From Yahoo! News:
The average Dachshund has a maximum weight of 32 pounds; five-year-old Obie (who used to be called AJ; we assume the “Obie” nickname is short for “obese” – aw, poor guy) weighs more than twice that, topping out at 77 pounds when new owner Nora Vanatta met him last month. (That’s seven times what a Miniature Dachshund would weigh.)
His previous owners, an older couple, had to give Obie up because of their own declining health, but thanks to what must have been expert begging by the dog, they’d managed to feed him almost to death in the meantime.
Vanatta is trying to keep Obie’s diet mission fun and optimistic; she’s started a “Biggest Loser Doxie [Dachshund] Edition” on Facebook, so that fans can track Obie’s progress (and maybe get help for their own portly pooches). The goal is for Obie to drop 40 pounds. It’s tough sledding to start out with, however. Because he’s so round, Vanatta can’t take him out for walks, so for now she’s got him on a special diet (a Purina rep helped formulate a low-fat, high-protein meal plan for Obie) and hydrotherapy to start melting the pounds away. Vanatta might incorporate a treadmill later on, once there’s less stress on Obie’s joints and bones. (All this stuff isn’t cheap, as you pet owners can imagine; if you’d like to help out, Vanatta has a PayPal account to raise money for Obie’s care. She’s been quite touched by the support they’ve gotten so far.)
Obie last month, before losing 7 pounds. Photo Nora Vanatta / Facebook.
It’s a job almost as big as Obie himself – but Vanatta thinks he’s worth it. “He is extremely sweet and loving,” she told the UK’s Daily Mail, calling him “a joy to work with.” And while she doesn’t judge his previous owners for overfeeding the plump pup – “[they] just couldn’t say no to those big brown eyes,” she commented – she’s hoping that her other dogs will lead Obie by example, and that Obie in turn “can be an inspiration to any person or animal trying to lose weight.”
Obie’s aiming for a weight between 30 and 40 pounds.
Dachshunds easily put on weight, which is really bad for their often already structurally unsound spines.
But I can understand why an elderly couple could let their dog get fat.
When my grandmother was suffering from Alzheimer’s, her miniature dachshund took advantage of her.
My grandparents always gave the dogs a meal of hot dogs in the evening, and well, Heidi realized that she could get my grandmother to give her more hot dogs than she would have normally had coming to her.
And she went from 8 pounds to 18 pounds– and looked something like a very plump bratwurst.
I hope that Obie slims down.
I can’t image what it would be like for me to be that fat.
As dogs get larger, they also have a harder time getting rid of body heat.
So Obie’s misery is even worse than what a 400-pound human would experience.
Poor dog.
Fat dogs and fat people – the western tendency. London has just produced arguably the best olympics ever as local governments continue selling off our school playing fields.
As well a facility for school sports,the provision of healthier school meals is also patchy. The national government could insist on good standards, but does too little about it, preferring increasingly not to interfere with ‘couch potato’ local decision makers.
Retrieverman says that he does not believe in ‘animal rights’, but to me this partly exemplifies the attitude of society; how we treat those who do not have political and financial control and therefore often suffer from the (often) uncaring or corrupt attitudes of those who do.
When we glory in elite performances but ignore the selling off of playing fields, as in England, or the plight of those left without adequate health care provision as in America, it just exemplifies our tendencies towards hypocrisy.
The photo reminds of my Dad’s old dog Tar Baby–a dachsy/black lab cross–who looked like a Lab that had been cut off at the knees. Dad (and Grammy who lived w/ him) also spoiled and overfed their dog. And he looked it–he had to have weighed well over a hundred lbs.
It’s all about the bucks. Schools get a lot of compensation for those corporately-owned vending machines. And USDA supplied lunches are loaded with salt, fat and so forth.
Remember that in England you can be prosecuted for cruelty if you have a morbidly obese dog
Elizabeth
My grandmother also overfed her dog. Boots was a dachshund x terrier who looked a bit corgie like. The thing weighed in at 55+ lbs and should have been max 25lbs.
She used to go to Wendys and buy herself a meal with an extra burger just for the dog. Every time she ate, the dog ate too at the same portion she did.
I tried to walk Boots, but should would just plop her butt down on the ground and refuse to move anywhere. My grandmother had to “walk” her by driving to a nearby parking lot, kick the dog out of the car, and drive away so Boots would follow.
She eventually was found under my grandmother’s bed at 15 years old, refusing to come out. The vet said it was most likely internal bleeding (from what who knows) but I think it was the weight that killed her.
I’m pretty harsh on people with obese dogs. Most of them are not sweet elderly people who don’t really know any better. Most of them are just willfully ignorant of the fact that their dog is massively overweight (and sometimes are themselves) and hostile about it. I consider it as neglectful as not treating a dog with mange or not feeding your dog because it is just as detrimental to their health. After all, you control the food bowl, and most dogs can’t make the decision to stop eating.
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There’s a morbidly obese labrador in our park owned by a Russian transvestite and his legally blind girlfriend. I hear before I started using a particular park for my dog where they hang, the dog used to be a normal weight; a seeing-eye dog reject in fact, he was. They kept him despite the fact that he was of little use to the girlfriend but from there, they kept feeding and feeding.
Someone asked how much he was fed and the answer was 5 cups of food a day. Hm. Probably should cut that a bit and maybe use veggies or lean meats instead?
Also when they hit the park now, if at all, it’s only in perfect weather conditions and for about 20 min. Hardly enough exercise.
I can tell by the way the blind lady talks that she is feeding him out of “love.” She thought my dog was skin and bones as she felt him, but he’s lean and healthy. Maybe the tactile feeling of a fat dog is pleasing to her in her situation.
That’s a little disturbing. Is her girlfriend/boyfriend plump and squishy too for the same reason?
this comment is on the obese dachshund..you shouldn’t be able to own an animal! You are cruel. that is animal abuse! they say people look like their pets..probably fat also!!! I am so angry I want to tear you up!
Purina has a weight coach certification program for veterinary technicians that I just completed last month. So, yeah, I’m now a certified doggy weight coach. Overweight pets are pretty common – about 40% of pet dogs in N. America. Most people ARE ignorant – they don’t realize how few calories a dog really needs per day. So far, about half the owners I’ve talked to about their fat dogs are pretty receptive – really, it just comes down to restricting calories. Pretty easy for our pets because we control their food. Not so easy for people to control themselves. I consider the “problem” of obesity in the US (which isn’t actually proven, btw), to be different than pet obesity.