Is Sampson The Labrador Australia's Most Obese Pet?

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Is Sampson the labrador Australia's most obese pet?

SAMPSON the larger-than-life labrador could be Australia's most obese pet.

At 85kg, he is a staggering 42kg over his ideal weight.

The dog is so fat and so unfit that staff at the Animal Aid shelter in Coldstream say it will take him until Christmas to shed half his massive frame.

Sampson is at the forefront of Australia's epidemic of overweight pets. He is too fat to be exercised. His bulging, blood-shot eyes are the result of fatty tissue around his head and high blood pressure.

He has to be taken to the shelter in the Animal Aid van for his weekly weigh-in because he can't comfortably fit on the back seat of vet Amber Lavery's family sedan.

She has taken Sampson in until he sheds at least half his weight, when he will be put up for adoption.

"He's the size of a small heifer," said Ms Lavery, who works for Animal Aid.

"It's obvious to get a case of such extreme obesity, Sampson has been fed excessive quantities of the wrong types of food over a very extended period of time.

"His former owners obviously couldn't resist his big brown eyes that follow you around saying 'Feed me'."

It is believed Sampson enjoyed regular feasts of fast foods and other fatty treats - food normally consumed by humans as occasional meals.

He is struggling to adjust from a life of gorging to a meagre meal of a little more than three cups of dry dog biscuits and water.

"Tough love means saying no," Ms Lavery said.

"He has a very keen appetite and shows a willingness to do anything he can to get food, any way he can."

Animal lovers can contribute to Sampson's expensive diet food at animalaid.com.au.