Cassie the UK's Fattest Dog Slims Down & a list of Doggie Poison Foods

Meet 7 year old Cassie the Collie.... 

Isn't she a cutie? She is one rather special little girl as just six months ago she looked like this:

Cassie has lost the title of UK's Fattest Dog by also losing half her body weight! Go Cassie!! When Cassie arrived at Dogs Trust Kenilworth earlier this year, she weighed a shocking 7 stone after being fed a diet of full sized portions of fish & chips, roast dinner, crisps and *gasp* chocolate!! The lady who really was killing her with kindess would even order double at the takeaway! Now, sadly, so often we hear animal abuse stories that chill us to the core, and although this involves no vile mutilation or violence, it is still a form of abuse. Poor Cassie could not walk for more than 3 minutes before she gave up the ghost and  it took 3 people to lift her in and out of the car. 

Dogs Trust Kenilworth manager Sandra Wilson said: "Unfortunately, when owners treat their pets as if they were humans and feed them the wrong food, they're simply killing them with kindness... She was at risk of heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis, but it's great to see the progress she has made in a relatively short time and a testament to the hard work of the staff here."

She has been working out on the treadmill and with hydrotherapy, which she loves, and is now ready to go to her new home. But her story is a warning to dog owners around the world... Most doggies will keep eating unitl they go off pop! Many a time I have commented that Buzz, left to his own devices would end up a little ball with legs...just like poor little Cassie looked earlier in the year. I decided to look into the pyschology behind a dog's relationship with food and what I found was interesting... Sarah of Sarah's Dogs comments:

"In the course of the history of humankind's relationship with the dog, the dog has come to look at people as being able to provide it with food. Since a dog is also a pack animal with a social hierarchy, the treatment of food by the pack is important to a dog. In the dog pack, the top dog will eat first... 

As the leader of the pack, you must eat before the dog eats. If you allow your dog to beg from you and to get a morsel of food before you, you are giving the dog a boost up the social ladder in your home... Once someone shares some of their food with the dog, the dog then not only realizes that its dog food is inferior in taste, scent and appearance to what its masters are getting, the stage now has been set for more begging. The dog will beg for another morsel, and once that begging behavior has worked, the dog will continue begging nonstop. At every meal, you will see the staring or blinking eyes that are entranced by every move you make...In that case, your alpha status has been weakened, especially if you give the dog a treat before you feed yourself. As the leader of the pack, you must not tamper with your leader status by interfering with whose food is whose..."

You can read more of her article here  and be sure to check out the rest of her site - it's very informative! 

This is exactly what happened with Cassie in terms of her then turning her nose up at the proper dog food - she even went on hunger strike for 3 days when first confronted with dry dog food. Of course, Cassie's story is an extreme case. Before dog food was mass-produced, dogs did eat 'human' food and obviously in the wild back in the day, they didn't pop to Asda's for a bag of Harringtons or tin of Pedigree Chum but they would have scraps (ie. small!) and raw meat. And of course, there is the raw diet so popular now. It's nice to give your dog a little treat sometimes by way of a chew etc and you have to be mega-tough to resist those puppy dog eyes at mealtimes but just be aware that by not giving in as much as you can, you are actually doing your best friend a favour. Just like us humans, being overweight puts them at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis etc... and please check out the list of potentially poisionous foods for dogs after the jump! There are some that were real shockers to us, and we thought we were pretty clued up so please do look. 

We'd love to know what you think about Cassie's case, and the concept of doggie diet, so please do comment! x x

Plants and foods that are or potentially are toxic or poisonous to dogs 

- via http://dogpsychologyhelp.com. See the full article by clicking here.

Almonds*
Amaryllis bulb*
Apricot*
Autumn crocus ( Colchicum autumnale)*
Avocado (leaves, seeds, stem, skin)*
Azalea (entire rhododendron family)
Begonia*
Bird of Paradise
Bittersweet
Bleeding heart*
Boxwood
Bracken fern
Buckeye
Buttercup (Ranunculus)
Caffeine
Caladium*
Calla lily*
Castor bean* (can be fatal if chewed)
Cherry
Chinese sacred or heavenly bamboo*
Chocolate
Choke cherry (unripe berries)*
Chrysanthemum (a natural source of pyrethrins)
Clematis
Crocus bulb
Croton (Codiaeum sp.)
Cyclamen bulb
Delphenium, larkspur, monkshood*
Dumb cane (Dieffenbachia)*
Elderberry (unripe berries)
English ivy (All Hedera species of ivy)
Fig (Ficus)
Four-o'clocks (Mirabilis)
Foxglove (Digitalis)
Garlic*
Hyacinth bulbs
Hydrangea*
Holly berries
Iris corms
Jack-in-the-pulpit*
Jimson weed*
Kalanchoe*
Lantana*
Lily (bulbs of most species)
Lily-of-the-valley

Lupine species
Milkweed*
Mistletoe berries*
Morning glory*
Mountain laurel
Narcissus, daffodil (Narcissus)
Oak* (remove bark for use as a bird perch)
Oleander*
Onions*
Peaches*
Pencil cactus plant* (Euphorbia sp.)
Philodendron (all species)*
Poinsettia (many hybrids, avoid them all)
Potato (leaves and stem)
Rhubarb leaves*
Rosary Pea(Arbus sp.)* (Can be fatal if chewed)
Scheffelera (umbrella plant)
Shamrock (Oxalis sp.)*
Spurge (Euphorbia sp.)
Tomatoes (leaves and stem)
Yew*


Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet
- Alcoholic beverages
- Avocado
- Chocolate (all forms)
- Coffee (all forms)
- Fatty foods SUCH AS PORK
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy or spoiled foods
- Onions, onion powder
- Raisins and grapes
- Salt
- Yeast dough
- Garlic
- Products sweetened with xylitol

NEVER EVER give Tylenol (toxic to liver) or ibuprofen (Nuprin, Motrin, Advil, etc.).Ibuprofen is very toxic and fatal to dogs at low doses. Only aspirin is safe for dogs, and buffered aspirin or ascriptin is preferred to minimize stomach upset.

Ointments containing zinc can cause stomach irritation in pets

Mosquito and lice sprays formulated for humans are toxic if applied to pets (because they are likely to lick themselves and ingest the DEET or permethrin).

Onion and garlic poisoning

Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.

Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop hemolytic anemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. 

At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.

The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion

While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.