Dog BMI

M

Mom2Melli

Forums Enthusiast
Not sure if anyone has tried this. . .

http://petsci.co.uk/calculating-your-dogs-bmi/

At 15.75" (she's a little smaller than I thought before -- this via "wall method" of measurement) and 37.5 pounds (but we are trying, really!).

Our BMI is 106.

According to the sheltie chart 54-66 is normal.

Woo Hoo -- We get the wiggly-piggly award for this thread! Anyone dare to dethrone the Lady Melody Rose? THIS will be the official tiebreaker in the proposed Agility-SLO competition, after all. In case of exact tie, they will then take into account the BMI of the handler. YIKES!

In all seriousnes, not sure if anyone has given this a try -- though feeling the ribs is a great gauge of dog weight.
 
I really don't like BMI calculators. Even in humans I don't think it's totally accurate--and in our shelties where the size and shape can vary so much, I can't imagine trying to quantify it.

The chart shows both of my dogs underweight, but there is no way they should weigh an additional pound.
 
corbinam said:
I really don't like BMI calculators. Even in humans I don't think it's totally accurate--and in our shelties where the size and shape can vary so much, I can't imagine trying to quantify it.

The chart shows both of my dogs underweight, but there is no way they should weigh an additional pound.
Click to expand...
Yep Sca is higher than Spitfire but he is a stockier build while Spitfire is a fine boned Sheltie. Guess what Sca's BMI is higher even though he is in better shape.
 
Definitely not right. Deska's BMI came up as 68 and it said he may be overweight. He's actually underweight I can feel all his ribs, I keep him that way because of his arthritis. For Tully the BMI was 66 and said her weight was correct but I actually think she can afford to lose some weight.

I agree it doesn't take into account the shape of the dog. Deska is quite long, Tully's body is proportionally much shorter so this may be why it comes up with him being overweight. Although even with a long body it shouldn't say an underweight dog is overweight,
 
Call it amusement value . . . Melli is slowly creeping down the scale. I found a good combo FINALLY of a low calorie food so she gets enough bites to feel satisfied and not kill us all because she is ticked about dieting and feeding only 2 meals a day rather than three. We shall see. She will lose weight if we can endure her on limited food.

I believe she ate junkfood at her previous home and got a huge scoop to gorge and then free feed each day. That would make sense at how she behaves around food and how she expects a super fully belly with every meal.
 
It is fun to do anyway. Thinking about it, Tully's is roughly accurate, she is normal weight, but just heavier than I'm used to her being.

The weight range chart in my vet's clinic says the sheltie weight range is up to 7kg (that's 15.5lbs), another I've seen says 8-10kg. Either one would be scary. If Deska (16") was 7kg I'd be charged with animal abuse and if Tully was 8kg she'd be a chubbo.

Btw - for those newer members who don't know. I've been keeping a height/weight chart of sheltie forum dogs for some years now. It's in google docs and people can add their own dogs. Best to add the dog at the bottom and then sort the doc so we don't accidently lose some stats.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...hkey=CMr_9-IJ&hl=en_GB&authkey=CMr_9-IJ#gid=0
 
I'll add my wiggly piggly on the one year anniversary of her arrival (August). I am actually ashamed she is this fat! It has been my goal to trim her up and she just goes violent on me. She is fat and it is NOT good for the joints. Just a note to everyone that you want to keep all your dogs trim for their own good. Melli came to me at 40, I got her down to ounces from 35 and she became unbearable. Now that I have hit on the 2x / 2/3 c of low cal food I think we might get someplace. Finally creeping the right direction. I have never had a dog that if put on a diet will become violent and angry like this.
 
Bella's BMI is 50, says she is underweight, well, duh, I can tell by looking at her, she looks too thin, but, I am so trying to feed her. When she got here, she was overweight, then, I started her on a good diet, now, she is loosing at break neck speed. Her height is barely 13 inches and she weighs 11 pounds.

Cara, does your dog have a sugar problem, sometimes if mine gets too low, I get really nasty, maybe that is the problem.
 
Her issue is during feeding. She gets into this monster frenzy. She actually attacks Shay to get his food, blames him and turns on him if there are no more treats after I give one to each, and even if I lock her in the bathroom to eat she comes tearing out and finds Shay and attacks with teeth like she thinks he got something she didn't. If on a strict diet she gets really snarky and attacks Shay if she hears a noise, he walks by, anything. It's like she blames him for not enough food. She is nice to the cats throughout, though, which is odd. I have never seen anything like this.

IF she is given enough food to feel full at each meal, she runs out yapping and runs around looking to see if Shay left any (I pick up bowl) and we go outside to potty and when we come back in all is well. She gets along great with Shay all the rest of the time.

I went to 2/3 cup of diet food (298 kcal/cup) rather than TOTW (370 kcal/cup) so that she can eat more pieces for less calories. The veges worked for awhile but she caught on and got angry again. However, 2/3 cup of kibble and she does fine consistently even if it means only 2x a day rather than 3x a day. It's about the full belly feeling. She is not even looking for food mid-day or early in the morning before I get up (getting restless or waking me). It's about how full her belly is at whatever meals.

We will see where this goes. She usually takes a regimen for a week or two and then goes bonkrs.

If this doesn't get a handle on things, I will re-do labs in a couple months when I do our big vet annual. All was well when she came but this is a year later and her life is different than before.

Baffling, she is an angry dieter that is all I can say.
 
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