Overweight Springer & his coat

Question
Hi, I have just taken my male English Springer Spaniel to his vet and been told that he is 33% overweight. The vet said something about that being the reason his coat is like the way it is too! Now to me his coat is ok, it's normal for his coat to be very rough and shaggy at this time in the winter and we clip it in the summer. It is possibly a bit dry/dead in places, that's all that I can think he means but to be honest my vet is not very forth-coming and I find him hard to understand. Why would my dog's obesity affect his coat?

Answer
Well your doctor is right. Obesity is a form of malnutrition. Anytime a living being isn't being fed the correct balance of nutrients they can become malnourished and that includes eating too much of the wrong stuff.

If you ate Snicker bars all day you would be malnourished also, but you might weigh 300 lbs too.

A dog's coat should never be rough and shaggy in that respect. Shaggy as in not groomed is one thing, but you said dry and dead in places. The hair coat is the first place bad nutrition shows up in a dog or a cat or even us.
We are what we eat- more so with animals even. So if your dog is eating a sub-par food, then he will have these issues with his coat.

Dogs are omnivores so they need a balance of grains and meat proteins.
When you feed junky food such as Nutro, Blue Buffalo, Old Roy etc, your dog is going to eat and eat to try and meet his energy needs. Energy needs means the energy he needs just to sustain himself even at rest.
So if they eat bad food, it's like trying to get a pound of steak protein out of a box of Saltine crackers. It's not going to happen.

You didn't mention what food you are feeding but I am going to guess it is not a quality food. Plus he probably gets table scraps and treats too.
Your dog is probably well loved but owners mistake feeding for love. It is not. This is one reason we have a nation of obese people also.
They eat when they need and want love.

So what do you do with this overweight and malnourished dog? What did your vet recommend to you? 33 % is really huge for a dog. Not only is he uncomfortable, but he is at major risk of heart, joint and kidney or liver failure at that weight. Surely you don't want to lose him early to one of these diseases.

If he was my patient I would put this dog on Hill's R/D for 6 months and get his weight to a manageable number. Then if he got to his target weight, which should be no more than around 30 lbs tops for a male Springer, I would put him on a maintenance diet such as Hill's Science Diet Adult Light. That way his weight would stay down.

His only treats allowed would be carrots and no table food. If you follow this diet plan and feed him according to the bag of food, he will lose the weight slowly and safely and his coat will be so shiny you won't believe it. I know as I did the same thing to the dog I had for 10 1/2 yrs. She was totally neglected when I got her, full of heartworms and had a dry coat. After getting her healthy she gained weight so she lived on R/D for life and she was a good weight. This helped her live about 5 yrs longer than she should have for the start she got in life. She lived to be almost 16 yet she was a large dog.

So I have been down this road Gill. Trust me, go to the vet and ask him to put your dog on a Hill's weight loss plan. It is the ONLY proven way to reduce them safely.

After he is down, let me know how he is. By the way, it takes a good three weeks for the new food to kick in. At that time, you will see him shed out his old, dead coat and a new clean and shiny one appear.
It is really amazing to see that.
So let me know if you have any more questions.