A beagle shed a remarkable 34% of its body weight thanks to PDSA’s Pet Fit Club campaign.
Alfie the Beagle, from Middlesbrough, is one of 124 pets the scheme has helped, with a total of 450kg lost by all pets since the programme started 13 years ago.
Yet PDSA vet Rebecca Ashman warned of a looming health crisis among the nation’s pet, identifying obesity as a growing problem.
She said: ‘’Sadly the UK’s pet population is suffering from an obesity epidemic. Latest scientific literature shows that at least a third of dogs and a quarter of cats are clinically overweight or obese, but the true figure could be as high as 40%, making obesity one of the most common medical disease seen by vets. It is a ticking time bomb that will have drastic consequences for our pets’’.
PDSA aim to reduce the number of obese pets in the UK through campaigns such as Pet Fit Club.
Through the scheme, PDSA select obese pets and put them onto a strict diet for six months which includes exercise.
Current competitors include Alfie the oversized dog, who is more than double his weight due to eating pub snacks and steak sandwiches.
Alfie the Jack Russel was adopted at the age of two years old, but has doubled in size.
Owner Tony, 72, said: ‘’He does look bigger than other dogs of his bread, but he just never stops eating’’
The charity PAW report revealed that roughly 5.7 million pets in the UK are fed treats every day, including crisps, chips, cake and more.
