To wonder why petlovers overfeed?

[Ummmmgogo]

Aibu to wonder why it is considered funny to shorten your pets life by overfeeding it? Why is making an animal fat funny but starving it is abuse? This is not a taat but is a bit inspired by other threads on here, and a bit inspired by the endless pictures of fat miserable pets I see uploaded to the internet. Surely responsible pet ownership is about giving your pet a long healthy and happy life? Can anyone help me to understand why people who would be up in arms at the idea of a dog being rehomed are cool with the idea of it being unable to have a happy and fulfilling life and dying early? I'm not a pet lover just something I was wondering on a boring Sunday.

I have two housecats- b/g littermates.

He weighs 4.8kg, which always surprises the vet because he feels solid and is a long cat (takes up more or less the entire sofa at full stretch).
She weighs 3.2kg, and is about two inches shorter when she stands next to her brother.

Guess who eats more? I'll give you a clue- it's not the bigger one. He was once overweight, so as he has aged, his bellyhang from then makes him look fatter than he is.

The vet is happy with both of their condition, especially given that they are now 14 years old and have had a grade 2 heart murmur since birth.

Looks can be deceiving.

I think the first response nailed it. I'm not sure I fully understand why, but in this country, we do equate food with love. That goes for humans or animals (not that there's much of a distinction, we often treat animals as humans).

Give someone food and you're giving them love. They eat your food, they're accepting your love.

We really do have some odd, dangerous ideas ingrained in our way of thinking. I don't mean that as an attack on anyone - I'm just as guilty.

I've had a fat cat and the other is now trying to join her and got it to lose weight.

She got fat because she is much much more interested in food than her sister, is the dominant cat and basically was eating 1 and 1/2 portions at each meal.

Cats don't need to eat much so when you put a portion down, it looks small. Plus most cat food is full of junk carbs that the cat wouldn't naturally eat.

I've never fed treats but I do let them scrounge - the first time it's sooo endearing. A month later you have created a monster

Turning point for me was when I said to the vet 'She eats so much' and he replied 'No you feed her too much'

Smaller portions, lower calorie cat food and iron will on my part while the cat begged it's paws off and she's stayed a healthy weight since.

However at healthy weight, visitors and my nextdoor neighbour continually tell me that the cat is thin and I should feed her up

I think some people do over feed and some definitely don't let their dogs get enough exercise. However, it's not as simple as that.

Our cat is fat. Our vet had been giving us a hard time for years. We tried the diet food she suggested and reduced intake ... he got fatter. We know he steals food, begs and also hunts.

It was only when we got a dog who was slightly over weight on arrival but rapidly dropped to the perfect weight, and stayed there, that vet finally believes us that we are not over feeding cat. Interestingly, she has suggested a new diet alternative now and it is actually working. We are all pretty excited although dh and I worry what happens when summer rolls
Around and he's out scavenging begging and hunting all night again...! 😄

It's not funny.

My dearly departed cat (who died at the age of 21) was never overfed or overweight according to the vet but she looked fat, due to a slight sag in her stomach that appeared after we had her neutered. She came to us as a rescue cat aged 1 year, and was extremely fussy in her eating habits, we put this down to her previous owners being vegans and presumably feeding her a vegan diet. I still miss the cat, even though she was a grumpy antisocial moo (just like me)!

I agree but as some other posters said, it's not always simple. I always get an earful from the vet about my cats weight but he is on a very strict diet -- expensive stuff from the vet that I measure out. The sneaky thing clearly gets food elsewhere. I've asked the neighbours not to feed him and he's got a 'don't feed me collar'. I've tried keeping him in but he was miserable.

My aunty had a beautiful lab - he was a real character but every time she got herself a bar of chocolate, the dog had one too! He had cups of tea in his bowl, milk and sugar added - liver, bacon, sausage...anything but proper dog food. We all used to tell her off and the dog died aged 5. It now makes me angry to remember it, and I wish I'd been an adult at the time as I'd have reported her to the RSPCA because it was cruelty. I have a working cocker - he's walked about 5 miles a day, on the best quality food I can afford and a treat for him is a tin of sardines or a scrambled egg on top of his food, and the odd leftovers of a roast chicken. I adore my dog, he's my best friend and I want him here with me as long as it is possible. When we see the vet for his annual jabs, he always comments about his shiny teeth, shiny coat and well muscled lean body.......... and says you'd be amazed how few dogs we get in such good condition. I can't see how you can love a pet and feed it shit.

