Myst the border collie has changed to a raw meat, vegetable and brain diet since a vet said her diet was ‘limiting her life’
A dog owner has shared her border collie’s amazing 10kg weight loss in 13 months after starting a raw meat, vegetable and cottage cheese diet.
Leanne Mitchell, 23, has shared before and after photos of Myst, six, who started piling on the pounds when she was 18 months.
Her beloved pet reached a whopping 26kg at two years old.
She always enjoyed two to four-hour long walks, sometimes twice a day, but her weight started to make her vomit, have bad skin irritations and fur loss.
The pup would get tired and start panting quickly on walks.
Now owner Leanne is warning other dog lovers not to feed their pet too many treats which ‘kills them with kindness’ after the vet told her that her border collie Myst’s chunky 26kg figure was ‘limiting her life’.
She decided to change Myst’s diet from dry biscuits and canned dog food to raw vegetables, fruits, meat, organs and even raw brains.
Three days later Myst’s sickness had stopped, a month later her rashes had cleared up and 13 months later she was at her goal weight of 16kg.
The border collie has even been able to stop taking all the medications she had been prescribed for her various ailments.
Dog owner Leanne Mitchell (pictured) was told her dog was ‘obese’ by people on social media which led her to speak to a vet. Once the second vet confirmed Myst was overweight, she decided to research into different diets and found support on Facebook
While Leanne admits raw feeding can be controversial, she knows Myst is ‘full of energy’ after the simple diet change.
She is determined to share Myst’s transformation to show people that ‘fat pets aren’t cute’.
The dog lover said: ‘The vet told me if I didn’t change Myst’s ways, I would be limiting her life quite a bit because she was so big.’
She got support from other pet owners in Facebook groups.
The Border Collie (pictured before) always enjoyed going on dog walks but gradually got a poorly stomach, vomiting, bad skin irritations and fur loss
‘Myst lost 10kg in total and just with a change to her diet. I didn’t need to increase her exercise at all.
‘It was literally amazing watching her weight go down and her health improve. She doesn’t get sick anymore and her skin is clear. She’s not on any medications at all anymore.’
Myst is ‘really happy to run all day’ and the change has ‘added a lot more years to her life’.
At first Leanne didn’t notice her pooch’s rapid weight gain due to Myst’s thick coat and it only became clear when she malted.
Leanne is determined to share Myst’s transformation to show people that ‘fat pets aren’t cute’. Her beloved pet will eat anything raw from turkey legs and chicken breast to heart, liver and brain mixed with cottage cheese or Greek yoghurt and a variety of dog-safe fruits and vegetables
And even when it started to become obvious, Leanne admits she thought it was normal as she’d grown up around fat dogs and gave Myst plenty of exercise.
The vet brushed off the Collie’s size and it was only until people branded Myst ‘obese’ on social media that she knew she had to get a second opinion.
She said: ‘I knew she wasn’t the perfect weight but I didn’t understand the impact of it.
‘I had always grown up with fat and obese dogs so I just thought that was normal. I didn’t know any better.
‘Her fur was falling out too and she was coming up in rashes and not feeling very well. Her stomach was constantly bad and she was being sick a bit. I was really worried about her.’
Myst (pictured recently) is now ‘really happy to run all day’ and the new diet means she is no longer sick and has ‘added a lot more years to her life’. Leanne says people ‘need to understand that overfeeding their dogs in an attempt to be kind is actually cruel’
The second vet confirmed Myst’s obesity and led Leanne to cook meals from scratch.
The pooch eats anything raw from turkey legs and chicken breast to heart, liver and brain mixed with cottage cheese or Greek yoghurt and a variety of dog-safe fruits and vegetables.
After seeing how a raw diet has changed Myst’s life, Leanne highly recommends it but says it’s not the only way to improve a pup’s health.
She was unaware of Myst’s weight (pictured before) as it was hidden under her thick coat. It was only until her dog started malting that she realised
The shop worker thinks that the first step is for pet owners to do more research into what their dogs should be eating and how much they should weigh.
Leanne said: ‘It’s very hard to tell people that their dog is overweight.
‘I’ve heard even a lot of vets don’t tell people because they don’t want to offend them. I think that might have been the problem with Myst’s first vet.
‘A lot of people don’t understand what a healthy dog looks like. They see a healthy dog and they’ll tell you it’s emaciated. They have no idea what a normal weight actually is for a dog.
‘People really need to learn the difference. And they need to understand that overfeeding their dogs in an attempt to be kind is actually cruel.
She added how people should research what their dog’s diet should have instead of seeing some dog food on TV and ‘deciding it looks good’.