Two morbidly obese pets were recently given to a Northern Virginia rescue
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - One Northern Virginia rescue’s staff is asking pet owners to rethink sharing table scraps with pets at your holiday dinner as they now treat two morbidly obese animals recently let go.
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Oreo is a 9-year-old Hound-Spaniel mix that is supposed to weigh around 40 pounds. He clocks-in closer to double that. Staying with a foster in Washington, D.C., Wilford Brimley’s paws made a “thump” sound as the 8-year-old cat walked across a wooden floor. Brimley, named after the actor Anthony Wilford Brimley, is supposed to weight around 14 pounds. The feline is about double that at 28 pounds.
“I was shocked actually … I just thought to myself, we’ve got a lot of work cut out for us,” said Colleen Learch of Oreo. Learch is a volunteer with Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation in Falls Church.
She tells FOX 5 they see about 10 to 12 of these morbidly obese cases a year. Sadly, cases 11 and 12 (Oreo and Wilford Brimley) came in just a few days ago.
It’s not clear what circumstances led to the animals gaining this much weight.
“A lot of times this sort of obesity comes from a place of just sort of misplaced love. You know, wanting to – cat likes to eat, so you keep giving more and more food because the cat enjoys it. But at some point it just becomes detrimental,” said Jen Boger, a Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation volunteer fostering Wilford Brimley.
The staff caring for these animals are asking everyone to thinking about Oreo and Brimley before you give your pet table scraps at this year’s holiday dinners. Learch says feeding animals table food helps them fall into obesity more easily.
Sliming the pets down is a delicate process.
“While you want an overweight cat to lose weight, it needs to happen at a very slow pace. So dramatically cutting the amount of food that he’s used to getting is not going to help him get where he needs to be and it’s going to end up potentially putting him in a health crisis,” said Boger.
For Oreo, Learch tells FOX 5, “It’s really tough when dogs weigh this much because it puts an excessive amount of pressure on their joints, even on their paws. And it puts an incredible amount of pressure and stress on their spine.”
“Find a different way, I think, to interact with your pet during the holiday season,” said Boger, “so extra, extra play time. Get some holiday-themed toys.”
The rescue’s volunteers say both Oreo and Wilford were given to a Northern Virginia shelter. The shelter connected with the rescue to help these two animals.
Each situation involving pet obesity is different. Asking around, FOX 5 was told it is hard to charge an owner in some of these obesity cases if the pet is given up so others can help it.
The rescue does not get involved with charges. Their goal is to remind people about animal health and just get these two pets to a healthier state so they can be adopted.