We have a rescue cat who is extremely long. He's 'big boned' for want of a better word but he carries his weight well. No tummy on him although when we go to the vets for check ups we are warned that he is at the high end of his percentile for weight. He's an outdoor cat and very active. He has 1 pouch in the morning and 1 in the evening. No treats at all but I have no control over the amount of birds, rats and mice he eats when he's out, as he is a born hunter. Caught him trying to bring a seagull in through the catflap once! We have told all the neighbours that we know to please not feed him, although they say that he doesn't beg for food. We absolutely couldn't keep him inside as he hates being confined, and yet trying not to feed him results in him scratching, yowling, biting, spraying and shitting. We risk him becoming overweight the way he is carrying on, but to assess us as irresponsible owners is fucking insulting.

I would imagine that the dog just isn't getting exercised enough probably because the man isn't able for it. That's not neglect or bad ownership in my opinion!

Actually that is neglect - the man should not own a pet if he can't commit to exercising it enough, whether that's him walking the dog, a friend, a volunteer or a dog walker. It's quite simply cruel to keep an animal and not provide the basic care it needs to be healthy - if you can't do that then the dog needs to be rehomed. Sad for the owner, and the dog too, but better than dying an early, painful death.

I think a lot of dog owners don't exercise their dogs very well. As a kid, our dogs were free fed (bowl topped up whenever empty, big risk for obesity), not always on the best food and given plenty of scraps - but always lean. Why? Lots of exercise.

My chihuahua is free fed, some egg/meat based scraps and whatever bits of biscuit or whatever the toddlers have trailed round and I've missed - she tracks the tiniest crumb down like a bloodhound!. She gets walked an hour+ every day and bounces round the garden though, and you can feel every bump of spine and rib at the lightest touch.

Hedgehog Actually that is neglect the man should not own a pet if he can't commit to exercising it enough, whether that's him walking the dog, a friend, a volunteer or a dog walker. It's quite simply cruel to keep an animal* and not provide the basic care it needs to be healthy - if you can't do that then the dog needs to be rehomed. Sad for the owner, and the dog too, but better than dying an early, painful death.

Actually I disagree. The dog is looked after, he is clean, he's well behaved, he's very gentle/friendly and there's clearly a lot of love between him and my neighbour.

He does get taken out for walks (not very far admittedly) but from what I have observed his daddy tries; He takes him out every morning and every early evening, however the man uses a walking stick and is at least 80. I think the dog was his wife's but she died a couple of years ago; Why should he give the dog away when he does look after him and does love him?

It would be cruel to separate them, you don't re-home an animal on the basis of being a little overweight. My mum is slightly overweight should I offer her up to the nearest dump? Maybe we should put all of the anorexic teens and overweight toddlers in care as well then? Obviously by your standards they are being neglected too. When my sister had cancer she wasn't able to walk her dog as often as usual but that wasn't a reason to send him to the pound; I think your remarks are really ignorant and lacking in compassion!

3 pages, and NONE of you picked up on this:

If you lick them they taste sweet

??? !!! ???

OMG, there's a MN-er who licks pet treats! And it's - like - the second or third post in. How much more eurrowgh could there possibly be! And NOT ONE of the PPs has felt the need to comment, thus - I guess - they all find this normal. Am I in an alternate universe where people lick their pets' treats? Kill me NOW!!!!

My cat was always able to eat the right amount for her size until the vet told me to buy 'dental' food to keep her teeth healthy. Apparently it's highly calorific as it's meant to be so tasty the cat will eat it by preference. So then cat got fat and got the saggy tummy look as she was reasonably old. She's now no longer fat (puppy ate all of her food) but still looks fat because of the saggy tummy. And now I'm having to feed her up as the vet needs to be at a consistent weight so if she has sudden weight loss it's due to illness (not greedy puppy).
FYI - greedy puppy was probably just hungry as I started off feeding his at his current weight not the adult weight (misread instructions), then he just kept getting heavier than the expected adult weight because he's about 1/3 bigger than what we were expecting. He gets lots of exercise, you can feel his ribs and see his muscle tone. With him it got to the point I had to double his food and then one day he just cut back naturally. I still measure the food out occasionally to keep on the right track but he looks lean.

