The Uncomfortable Truth About Overweight Dogs—and Why It Keeps Me Up at Night

Yesterday was a busy chiropractic day. I love the work I do. I love helping dogs feel better, and I genuinely love their people. But lately, I’ve been carrying a growing sense of frustration—and it feels like it’s getting worse by the week.

More and more of the dogs I see are overweight. Yesterday alone, over 10% of the dogs on my schedule were overweight, obese, or even morbidly obese.

This isn’t a cosmetic issue. Obesity significantly increases health risks, interferes with basic body functions, worsens pain and inflammation, and shortens lifespan. And yet, it’s becoming so common that it’s starting to feel… normal.

And THAT'S what troubles me most.

Has Obesity Become “Normal”

In human medicine, obesity is now divided into multiple categories:

• Normal-weight obese

• Metabolically obese normal weight

• Metabolically healthy obese

• Metabolically unhealthy obese

  
  

That classification system made me pause.

Is this where veterinary medicine is heading too? More definitions. More labels. More ways to describe disease—without actually changing outcomes?

That question kept me awake last night.

It tangled itself up with others that I can’t seem to shake:

• Do dog owners recognize when their dog is overweight?

• Or has excess weight become so normalized that it’s invisible?

• Do they understand the long-term consequences?

• Are veterinarians pointing it out?

• Or are we all so tired of having the same conversation—with little to no follow-through—that we stop pushing?

  
  

The Chiropractor’s Perspective

I’m usually not the first veterinarian these dogs see. I’m the last stop.The “let’s see if chiropractic can help” option.

And most of the time, it does. That’s why I love this work so deeply!!

But when chiropractic doesn’t help, about 80% of the time the reason is simple: the dog is overweight.

Extra weight overloads joints. It limits mobility. It slows healing. It sabotages progress—no matter how skilled the practitioner or how appropriate the treatment.

The Pushback I Hear Every Day

When I bring up weight, the responses are familiar:

• “I know, I’m working on it.”(But I’ll see the dog again in four weeks—and nothing has changed.)

• “She used to be slim before she got injured.”

• “We’re not walking as much right now (it's too cold, it's too rainy, it's too hot,”)

• “I gained weight over the holidays too.”

• “She gained weight after being spayed.”

• “He doesn’t want to go for walks, and I can’t make him.”

• 
  

And sometimes there’s something even more concerning—a blank stare. As if this is the first time anyone has mentioned their dog is overweight.

That happened yesterday with a dog who had undergone TPLO surgery just weeks ago. The orthopedic surgeon never addressed the excess weight—despite how critical it is for recovery, joint longevity, and long-term soundness (or maybe the owners didn't hear that part of the conversation)...

The Questions I Can’t Ignore

So here’s what keeps looping through my mind late at night:

• Do owners truly not recognize when their dog is overweight?

• Or do they recognize it—but feel helpless?

• Do veterinarians avoid the conversation because it’s uncomfortable or exhausting?

• Have we, as a society, normalized unhealthy dogs the same way we are normalizing unhealthy humans?

• Are pharmaceutical companies, pet food companies, and corporate veterinary systems quietly benefiting from this trend?
  

And finally—the question that won’t leave me alone:

What can I do differently?

IF I created a course that systematically teaches dog owners how to safely reduce excess weight, rebuild strength, improve mobility, and create lasting health—would anyone actually want it?

Because what I can’t unsee are the images of overweight dogs limping through life, their joints overloaded, their movement restricted, their potential limited—not by age, but by preventable weight.

And I can’t accept that this is just “how things are now.”

If they can move better, they can heal better. If they heal better, they can feel better. And our dogs deserve nothing less. Don't you agree????