Saari is on a diet

Posted by Rosie

Harry is recovering well from his castration last week although he did not like being left in the vet's surgery one little bit.  In fact, the vet called us 2 hours before we were due to collect him as she was worried how scared he appeared to be.  We were also concerned as we already have Saari who is terrified of the vet and we did not want both dogs to be scared.  When it came to take Harry for a check up, a friend suggested we take Saari along as well, just for the ride with nothing "nasty" to happen to her.

The vet was more than happy for this and gave her lots of cuddles ... once I had got her out from underneath the chair in the waiting room that she was cowering underneath!  She did seem to relax so we took the opportunity to pop her on the scales as I was sure she had put on a bit of weight. With Saari it is not always easy to tell as she has such a thick winter coat but her weigh-in did reveal that she had put of a kilo.  We can still feel her ribs, just, but her general shape is not as defined as it should be and she is certainly at the very upper limit for her size.  She needs to go on a diet!  

The biggest problem with Saari is she loves her food (don't we all?) and if she has reduced portions she gets hungry and will steal food, any food, be it ours, Harry's or pig/chicken/cat etc food!  I wondered if reducing her food and bulking it out with vegetables would work and the vet agreed, saying that both broccoli and green beans were good choices.  I have plenty of beans in the freezer so that seemed the way to go.

She started her diet on Saturday and happily munched through her extra vegetables.  Sunday we were out celebrating Tom's birthday and when we came back, we were greeted by a guilty looking dog.  Saari does "guilty" wonderfully.  A quick search revealed that I had been foolish enough not to put the remaining beans away and she had stolen them!  There were, therefore, no extra beans for supper and I had to head to the freezer for more supplies.  Bad, bad Saari. 

Saari the thief

We will also enact a vigorous exercise regime with lots of long walks.  A reduction in exercise is probably to blame for her weight increase as walks with Poppy had got shorter and slower as she became ill.  Since having Harry, whilst we have had lots of long walks, he is still on the flexi-lead so there has been less manic running around than she used to do when Poppy was in good health.  If only she'd chase a stick or ball but that is something Saari thinks is completely daft and refuses to indulge in at all!

Harry, luckily, did not seem worried by a return trip to the vet although wasn't too sure about lying on his side for an examination and dressing removal.  He is, however, not at all pleased having to wear the dreaded lampshade and is rather a hazard to be around.  

Harry and the dreaded lampshade

It makes us realise how easy Poppy was when she wore it.  Poppy just got on with wearing the thing but Harry has been very different. At first he refused to walk forwards and when he did master that one he then managed to crash into everything and getting through doorways needs gentle directional guiding from us!  I am not sure if it is lack of awareness or revenge but he keeps walking up behind us and bashing our legs.  Oh well, his stitches will be out on Thursday and then he'll be free of the dreaded lampshade.  Our bruises should disappear a few days after that!

Not, therefore, the best of weeks for our canine friends. Have you got pets who hate the vet or suffer a bit with their weight?  We'd love to hear, either in a comment or you could write a blog post and link it up with Animal Tales, the animal blog linky which runs from Tuesday to Friday every week.