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Fat border collie?


Lunar
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Crikey I'd hate to see what these skinny advocates (no offence)would have said about my Tass, she even looked obese. She was 13 when she went for the last big walk and she'd had weight problems all her life, not desexed, multiple litters (for the breeder) and pyometra. Tia on the other hand is small and weighs 15.6 kilos last weigh in. Vets happy, breeder says she should be just a little leaner. Apparently a longer life span has a greater correlation with really lean dogs, of all breeds. That said, if I fed Tia the 'recommended' amount of food per day I'm sure she'd double her weight inside a month. I can feel her ribs, backbone (little bit of a covering) and she has a tummy tuck, good enough I say. One hand looks at dogs in the wild which are very lean but also troubled with mange, bad teeth etc and domesticated dogs which may carry that little extra weight but not suffer with skin, eye, and coat problems. Know which one I'll pick.

Sally

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People were always telling me that Spike's predecessor Scampi was overweight - he was a BC/Lab/Staffie mix, and he had a massive Staffie barrel chest and a thick Lab coat. Together with the little collie paws & little pointy collie muzzle, his proportions were rather odd, and in his old age his belly sagged a bit and the lipoma on his side grew enormous. He did look fat until you felt him and realised it was all hair, tumour and lung space.

 

Spike actually weighs the same as Scampi did (38lbs) but he's one of Nature's ectomorphs. I'm already overfeeding him (according to the guidelines on the kibble bag, anyway) but I'm not sure it would be possible to make him fat. Wish I was like that... :rolleyes:

 

Fat Liz & Captain Lanky xxx

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We have a couple of food-buryers as well. One of the hard parts of the changing of the seasons when you're feeding 12 dogs that live outside is keeping track of how fast nutritional needs are declining. Unlike house dogs, outside dogs tend to get skinner in the winter -- they burn more calories just to stay warm. In some cases, we nearly double their feed levels from summer to winter, even though they are generally working more in the summer.

 

This time of year, the emphasis shifts from keeping weight on them to keeping weight off. Dog food bills decline, which is a welcome change!

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