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A veterinary blog for pet lovers, vet voyeurs and the medically curious...
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I guess if the Slentrol isn’t an option and the diets haven’t yet worked there’s always an animal cruelty charge someone can levy to light a fire under you butt. That’s what the owners of Rusty-the-morbidly-obese-British-wonder-dog came to know when his owners found their dog confiscated for cruelly facilitating his 161-pound obesity.
As reported diligently by Itchmo (sadly I can’t reference it now since it’s on indefinite hiatus), Rusty’s recovery out of his owners’ sight went smoothly. He lost almost 40% of his body mass and regained a more normal orthopedic capacity for a dog his age (a ten year-old Labrador retriever). It was an indisputable victory for the canine organism known as Rusty. But what was the end result?
I could list five or six such cats and dogs under my medical care. They are morbidly obese in ways most of us here would deem horrific. Their existence begs the question: How?
In most cases it’s pretty simple. Their owners believe that the amount of food they’re feeding is barely sufficient to sustain life. They fear malnutrition more than they do the discomfort and disease evident to the rest of us. They perceive their animals’ life will be made significantly worse under the strain of a weight loss regimen. Whatever benefit might result isn’t worth the pain of the process, they reckon.
We’d disagree. Some of us so much we’d cut ‘em off. That means ridding them of their pet and their pet of his or her home. That’s pretty heavy stuff (never mind the pun).
As much as we might mourn for a pet bound to the strain of his weight for the rest of her life, the deprivation of her home life might pose a worse condition, depending on her personality. What are our communities’ resources for such undertakings? Would we ever consider similar measures for humans?
Then why for Rusty?
As wrongheaded and cruel as his owners might have been in allowing the extremes of weight gain to persist (failing to seek veterinary care for 17 months was part of the evidence against them) was it reasonable to single out this family for its inadequacies? What shortcomings do you have when it comes to your children’s, your homes,’ your parents,’ your finances or your pets’ care?
Is it appropriate for the law to intervene at a cost society is indisputably unable to bear were your situation addressed routinely? Is it even fair to do so?
Rusty’s life is almost certainly much better now. He can breathe more freely. He can move with less pain. And he’s back with his owners. But his individual weight loss cost his British citizens a pretty penny (three thousand pounds). What is the cost/benefit analysis of this situation? Has litigating this case been worth the deterrent value it may pose for those who would allow their pets free choice kibble for life, in spite of their obesity?
I don’t know the answer. But I do know that while I believe Rusty’s owners are guilty of cruelty as charged, I can name hundreds of cases sourced from my own experience that I’d rather see prosecuted.
So why this case? Why make obesity the poster child for animal cruelty? Is this a British thing? Do the British prosecute animal cruelty far more assiduously than we do? God knows quite a few of my clients might be in hot water were this trend to leap the pond.
I’d love nothing better for us to thoroughly prosecute animal cruelty offenses. But arguably, this one’s not going to do much to enlighten negligent owners that legal trouble lurks in the wings for those who would supply a bottomless bowl of kibble for Fido to gorge on.
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"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
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- Mohandas Gandhi
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A healthy pet animal cannot become morbidly obese against his owners' will. The owners of obese dogs (and cats) do not perceive themselves as abusive, although they are directly causing pain and suffering to the animal they claim to "love." A clear-cut case in which an owner was found guilty of cruelty for doing exactly as they do may be exactly what some of these people need in order to be convinced that they are abusing their animal.
I don't think that owners who make their pets obese do so because they perform a calculus that tells them that their animal will suffer more under a weight-loss regimen than it will from obesity and its attendant diseases and disabilities. They overfeed their animals because it makes THEM -- the owners -- "feel good" about themselves. Because it pleases THEM to perceive themselves as the all-powerful-givers-of-food-as-love. They don't deny their animals exercise because they have computed that the exercise is distressing to the beasts -- they do it because they themselves are lazy. Obese pets are about maladaptive, needy, selfish *humans* using the animal to meet their own emotional shortcomings.
I repossessed a dog I had placed as a puppy four years ago. He was "luuuuvvvved" by people who failed to meet his most basic physical, behavioral, and medical needs. The owner told me that they hoped that he would "calm down" when he got "old and fat." Dog is four years old -- long-lived, athletic breed. When I took him back, he had severe, never-treated orthopedic injuries from major trauma (HBC) two years prior and weighed SEVENTY-EIGHT POUNDS. His healthy weight, which took some months to reach, but was not difficult to attain with moderate exercise and diet, is close to fifty pounds.
While therapy and glycoflex have helped with the pelvis and back issues, I figure that 90% of evident diminishment in his chronic pain levels are due to the weight loss and gain in muscle mass.
I believe this dog was abused, as surely as if he had been chained out and beaten. No doubt his former owners would disagree. If they knew about people being prosecuted for overfeeding their dogs to the point of pain and suffering, maybe they would have thought twice about intentionally producing obesity as a behavior-management strategy.
