Callista, you are a refreshing voice of reason, thank you
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Morbidly Obese Dog :(
- Thread starter EnzoLeya
- Start Date
I have to disagree with that. Being overweight is never healthy. Perhaps it may seem that way now, but the added weight will definetely catch up, and cause problems later on. Increased pressure on the joints from the extra weight that always has to be carried around, heart problems and blockages...there are hundreds of things that can go wrong, the risks just keep multiplying as the weight adds up.Originally Posted by Callista
I'm keeping my two cats on carefully regulated amounts of food--I don't want them to get fat, since it's literal torture to be on a diet. I should know; I tried a thousand diets before I just decided to focus on health. Ever since then, my blood pressure went down to normal, my resting heart rate is in the low 60s (which means I'm in good shape), and I can do anything a skinny person can at my physically active job... a 200 lb woman can be quite healthy and I'm living proof.This would be a good suggestion for the fat cats who just can't seem to lose weight, too--if you can get them to play and you can feed them a good diet, then they're likely to be healthy despite the extra weight.
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NOTE at times being FIT and Overwt is fine, yes there are studies saying being overwt can help but they are talking about a 100 lb person being 115 lb s not 250 lbs ... being OBESE is never good as it DOES contribute to early death from things like diabetes , heart disease
Sadly obesity in animals is something I see EVERYDAY. No one wants to admit that their animal is fat because of them. There MUST be something wrong with him/her... So we do the thyroid tests... guess what... the animal is just fat.
They get told all about putting their pets on diets and bringing them in for weight checks... Then they bring them back in for a weight check to see if the diet is working. The pet has gained weight. "well I thought since it was a diet food they could eat as much of it as they wanted" OR "OH you mean that their not allowed to have the 20 treats I normally give them a day?"
The worst case I saw was a young calico cat. She was only about 3 years old and had to be put to sleep due to her obesity. She weighed 35 pounds. She could hardly breath. She couldn't stand or even turn her head. Putting her on a diet would have caused her to get hepatic lipidosis and would have killed her if she didn't pass from respiratory distress first. Their was no medical reason the cat should have been that big. It killed me to see her get put down because of her owner.
Some people just don't get it. They think its cute to have a fat animal. Or they think that giving the animal food is how they show they love it. They dont realize that one day that animal while get heart problems, or diabetes, or horrible arthritis because of its weight.
They get told all about putting their pets on diets and bringing them in for weight checks... Then they bring them back in for a weight check to see if the diet is working. The pet has gained weight. "well I thought since it was a diet food they could eat as much of it as they wanted" OR "OH you mean that their not allowed to have the 20 treats I normally give them a day?"
The worst case I saw was a young calico cat. She was only about 3 years old and had to be put to sleep due to her obesity. She weighed 35 pounds. She could hardly breath. She couldn't stand or even turn her head. Putting her on a diet would have caused her to get hepatic lipidosis and would have killed her if she didn't pass from respiratory distress first. Their was no medical reason the cat should have been that big. It killed me to see her get put down because of her owner.
Some people just don't get it. They think its cute to have a fat animal. Or they think that giving the animal food is how they show they love it. They dont realize that one day that animal while get heart problems, or diabetes, or horrible arthritis because of its weight.
Don't judge the owner without knowing the circumstances. My former boss had a dog named Mallory. She was the sweetest golden retriever mix I had ever met, and the fatest. She had a more active life than I did...she swam in the ocean, she rode on the boat every day, she came into the office with my boss to get lovings. She was overweight because of a thyroid condition (she was on a special diet, and she didn't get any treats), and my boss spent thousands of dollars in medicine and tests to try to get her better. Unfortunately she did die a few years ago because of heart failure, which had NOTHING to do with her owners. They did everything they could.
I think the fact that the owner was bringing her dog in to the vet says a lot.
I think the fact that the owner was bringing her dog in to the vet says a lot.
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It's healthier than going on a diet, regaining the weight, and then going on another diet. The yo-yo diet syndrome has been associated with many more problems than mere obesity, and (may I remind you) 99% of diets will result in either failure or exactly this problem.
However, it's been proven that, among the group of overweight people with normal blood pressure who are in good shape, life expectancy is equal to that of a normal-weight person with the same fitness--and actually higher than that of an underweight person.
Mind you, it's not as though I can sit on my laurels and congratulate myself that being fat won't hurt me. I exercise half an hour daily, ride my bike everywhere within ten miles, eat healthy food, and hold an active, physical job.
For the past fifty years, doctors have thought that being overweight is bad--but it isn't. It's the associated lack of fitness that really hurts you. The human body is designed to grab hold of the weight and keep it there, since natural selection for thousands upon thousands of years rejected those whose bodies couldn't do this. For that reason, most diets simply don't work--meaning that a more realistic goal for most fat people is simple fitness and health rather than thinness.
We're just waiting for social prejudice to catch up with this truth.
Jut getting out and moving really is the key. Society doesn't punish those thin people who are in terrible health but maintain a size 2 dress size. As long as they look good, all is forgiven.
Whether we are fat or thin, we simply need to move. I am "obese" and much healthier (although not anywhere near healthy enough) than many thin people I know. Thin people also have high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. We don't hear so much about them.
When we yo-yo diet, we run the risk of putting on all the weight we've lost, plus more. Fat cells do not go away. It is much healthier to be active and to love ourselves at the size we are instead of hating our bodies and putting them into starvation mode to attain some grand socially-accepted ideal. I am halfway there - I won't diet but the loving myself thing hasn't quite happened yet
Yo-yo dieting is a killer. Talk about stress on the body and mental health. I have old friends who have yo-yoed for years. From a reasonable size 14 in their teens to 200+ down to 150 and back up over 300. Every time they lose weight, they are told how wonderful they are - of course when they gain it back, they believe they are once more an unworthy fat person.
I am fat and my cats are not. Just because a woman has extra poundage doesn't mean she is an irresponsible pet owner. She could be, but it isn't because she is fat.
I do feel for the dog. Left to its own resources, it would naturally exercise often every day and most likely maintain a healthy (not scrawny) weight, barring a medical condition.
Whether we are fat or thin, we simply need to move. I am "obese" and much healthier (although not anywhere near healthy enough) than many thin people I know. Thin people also have high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. We don't hear so much about them.
When we yo-yo diet, we run the risk of putting on all the weight we've lost, plus more. Fat cells do not go away. It is much healthier to be active and to love ourselves at the size we are instead of hating our bodies and putting them into starvation mode to attain some grand socially-accepted ideal. I am halfway there - I won't diet but the loving myself thing hasn't quite happened yet
Yo-yo dieting is a killer. Talk about stress on the body and mental health. I have old friends who have yo-yoed for years. From a reasonable size 14 in their teens to 200+ down to 150 and back up over 300. Every time they lose weight, they are told how wonderful they are - of course when they gain it back, they believe they are once more an unworthy fat person.
I am fat and my cats are not. Just because a woman has extra poundage doesn't mean she is an irresponsible pet owner. She could be, but it isn't because she is fat.
I do feel for the dog. Left to its own resources, it would naturally exercise often every day and most likely maintain a healthy (not scrawny) weight, barring a medical condition.
