Zen is fat!

Just kidding - this is not Zen (yet)

More on the dog.....I knew he was looking portly and my family disagreed.   Well the scale tells all and at 65lbs he is 4lbs overweight- some may say that is not much, but at 60lbs that is nearly 10% of his weight. John says he looks good, he is happy, let him be fat.  Odd for someone who is not tolerant of weight!  Anyway, I disagree - why have a fat dog! 

Zen in his current state - worn our from the vet

Why is he fat....as if you care. 
1- he refuses to run more than 12 minutes- well he used to run 45-60 minutes, so let's see his exercise has diminished by 30 + minutes a day
2- his cup of food AM and PM is the same size- same food less running
3- his afternoon walk used to be twice as long and he is happy to do the short loop and come home or roam around the park and come home
4- too many leftovers, snacks and treats

Not rocket science here.... I know why he is fat- and he is begs.  Fat, begging dogs are not cute. Sort of like some behaviours of little kids- very cute at 2 years old, not so cute at 7. 

Zen's other issue has been resolved, the one I blogged about a while back and received much feedback and many requests to not blog about that again.  Funny that the grosses subject attract the most attention... In any case- the Vet helped him out.

She also noticed his gate was  bit off and did some prodding and range of motion tests and discovered he has some pretty serious hip pain and back arthritis.  Once again, less weight = less strain on his joints.   But he is again....yes indeed.  His paws are grey and his chin is quite grey.

We also think he maybe allergic to lavender...my new laundry soap which I love- all natural with lavender.  Seems it is a very common allergen for dogs.  He has hot spots all over, which he gets a few times a year, and we never know the cause- but are usually seasonal. 

So there you have it $127 and he is cleansed and loaded up on steroids and antibiotics.