Most pet owners either don't know how much food is "enough" for their pets or they make the make the wrong assumption that having their pet's feeding bowl filled with food all the time is a gesture of love. This will cost you more money on pet food. And a pet that's overfed regularly will get to be overweight in time. That [being overweight] does multiply the chances of your pet developing lots of health conditions which would cost you a lot more money to treat if you desire to have you furry friend around. How to avoid all those complications? Find the right balance. Neither starve nor overfeed your pet.
I just don't get why some people do that! I had a neighbour who had the sweetest puppy who did this with devastating results. He really doted on it, and I'm not sure how this could happen, but he overfed it, leading to the poor little thing's death! I mean, really?!
This thread is the pet peeve of my husband. He would always reprimand us (me and our housemaids) for over feeding our dogs who seem to be overweight. When my husband is around, the feeding is just normal but when he is not here, we add some more food because our dogs looked hungry after their quota. I know it's not good but I cannot resist the temptation of feeding them more.
You ought to resist the temptation because your kindness will negatively affect your dog's health. Should you for example be taking your obese dog for a walk and they fracture a bone, he won't be able to heal easily because of all the extra weight he have to lug along. And then there are also the other problems associated with obesity . . .
One of the worst cases of overfeeding that I have ever encountered was when I was house-sitting a few years ago. My duties included looking after an extremely obese dog. The owner told me that it was a rescue dog, and the "love of her life". This "love" was expressed by feeding the dog only raw meat, and plenty of it. As a matter of fact, the backyard was strewn with rotten, fly-infested meat. The dog appeared dull and listless. A big, fat lump lying on a mat surrounded by pieces of stinking meat. So, in the 3 months that I took care of the dog and the house, I put the animal on a different diet and made it run along my bicycle three times a day. A neighbor was concerned that all the vigorous exercise might cause the dog to have a heart attack. But the dog just loved it. It was happy to receive its oats and vegetables and refused to touch any meat. After one month it had lost a lot of weight and turned into a completely different dog. The transformation was incredible. It was so extraordinary that when the owner returned she could hardly recognize her dog anymore. Needless to say, that everyone was happy, and that the dog owner's eyes had been opened about her "bad" kind of "love".
We never had an obese pet, all of our pets were "normally" fed. Pet owners must be aware of the health risks of obese pets, because if they're ignorant, they will unwittingly shorten their pet's lives!
If your dog is used to being fed a lot, gradually decrease the serving size. Shocking him by giving him just one cup will be bad for him. We are currently fostering an overweight labradoodle. He is obese, and cannot go for long walks. From almost 6 cups a day, we gradually reduced it to four - which is just right for him. We take him for long walks every day as well. Now, he is slowly going down to his desirable weight.
Feeding pets the right portions is the easiest thing in the world, and there's no excuse for not doing it. If you give your pet a giant bowl of food in one portion each day, then you're a negligent pet owner. It's as simple as that. All you have to do is feed dogs in two or three equal portions every day, and then cats are feed in three to six equal portions every day. Taking an extra five minutes out of your day to keep your pet fed the right way isn't hard at all.
I had a beagle years ago who got incredibly overweight - although she was cute and all, she became ravenous about food due to an illness she had, called Cushing's Disease. She would constantly drink water and eat like crazy all day. You couldn't even leave food unattended on the table or counter because she would get it. We did eventually get her weight down a bit with some medicine that was prescribed for her by out vet - but she was always still a bit pudgy. Currently we have a black cat who is also pretty overweight. When we got her she was really skinny and emaciated, but as soon as we took her in she started eating a lot and blew up pretty quickly. From what I've read, it's not uncommon for pets to develop eating disorders if they've starved for some period of time. Apparently they overeat because they don't know when their next meal is going to be, if at all. She's a super friendly cat though, and definitely a house cat - I sometimes wonder if she couldn't fend for herself and catch mice and other prey before we got her. She's too nice to hurt any other animals, and would be more inclined to play with them than eat them.
Try having more than one pet and they all eat differently. Some animals are grazers and if you just feed them at specific times, they won't be eating enough. It's not as simple as everyone here is making it. yes, if you have one pet and they do well on specific times, then obviously you have it down and shouldn't feed them more than necessary. There's also the fact that most people are feeding their pets absolute garbage and will end up with overweight pets regardless. It's not so black and white.
My parents do that with our dog, and I must say I'm not contented at all because he's put some weight on him and currently can't truly walk or run as he used to before. I'm even ashamed to get him out for a walk in his condition, haha. But I guess we'll live and see what it happens, because now I insisted to drastically cut off the amount of food he gets. And it kind of works currently.
If animals have different needs you can train them to use specific separate feeding times and places. It is inconvenient but necessary if their body condition is being seriously effected. Other than that it is simply a matter of learning to assess their body condition. And then gradually increase and decrease the amount fed to achieve the desired goals. I am fortunate that my dogs can have food out all the time and eat only what they need, they both have a good middle body condition (a"3").
