Are you okay with your dog being obese? According to a lady in Chicago, her dog Tippy, who is 65 lbs overweight, is fine the way he is and she loves him nonetheless.

“I don’t care if people say he’s chubby,” said Tippy’s owner Katherine Mathers, gently scratching the dog’s protruding belly. “So what if he doesn’t look like the dog in the Iams commercial? What’s more important: having a perfect body or being happy? I love him whether he’s 25, 50, or even 150 pounds overweight. In fact, I think he’s the cutest dog in the world.”

Sure, she loves Tippy and I don’t doubt that, but what about his health? Like many people, dogs can have uncontrollable appetites. Like the saying goes, “their eyes are bigger than their stomaches.” Others feel that love is allowing your dog to eat as much as he so desires because it makes them happy. They only have one life, right? Personally, this is not humane to me. It’s like feeding your pet poison, shortening their lifespan. An overweight dog can barely walk, sniff their beautiful surroundings, and play with other dogs or humans without plopping to the ground to huff and puff in a short period of time.

In this case, it’s not about what other people think of your dog, it’s about YOUR dog and his overall well-being and quality of life. People have a tendency to overindulge and pets do the same thing regardless of the consequences. An overweight dog = more expensive vet visits, more expensive meds, a pet that’s in pain but can’t tell you it’s in pain, a shorter life span, the inability to run around and play more, and so on. Do people really think of that as love? Even though I can’t prove it, I bet anything that Tippy isn’t exactly a happy dog. Humans don’t feel the regret till they’ve hit the beds in the hospitals at a much older age, but dogs don’t live as long so they’ll certainly feel the pain a lot sooner than humans.

C’mon people. You making that effort to give your dog a healthy and balanced life will give you a healthier and balanced life. Statistics show the following:

The Numbers

An Estimated 50% of Dogs and Cats in the United States are Overweight or Obese
An Estimated 14% of US Dogs and Cats are Obese
An Estimated 84 million US Dogs and Cats are Overweight or Obese
An Estimated 23 million US Pets are Obese

An Estimated 44% of US Dogs are Overweight or Obese (BCS 4-5)
An Estimated 10% of US Dogs are Obese (BCS 5)
33 million US Dogs are estimated to be Overweight or Obese
7.2 million US Dogs are estimated to be Obese

An Estimated 57% of US Cats are Overweight or Obese (BCS 4-5)
An Estimated 18% of US Cats are Obese (BCS 5)
51 million US Cats are estimated to be Overweight or Obese
15.8 million US Cats are estimated to be Obese

Think about it.

Tweet This Post