Did Your Dog Get Fat This Winter?

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 8, 2014 9:35PM

Did your dog gain weight along with you because neither one of you wanted to be out in the coldest winter Chicago has seen in over a century? You aren’t alone.

DNAInfo Chicago spoke with local veterinarians and dog owners who agreed neither dogs nor their owners really wanted to be outside any longer than they had to do handle Nature’s Call.

Frigid temperatures are what kept Buster, an 8-year-old pitbull, from spending much time outdoors, said owner Jennifer Lynch, of Edgewater. "

He’s a short-haired dog, so he doesn’t like to be outside when it’s really cold," Lynch said. "So it was basically just, for most of those subzero days, take him out, poop, pee, and right back inside."

Lynch, a professional dog walker, said Buster weighed 81 pounds at a March weigh-in and normally would be around 75 pounds, so there are a lot of walks in Buster’s future.

Drew Sullivan of the Chicago Center of Veterinary Medicine said that type of weight gain on a dog is the equivalent of a 200-pound human adding another 10-20 pounds. So keep Fido off the dog treats and walk him around your park a couple extra laps.