'Massive blob with a leg at each corner' forced to diet by RSPCA

Alfie, a 12-year-old cream Labrador, weighed 12st 5lbs when he was signed over to the animal charity who forced him to shed a few pounds. The overweight animal grew to weigh 12st 5lbs because his dementia-suffering owner kept forgetting that he had already fed him. The owner's daughter contacted the RSPCA as she felt that her ill father could no longer look after Alfie.



By the time the RSPCA came to take the animal away in March, the dog couldn't stand up and he had to be lifted by four people using towels as a sling. RSPCA staff said that Alfie was the fattest dog that they had ever seen, describing him as "a massive blob with a leg at each corner". Since Alfie was taken into the care of the animal charity, he has lost 4st 8lbs.

He still needs to lose another 3st to reach his target weight. He has been put on a calorie-controlled diet of two meals a day, weekly weigh-ins and no treats. Christine Dooley, from the RSPCA's Leybourne Animal Centre, in Kent, said: "He literally could not stand up when he arrived because he was so fat. I have never seen a dog that fat before in my 27 years with the RSPCA, he must be Britain's fattest pet.


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"He was being fed to death, it's amazing he was alive given his size. He's such a lovely dog and his tail never stops wagging everyone here has fallen in love with him." Once Alfie has reached a manageable weight staff at the centre will start looking for a new home for him where his owner will need to keep up his healthy diet.