Apparently i own a fat boxer....

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awramenko

Boxer Pal
Not too sure if this is the right place for it, lately i've been getting a few comment on how fat my dog is...
Maybe in the eyes of the mother no child is fat or ugly haha, but seriously i thought she was about right or marginally a little bit heavy.
Zelda is 18 months old, weighing in at 33.4 kg i've attached a few photos for reference.
Should i be cutting back on the raw chicken or giving her a few more runs??

Youtube video
Zelda's first time at the beach

For some reason i couldn't get bb code to display thumbnails so here's a link to the album
Zelda's Tubby Photos
 

entelekia

Super Boxer
She doesn't look "fat" to me... but your vet (or friends?) might be trying to get you to keep her on the lean side, which is great advice since our guys tend to have some joint issues (TPLO, knee, hips, etc) not to mention early onset arthritis.

Here in the USA, most people tend to keep their dogs on the chubby side, so when they see mine they immediately comment on how "skinny" they are. I have an almost 10 yr old bitch that has just about zero arthritis so I turn a deaf ear to the skinny comments. :)
 

Gatorblu

Boxer Insane
I really couldn't tell by the video or the pics. Boxers are suppose to be lean. You should see the last rib or two. If you don't see that then it is time to lose a pound or two.
 

djheitz

Boxer Insane
The best advice I have heard about determining if your boxer is too thin or fat was to compare their rib cage to your hand. If the ribs feel like the palm of your hand, too fat. If the feel like the backs of your fingers, too thin. If they are closest to the back of your and, it's just right. You should be able to feel the ribs without having to press to find them.

If she does seem heavy and cutting back on some of her food doesn't seem to help, keep an eye out for signs of hypothyroidism. My youngest porked up to almost 90 pounds when he was a little older than your girl. Turned out he has a thyroid issue. Two pills a day and he's back to a good size, has more energy, and just seems happier in general.
 

awramenko

Boxer Pal
by the sounds of it she can afford to drop a few pounds.
She used to be really lean when i was feeding just canned food and biscuits, i swapped to raw chicken drum sticks and rice with veggies & eggs, sometimes canned red salmon instead of chicken plus all the extras she scores from people through out the day or at dinner time.
I noticed the chicken helped her become very solid over the last 4 months, i was purposely giving her a lot of chicken 4/5 pieces a day so i'll drop this down to 2/3 and see how it goes.
She also gets yoghurt a few times a week, i'm not sure if this is still doing anything but when she was 8 months old i had a few problems with puppy vaginitis, this seemed to keep it from reappearing.

health wise i think i've scored a very resilient dog, there are a few plants in my yard that are known to be allergens for boxers and it doesn't effect her, she pretty much eats anything and everything and has never been sick except for the time she tried to play with bees and ended up with hives.
She never came with papers so none of the disease tests were done, i thought about getting them done but not really keen on knowing the cardiomyopathy results. I don't really want to know about something bad that can't be fixed, she was also neutered first opportunity the vet would do it. i read somewhere if i got in before her first heat this would greatly reduce the risk of cancer for her?
 

entelekia

Super Boxer
plus all the extras she scores from people through out the day or at dinner time.

Right here is your answer. You would be surprised at how much weight she'll drop if she stops "scoring" extra human tidbits during the day. :) A couple more walks couldn't hurt either and I know she would love them (what boxer doesn't?).

You are quite lucky that she has one of them "cast iron stomachs" I so often hear about. My guys are rather sensitive and can't be fed many things outside their diet, lest I put up with a horrific state of toxic gas in the house. :rolleyes:

And yes, spaying early significantly reduces the risk of some cancers (and completely eliminates the risk of others). Way to go!
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
It isn't that easy to tell from the photos or video... In her favour, I did note in the video that she does seem to have a defined "tummy tuck" - which is good. And whilst she doesn't look exactly fat in any of the photos, I couldn't discern the presence of ribs just by looking - and one should be able to see the last couple of sets on a boxer, when they're just standing normally. I don't see defined muscle either, suggests that it may be obscured by fat (however, this isn't that definitive in your dog's case, as she's an adolescent and one can't expect to see the full adult musculature).

In terms of physique, it's worth bearing in mind that this is a breed that is supposed to be lean - think muscles on skeleton like a (heavily built)greyhound - rather than layers of flesh obscuring the frame (like labs, for example).

Notwithstanding all that, two things stand out to me in your post that suggest that you DO need to look at your dog's weight. First, people have commented on her weight (and generally, people don't if the dog is only slightly overweight - they comment when its definitively overweight). So that's something worth listening to.

Second - the height/weight you posted. My dog is about the same height as yours, has quite good 'bone' (meaning he doesn't have a dainty frame) and he's not an 18 month old adolescent (meaning he has his full adult musculature). And at 32kg, which he has reached on a few occassions over the years, he is clearly overweight. An ideal weight for my dog is 30-31kg. It seems hard to conceive that an adolescent bitch of similar height, but weighing substantially more than an adult dog, is not a bit overweight.

Thus, whilst the pictures aren't definitive, I think the above two points would tend to indicate to you that there's good reason to look at reducing her weight a bit.

Another thing I think you should bear in mind is that your dog is now past her skeletal growth phase. And that almost always means that she needs LESS food now than she did when she was still a growing puppy. When she hits about 3 years old, she'll probably need a further reduction. And another when she reaches middle age (say about 5-6). As an example, my guy was eating about 1.1 kg of raw food daily from about 5-6 months old through till about the 18 month mark. That gradually had to be tapered back. LOL - I mentioned that he hit about 32kg several times in his life (he's 9 now) and on each occassion it was a reduction in the amount of food he was getting that was needed. He is an active dog - gets a good 3-4 hours a day of hiking and running about - so "more" exercise wasn't so much the requirement in his case, I was just plain overfeeding for his needs. And that's really the key to it all - feed to match the dog's needs (remembering that those needs WILL change at differing life stages). He currently gets about 800g per day (which is substantially less than the 1.1kg he was getting as a puppy!), but which has been stepped down in stages, as his needs have changed. Of course, depending on your dog's lifestyle, additional exercise may also be needed (I just don't know if she gets 30 minutes or several hours good running exercise daily - so will leave it to you to decide if more is needed).
 
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