Just imagine if we did that with kids. Half the 5th graders in the country would be in pudgy-prison.
You can't always blame obesity on owner noncompliance.
I have to deal all the time with 'why pick on veal when foie gras is worse? What complain about dehorning without anesthesia when castration without anesthesia is worse? Why look into dog tethering when elephant picketing is worse.' etc etc etc. Not to mention, we can't cover rats under the animal welfare act because their is too many of them. Seriously, too many of them need coverage, so we can't do it.
It seems to me that if something needs fixing, and someone has the will and the means to fix it, they should. Otherwise we will just hold the door open for each other indefinfitely but no one will go through.
I work with rescue, rescuing a breed that normally weighs in about 20-25 lbs. We put a dog in a forever foster home one time, he weighed 23 lbs. (down from 32 lbs., but that's another story.) Eleven weeks later, he tipped the scales OVER at 38 lbs. The foster family was angry and indignant when we told them he was too fat and demanded he be picked up immediately. I took him back and in a year I had him at his proper weight - 16 lbs. I did not starve him - he got a small amount of a good quality dry dog food - and I filled him up with green beans. He got a half dry dog biscuit when the other dogs got a whole one. He was not deprived, but he WAS fed properly. Our vet supervised his care, and the pounds melted off. Needless to say, he has not gone anywhere - I am not about to take the weight off him a 3rd time! It has been two years since his big loss, he has kept the weight off and he is an elderly gentleman with a heart murmur - but I am confident I will have him a few years longer.
I am just glad this dog was placed as a foster ( due to unrelated health problems) and we could re-possess! I admit I am shocked at the size of the dogs that are turned in from the owners - 9 times out of ten they are overweight. There is no reason for fat dogs. As someone posted about their car that just couldn't lose - once you find out the problem (assuming it's not just a heavy hand with the kibble!), the pet can lose weight. As is usual with 99% of pet problems, obesity is caused by well intentioned or just lazy owners.
As for removing the dog (or any pet) because of obesity and putting the animal on a diet at tax-payers expense, no, I don't think so. What's next? Removing the puppy because the owner wants to crop its ears or have it neutered? Removing the pet because the owner wants to feed it ordinary kibble rather than one of the high end brands? Or just because the owner feeds kibble rather than raw feeding or cooking for the pet? See where this can go? No, while I am sorry for all the dogs out there that are not enjoying life as they should because of extra weight, there are too many that are being gassed or shot in shelters. Sorry, THOSE are the ones I am worrying about.
Of course I feel that these owners are horribly misguided and ignorant. Perhaps this dog is hypothyroid or has a metabolic problem, who knows?
I find it nothing short of amazing that the cruelty patrol can find an obese pet, well publicize the case, yet an owner that cares every bit for their pet, including "letting them go", when appropriate, can suffer huge anguish at the hands of licensed "animal professionals" and not a single animal welfare group is outraged.
The hypocrisy here in New Hampshire, doesn't get any bigger than that. I call it "licensed torture and murder" , for those not informed "Pocket's Story from NH" or http://walnut-hill.bravehost.com
The grief and sadness I feel for my oldest dog (Pearl's dam) is overwhelming as she has suffered a stroke or advancement of a brain tumor on Sunday. And if she doen't recover (on prescribed treatment) within the next few days , I will seek to have her humanely euthanized, because I LOVE her with all my heart.
There is a huge difference between "fit" and "skinny". With so many overweight dogs around, I'm starting to think people have forgotten what a healthy dog looks like. So some (ahem…idiots) look at my super-fit dog, and call her “skinny,” not knowing that one must be able to see ribs, for a dog to be truly underweight. My girl is nicely muscled, with smooth sides, and not a rib in sight. She has a belly as tight as a drum, and thighs so muscular she’s sometimes mistaken for a Greyhound from behind…and so fat-free, my veterinarian wistfully wished her own thighs were as slim.
So I guess my biggest concerns about criminal liability of this sort would be that any accusations are sufficiently well-founded (i.e. are accurate: the dog really is overweight – or underweight), and there aren’t legitimate medical, practical, or other extenuating circumstances involved.
Just saying that if a dog is regularly taken to a vet, and these posters are up, or the vet comments, then ignorance cannot really be an excuse.
I guess I am lucky in that my dog self regulates - he only eats as much as he needs - always has. And doesn't beg for food.
http://www.dolittler.com/index.cfm/2008/2/20/pet.v...
I'll never forget one incident. My husband and I had been to our car dealership, to look at a new model. The salesman who helped us then spotted me, a week or so later, when I was waiting in line at the service desk, with my dog in tow. (The dealership was just the right distance for a nice, early-morning walk. So, when I have to drop-off the car for some reason, I take her with me, and we walk home together.)
