A rescue pup from Washington D.C. left social-media users in tears after his wholesome reaction to what was supposed to be a funny TikTok trend went viral on the platform.
In a video shared on Wednesday by his owner, under the username @findingtheirfurever, Figgy can be seen standing by a full bag of kibble, as his owner gives him permission to eat as much of it as he wants without any consequences.
However, the pup, not used to having this much food in front of him, chose to take only a couple of bites, disappointing his Labrador retriever sister, who saw the entire scene from the background and wasn’t very happy with his behavior. “Our lab was really upset he didn’t take more advantage of the opportunity,” reads a caption shared with the clip.
While Figgy wasn’t particularly excited about the food, most dogs will do anything for a tasty snack. But overfeeding your pup can cause obesity, which may in turn lead to diseases such as diabetes.
So how do you know how much your dog is supposed to eat and what is too much for them? An article written by Dr. Jennifer Coates for Pet MD says that factors such as your dog’s age, breed and energy levels influence the amount of food they need each day.
Puppies, for example, need more food because they are developing very quickly, and that takes a lot of extra energy. Larger breeds also need more food than smaller ones simply because they burn more calories during the day.
On the other hand, older dogs, no matter their breed, need less food than their younger counterparts, because they spend more time resting than being active. Depending on their specific health issues, they may even need a special diet to keep them healthy.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) says that small and medium breeds weighing up to 50 pounds, will need to be fed their senior diet starting at the age of 7. For large breeds, the switch should happen at around 6 years of age, and for giant breeds, weighing over 91 pounds, it can be as soon as 5 years.
When it comes to which food is best for your dog, it can be hard to tell unless you are a pet nutrition expert, but Dr. Megan Sprinkle shared some advice for dog parents in an article published by Preventive Vet.
The first thing you should do when buying food for your pup is to make sure it has an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement on the packaging, ensuring a complete and balanced diet.
AAFCO is the Association of American Feed Control Officials, and guides all animal food regulators, providing nutritional guidelines and labels standards to ensure quality in the pet food market. And Sprinkle says you should not buy your dog any food that doesn’t come with the AAFCO label as the quality cannot be guaranteed.
You should then check that the food is the right one for your specific dog, and most importantly, that it is what your dog likes to eat.
A stock image shows a canine sitting in front of a portion of kibble scattered on the floor. A dog owner tried a food trend with her rescue pup, but it didn’t go as expected.
Getty Images
The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 2.5 million views and more than 387,600 likes on the platform.
One user, Sundiata___, commented: “You see how he ate?? very mindful, very classy, very demure.”
Erin Rose posted: “Lab in the back is SO mad it’s not her doing the trend.”
Nibbler the Hamster added: “He thinks he still has to share with the other shelter dogs so he’s only taking a little.” And the poster answered: “Awe you’re gonna make me cry.”
Newsweek reached out to @findingtheirfurever for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
