There’s a phenomena that happens A LOT and if you’re reading this, someone (me?) warned you. It’s a phenomenon where a healthy (but fat) young dog ends up going from great to crippled in a week.
The Knee Buster
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The Actual Article:
The Knee Buster
The “Kneebuster” is any large breed dog that has far-exceeded it’s ideal body weight. And not just “a little pudgy”. When they sit, there’s a little roll of skin over each knee. You cannot see any ribs. When viewed from above, they have zero taper from shoulder/chest to hip.
These dogs are wide and “abundant” and also especially active. Okay enough euphemisms: They’re fat. And active. The “Knee Buster” phenomena occurs when these overweight dogs try to maneuver their considerable mass across uneven terrain while moving at a decent run. And somewhere along in there, they step in a hole and wreck the anterior cruciate ligaments in one of their knees. This renders the affected knee all but useless. To walk, they must bear almost all their weight on the “good” leg. And in the process of carrying twice as much weight as before on the “good” knee, it is quickly destroyed. Then the dog is “down” and cannot get outside to poop and pee and the owners end up carrying it. It’s at least six weeks before the dog “sort of” heals and can “sort of” get up. It’s faster if the dog has surgery. The surgery is about three thousand dollars per knee.
There’s a low cost alternative: Feeding dry diet dog food is just about free (comparatively) since you have to feed the dog anyway. And being diligent about the feeding, exercise and holding up on treats avoids the whole problem.
Feed 0.017 kitchen measuring cups of food per ten pounds of body weight.
How much do you want your dog to weigh? Here’s the breakdown:
- 120lbs = 2 cups twice a day
- 90lbs = 1 ½ cups twice a day
- 60lbs = 1 cup twice a day
- 30lbs = ½ cup twice a day
- 15lbs = ¼ cup twice a day
If you look at what you feed now, I bet you are accidentally feeding an amount suitable for twice your dog’s current body weight.
Why might your dog eat that little, or even less, and keep their pounds on?
- Hypothyroidism
- Zero exercise
- Extreme age
- Extra treats and handouts.
- Stuff (meat or morsels) mixed in food
- “He’ll be starving on that little bit of food!”
- Isn’t he already hungry all the time?
- He won’t eat low calorie food
- Yes, he will. But isn’t it odd to be worrying about a fat dog not eating?
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