Cocoa’s crusade comes to an end
An overweight pet is characterised by difficulty to see or feel the ribs through a moderate fat cover, whereas in obese pets, the ribs are not visible and are difficult to feel through a thick fat cover.
Did Cocoa beat the bulge?
After six weeks of curve balls, apricot afflictions and being nothing but a true trooper, the verdict is in.
A recent visit to Ncandu Animal Clinic sealed the Cocoa’s fate for her final week in the fight against the flab.
We were apprehensive and knew all our work could have been in vain, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
Our inexperience was evident for the first time when Doctor Barry Rafferty asked us what the plump pooch weighed in the first week of her ‘doggy diet’.
We attempted to weigh the dashing dachshund on a bathroom scale, to no avail. When Dr Rafferty told us what we should have done, we couldn’t help but feel like we had just been sentenced in our own trial.
He held a quivering Cocoa in his arms and hopped onto the cold silver scale. He then set her down, weighed himself and subtracted his weight from the first figure. Genius right?
You would think for a group of bright sparks like us we would have figured it out. But alas, we failed our furry friend.
Since her starting weight hadn’t been recorded, I knew there was only one way to determine whether her progress really had been paused from the get-go.
A week into weight watching wager, I walked into the kitchen and found Cocoa wriggling and reeling, just about stuck in the security gate of our back door.
If she’d lost weight, surely she wouldn’t get stuck again?
On Day 41, I put my seemingly simple theory to the test.
Cocoa fitted perfectly through the gate without a care in the world!
The verdict
An overweight pet is characterised by difficulty to see or feel the ribs through a moderate fat cover, whereas in obese pets, the ribs are not visible and are difficult to feel through a thick fat cover.
“Cocoa weighs 7.4kg. She still has a bit of weight to lose around her waist, but she’s looking good. Her skin is nice and healthy and her heart is fine,” said Dr Rafferty.
Dr Rafferty concluded that Cocoa should weigh around 6kg to be at an ideal weight. Although she isn’t obese, she is overweight.
With 1.4kg left to lose, Cocoa’s battle of the bulge will have to last a little bit longer. Her breed just isn’t to blame here.
There isn’t a doubt in my mind that the dexterous dachshund will devote her time to breaking the rules, but I know she can handle the heat.
It’s hard to believe we cannot end the article with ‘see next week’s edition’, but this concludes the final instalment of Cocoa’s battle of the bulge.
Thank you to all the loyal followers who requested regular updates on whether or not Cocoa was still the fairest of them all in the hunger games.
A special thanks to Dr Rafferty and his team for accommodating us on such short notice and making us realise why we’re journalists, not veterinarians.
