We all know that people tend to find pets who are similar to them in some way. I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback who likes to lay around all day, refuses to be rushed and will tear the stuffing out of anybody or any thing that threatens our family. I guess I’m a little bit like that. You see, we love to compare ourselves and our pets’ good qualities but what we often overlook are the other qualities. Some of us (not me) have such high self-esteem that we don’t actually see what is in the mirror. We see the picture of ourself that we have in our mind. Well, folks, it is time we put the mirrors and the scales aside and take a good close look at our dogs (or cats, if you’re a cat person).
Take a good look a Fluffy, Spot or Princess. Are you looking at an overweight animal? Does your Basset Hound have rug burn on his belly? When your furry friend lies on their side, does their belly stand higher than their shoulders? If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes” then I have some bad news for you: You are probably overweight. You see, we humans tend to groom in our animals the same eating habits that we have.
My dogs have a bucket of food that is always full and they can eat whenever they need to. (I know this flies in the face of all petkeeping wisdom but when you adopt strays they seem to get a great deal of security out of knowing that there is always food available.) Like my dogs, I take a good deal of comfort from knowing that there is always food available and prefer to graze rather than sit down to big meals.
The point I’m getting at is that we occasionally need to take a realistic look at ourselves and sometimes that means looking at Spot’s derriere to see it. (Of course not all fat pets have fat owners. There are those rare pairs that just look like they belong in a Disney movie.)
Now that you’ve taken a look, do you really need to lose weight or do you just need to give your muscles a little activity so that they don’t disappear?
Related Blogs:
Dear Heather: I Have a Question
Why is My Pet Fat?
Is Your Cat Too Fat?