He came over and leaned-in as though he was about to share a secret. "Feed your dog," he whispered. He was foreign (Iranian, I think), and his accent had me unsure if I'd heard him correctly. My smooth-sided, super-fit, muscular dog is the picture of physical fitness. Could he possibly be suggesting something so inaccurate, so hurtful; I wasn't feeding my dog???
"Pardon," I replied. "Feed your dog," he reiterated. This time, it was clear. But I just couldn't believe it. He wasn't asking. He was not only stating that my dog was improperly too thin, but that I was to blame for not feeding her, apparently. It was surreal.
I was so flabbergasted, I just couldn't believe I'd heard him correctly. I said something like, "Yes, she's a great dog," since people typically say how beautiful she is, or how well-behaved. ...That was sort of an automatic response. Thankfully, it was my turn at the counter, so I turned and stepped-up to the desk.
Afterwards, though, I seriously considered asking him to call my veterinarian who, just days earlier was saying that she wished she had my dog on-hand to demonstrate what a fit dog looks like, to her other clients.
How about the sheer volume of food I provide? (I responded to the entry about the costs of dog ownership. I limited it to food, since that was plenty enough:
http://www.dolittler.com/index.cfm/2008/3/27/pet.v...
I don't think you can accuse someone of starving her dog when she spends at least an hour a day hand-feeding at least 5 meals per day, costing over $500 a month, for food alone. It's just not fair.)
But as I said, with the proliferation of obesity in pets, I think the general public has almost forgotten what a fit dog looks like. I'm comforted by the studies showing slender animals live much longer than those which are overweight, or even "normal" weight. Since my fit, 9-year-old Dane is routinely mistaken for a puppy, maybe they're onto something?
I guess the real issue is the judgement from afar, without having all the facts, or any real expertise to speak of.
It's a funny thing...the things people say about dogs (or to their owners) that they probably wouldn't feel so comfortable saying about the people they meet. People are openly much nicer to dogs (and their owners) than they are to the people they meet who don't have dogs with them. I sometimes wonder how different our world would be if, when I'd meet you...say...on the street, even as a stranger, I greeted you with the same, "Hello, sweetheart," I lavish on most dogs.
The flipside is, people have equally little compunction about saying some of the most hurtful things to dogs (and their owners).
My dog, for example, has idiopathic leg tremors. They don't hurt her, or otherwise cause her any difficulty. (I don't think she even notices them.) But those who don't assume she's cold, or frightened, or excited, sometimes make weird faces, and treat her like a leper. One woman made sure I overheard her telling another person at a dog park, "That's not right," over and over again, with a sour look on her face as she pointed out my dog's tremors. I'm telling you, it was all I could do not to look at her dog and ask, "Is he quite ill?"
(Actually, what I sometimes do is point out that the other owners of dogs with leg tremors I've met have all had one thing in common: their dogs all lived to be quite old. Leg tremors can't be all bad, then, can they?)
But, in the end, I'm just not childish enough to play that retaliatory game. Better yet, I don't make judgements in areas where I have no expertise. I wish more people adhered to that ideology.
My elderly dog (pearl's dam) is to be 15 1/2 tomorrow, almost completely blind, thin with muscle atrophy, and I bandage her lower abdomen daily because of a bleeding mammary tumor. Well, I guess to a few ignorant folks, this may appear "uncaring" or lacking medical attention--or whatever!! I had all I could do to stifle a "you would be so lucky to have your dog this long in this good of condition" comment.
Her appointment a few days ago, determined advancement of possible brain tumor or stroke. It appears that this has resolved somewhat, and she has some albeit limited quality time left. She has rejoined the other "5" for her ritualistic group "snacks" ---although I have seen her surge forward a few times to mouth a "tail" that she thinks is a treat---we have to be wary about that!
I have a good "eyeball" treatment, that I'll have to post in the virtual hospital---to share a successful alternative to surgery in an elderly dog. Thank you Dr. Khuly for your kind words.
Back on point to the blog, last October '07, when I filed a police report regarding inhumane and illegal euthanasia employed at Dover Veterinary Referral Hosptal (NH), I was bullied, insulted, and pressured to leave without completing a written statement (which I insisted upon). A few weeks later, this same police department (broadcast on NH TV news) arrested a local man for NOT going back for FOLLOWUP care for his dog's leg wound at the VET's office----I just about barfed over the hypocrisy.
You can imagine, then, when I made my semi-frequent, (somewhat) joking comment,
"I've decided she's going to live to be 20,"
...to a man who responded (about his German Shepherd),
"No, 12 years is plenty."
WTF?!?
That kind of attitude is almost assuredly driven by the kind of irresponsible ownership that led to the development of an unruly, poorly-behaved dog. Yes, if you don't train your dog, I can imagine it's a misery to live with for one day, let alone 12 or more years. But sheesh! Some simple training and the dog's a joy to be around, and you might...just might, mind you...enjoy the time you spend with it, and not want it to end.
Shellie, you might want to slap me around for this question, but was it a 6 panel thyroid?