Ours for a Year: ideal dog weight

No one would argue the fact that our foster pup Kira is on the skinny side. Being a stray, contracting parvo, and growing into her big paws have kept her lean, but we're doing our best to put some meat on those ribs.

Cabana can only dream of having as much food as Kira, who gets 2 cups of kibble in the morning and 2 more at night, plus lots of treats for training throughout the day. We didn't weigh Kira when we first brought her home 10 days ago, but yesterday, she weighed 45 lbs.

The parade of fosters going through our house means extra treats for Cabana, since she often gets to participate in training sessions. I've tried to be vigilant about Cabana's weight by cutting her meals back to 1 cup, twice a day. Maybe it's just that in COMPARISON to skinny bones Kira that Cabana seems heavy. Or does Cabana need to lose a pound or two? I weighed her at the pet store last weekend, and she weighs 56 pounds, which is what she normally weighs. But she SEEMS bigger to me than normal.

These photos were taken minutes apart. Cabana looks much heavier to me in the kitchen than out on the patio. Is it the optical illusion of her blending in with the wood floor?

According to this dog weight diagram I found online, Cabana is probably somewhere between ideal and heavy. I can BARELY feel Cabana's ribs and spine through her fur, but she does still have an abdominal tuck. She gets plenty of exercise, so I'm a bit mystified. I don't think Cabana needs to lose a LOT of weight, but maybe she needs to lose a pound or two?? I'm sort of going more by what she feels like than what she looks like because everything I've read online says you should be able to feel your dog's ribs.

It's so easy to let Labs get too heavy. I came across an article in Oprah Winfrey's magazine about Dr. Oz and his family. I'm not a big fan of either Oprah or Dr. Oz and have probably only watched their shows a couple times when browsing channels, but I do know that Dr. Oz is considered a health expert.

So I was aghast to see that Dr. Oz's black Lab, pictured at the bottom of this page, would probably be classified as "grossly obese"! In the article, which was about healthy vegetarian recipes, he's quoted saying, "Don't feed her (the dog)--she's a flabrador....She's flabby. She loves to eat everything. I told Lisa (his wife) we have to put her on a diet." No kidding! How could this doctor, famous for telling others how to lead healthy lifestyles, allow his own dog to be so uncomfortably unhealthy? I found it really sad--and I NEVER want to find myself at that point with Cabana. So even if it's just a pound or two, making sure Cabana is at an ideal weight is important to me.