I wonder about it too but I dont think its as simple as 'cos people find it funny'. I free feed my pets, they constantly have food in their bowls, get plenty treats and the cats are often seen eating birds leaving fucking leftovers in the house. None of my pets are overweight though. Why are some animals able to control their eating/manage their weight and others not? I guess the answer is the same as humans, there is no one case fits all. My dm dog is vastly overweight. But its old, decrepit and can barely walk. Its only source of enjoyment seems to be curling up on the sofa with dm and a wee treat. I find it hard to get worked up about it tbh. Dm dog is loved, cared for and generally happy.

Meh, I have one big fat cat. He is one of a herd of four. I free feed them very expensive, very high quality food. He is the alpha male and loves to eat. I leave him to it. Can't really worked up about. . Worrying about how other people feed their pets is not an my radar by any stretch.
YABU..

My cat is fat because other people feed him, despite being repeatedly asked not too. At one point we had him at the vet because he wasn't eating anything yet piling on weight.

Now my two other cats (who are too timid to go into another house) can't have free access to dry food because if we leave it out greedy will top up the chicken/tuna/whatever #4 give him because despite the fact he is clearly overweight, and despite the fact they know he gets fed they continually say "he sounded sooooooo hungry."

It absolutely enraged me that my only choice is likely to be to keep him in, which he'll hate, because they don't want a cat so it's not that they are trying to steal him, they his want to feed him.

Oh my good lord... everyone on this thread is a pet-treat licker! Clearly, I'm doing something wrong by NOT licking my dog's gross treats!!!!!

A secret camera! That's a good idea, Owllady. I'd love to know what they get up to during the day. I have visions of Fat Dog calmly helping herself to food from the fridge, putting the TV on and relaxing on the couch eating snacks .

Firstly, it's not always about over eating. I have a dog that is very fat. He has an illness and is on medication for it. He absolutely will not walk, anywhere. He hates putting one foot in front of the other. It's a fight to get him to go into the garden to go to the toilet. He's incredibly heavy and I can't carry him far. He's on a very strict, raw diet. He gets no treats and is certainly not overfed. If I take him out people love to come up and tell me off for overfeeding him, then wish they hadn't soon after.

Secondly, dog food that you can buy is full of crap. "Complete" dog food is processed and full of grains and cereals that dogs are not meant to eat. Foods in cans or packets are full of water and salt and other bad things. Dogs should eat a raw diet consisting of raw bones and meat, with the correct bone to meat ratio. A chicken wing has a perfect bone to meat ratio. They would only eat vegetables if they were in the stomach of their prey so should always be grated/processed to break up the cellulose. The odd fish is great. No cooked bones, ever. Dogs aren't mean to eat the rubbish we give them. I don't understand when people will learn this.

Thank you again everyone I have genuinely learnt a lot for this thread.

@user I was slightly concerned by the pet food licking too, but apparently all pet food in this country is safe for human consumption so it's not big deal really xx

Anxious some dog food is like that, but not every dog can or will eat raw and it doesn't suit every owner (I don't have a freezer for example and one dog is on low protein diet).
I know raw feeders love it but I don't think evangelising about it and making people feel like they are poisoning their dogs if they don't feed raw will help move them towards better choices.
Some kibble is better than others. I feel as long as people steer away from the really terrible stuff - Bakers/Pedigree/Wagg/supermarket own brand, as well as the pricy but crap brands (Hills/Royal Canin/Eukanuba) - then fed is best.

I don't have a freezer either. I buy fresh every few days. I'm not evangelising. Dog food is full of crap. Some is better crap than others but still crap. Unless a dog needs a specific medical diet (and I've seen dogs quite often be better on raw than these), I think it's just excuses and laziness. Like giving a child nuggets and chips rather than a healthy meal.

DFOD

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