you can feel her ribs with slight pressure. . .I don't want her to lose any more I have decided because she's getting old now and I think sometimes Yorkshire Terriers can get too thin when they get old and they are really frail so I want to keep her at a nice weight

it makes me sad when you see them and they look like footballs on legs

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My vet wants to keep Alfie to show other Westie owners what they should look like, not little tubbies

I think all of mine have been called too thin at one time or another - admittedly, sometimes the greyhounds are - they're lanky sods and their weight can drop so easily and sometimes they do border on too lean, with Blue you can see his last couple of ribs when he's running/flexing and Alfie is only 7 kg so light for a Westie, but he's a small example of the breed anyway, and I keep his fur quite short so you can see he is lean easily.

Meh, if someone says anything it goes in one ear and out the other - I know my dogs are good weights - and the nearly 9 year old sprinting around like a pup is the only incentive I'd ever need for keeping my dogs trim

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''Dogs are like chocolates, you can never have just one!''

I've mentioned it to the owner before and they did get the weight down a fair bit, but it's crept up again and has got completely out of control
He's a gorgeous dog and I'd like to keep walking him for them for as long as possible
Just trying shock tactics

I find seeing an overweight dog as upsetting as an overweight child but you have to be careful before making such a judgement. My previous dog had an auto immune disease and before the vet got the correct medication they tried steroids - did not help his illness so he could not walk far so the combination of that + steroids and he did get overweight - not talking massive/obese here but still overweight.

Also another thread on here asks if your hairy dog is sometimes mistaken as fat