Labrador advise re weight

[Fudgeface123]

Mum took my lab to the vets today for a check up and mum said the vet (in a roundabout way) has accused us of abuse as my dog is very overweight. She looks perfectly fine to me, she has a waist, no saggy belly like you see in some labs, can see the outline of and can feel her ribs when you run a hand over her side. She's very heavy to lift but she's solid, always had been. She weighs 36.85 kg and the vet said she should be no more than 25kg and is 10kg overweight.

Really?

[Fudgeface123]

*advice obviously

[TheHoundsBitch]

Have you got a picture of her? Side on and from above? 36kg does sound heavy for a female lab but it depends on her type and height.

[CatsClaus]

very difficult to say without pictures...

i will say though that some vets are very keen on diagnosing obesity with no regard to the build/stature of the actual dog.

one vet at our surgery lectured dh about our slightly overweight gsd, and said an ideal weight for him would be no more than 37 kg, absolutely no acknowledgement that he is probably a third taller than most small cars other GSDs.

we see someone else now at the same surgery and she is very happy with him at his current weight.

[Fudgeface123]

Pictures attached

[Fudgeface123]

Couple more although they aren't the best I'm afraid

[TheHoundsBitch]

In the picture where she's walking I would say she looks a bit overweight - but not 10kg! The other two pics it's hard to tell - If my dog was that shape, I would say she was quite overweight, but she is a young ridgeback cross so should be skinny. I don't know much about choc labs, but they do always look much chunkier than the working yellow labs I'm used to!

[TheHoundsBitch]

She's completely gorgeous btw...

[Fudgeface123]

Thanks Hounds, she is gorgeous. She is my first dog as an adult and I'm trying to do everything right. We don't overfeed her, she's on a light dog food, well below the recommended daily amount. She does have leg problems which are managed by medication hence the vet check up. Not sure what else we can do really

[VeryStressedMum]

My 10 year old lab is 33 kg and vet says she's perfect weight and looks in great shape. She's not even that chunky build. Yours may be a few kilos overweight but not 10kg!
25kg sounds way too light.

[tabulahrasa]

Looking at the pictures, yes she could be slimmer - if she has leg issues, you want her really really slim, that'll be why the vet wants so much off her.

It's not that she's fat, especially not compared to some labs, but it really does make a huge difference to leg problems...her waist is a bit thick and that looks like a fat pad between her front legs on her chest.

[VeryStressedMum]

She's 32kg not 33 sorry

[TheHoundsBitch]

Hopefully somebody who knows Chocolates will come along in a minute! All the labs I know are overweight - they do seem to be very prone to it. How tall is she?

[lavendersun]

I agree with everyone else - she looks fine to me, certainly not abused.

This is my 10 year old 31kg girl. Fit, healthy and completely fabulous - walks 4-5 miles daily.

Can you get her re-weighed at some point, maybe they got it wrong.

Two photos to compare to yours. Actually, you can see that she was carrying a bit more weight in the first photo which was at the end of the winter. She is always leaner in the summer when we walk twice a day.

Build and type varies so much with labs, mine came from the US where they generally breed them to be bigger (although she is by far the smallest from her litter). My dog would never weigh less than 29kg (and be well and fit).

[Elliptic5]

My 8 year old male chocolate lab is 42kg, he's slimmed down from 45kg as he was starting to have arthritis problems in his legs. He is a very tall boy and at the weight he is now has a good shape, ideally I'd like him to lose another couple of kg but no more.
I think your dog looks gorgeous and not much overweight, if she's having leg problems maybe a little less weight on her would be advantageous, however I sometimes wonder what planet these vets are on . My boy is from show champion stock not working stock so I would expect him to have a more chunky shape, perhaps your girl is the same?

[ItsAllKickingOffPru]

She's a bit overweight but I think the vet needs to recalibrate his scales as no way does she look 35kg.

Our Choc Lab is 25kg but she is a very slim working build.

[lavendersun]

Elliptic5, mine is show stock too, her dad won best lab at Westminster. I had no idea what the Westminster dog show was when I bought her as I had only just moved to the US. Didn't make any difference to me, I just wanted a healthy dog with a lovely temperament.

Definitely bigger, some of her brothers are absolutely massive.

[ToomuchIsBackOnBootcamp]

It's hard to me to tell from the pics on my iPad she looks well and maybe a little heavy but I wouldn't say 10kg too much either. Maybe your girl would be more comfortable at 30-32 kg ish?

My black lab boy was 29.5kg at his last checkup, he is elderly but the vet was very happy with his weight as She said labs are very prone to putting on weight as they age and naturally slow down.

Purely anecdotal but of all the labs I meet regularly, the yellows are the slimmer builds, blacks middling and chocs seem to be the sturdiest and chunkier builds. I don't know if it's something in the genes or just coincidental.