Fido and Fluffy are too fat

[marmar]

Most American Pets are Too Fat

Jake Richardson
February 6, 2012
7:02 am


Fifty-four percent of dogs and cats are overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. That’s 93 million dogs and cats, if their estimate is accurate. Excess weight can shorten a pet’s life by 2.5 years said a veterinarian who works in North Carolina. Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis and some cancers are related to excessive weight in dogs and cats.

One of the reasons dogs become overweight is people feeding them table scraps and junk food. Also dog treats are given too often. “No one would sit down and drink six sodas at one time, yet that’s exactly what we’re doing when we give our pets these snacks. Even a single, small dog bone treat given to a 10-pound dog is no different than a person eating two chocolate doughnuts. The truth is, we rarely stop at one dog treat. Give a few each day and you’ve fed the equivalent of a dozen doughnuts, ” said pet health researcher Dr. Ernie Ward. (Source: Pet Obesity Prevention) He also said the number one threat to pet health is excess weight.

Is it a mystery why so many American pets are overweight? Not really, the pets aren’t feeding themselves. Clearly people are overfeeding their own pets – but why? Is it the general culture of overeating and overconsumption influencing people to overfeed their animals? Or is more that sedentary people who also overeat don’t exercise their pets enough, and overfeed them? .......(more)

The complete piece: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/most-american-pets-are-too-fat.html#ixzz1ld3Sm5Gd

[TheWraith]

1. Many pets DO feed themselves.

I know personally if I didn't have an automatic cat food dispenser, I would never get anything done because I'd be feeding the cats every 3 minutes.

[mainer]

7. One dog I knew got into the bag of kibble every night ... and then closed the closet door.

so the owners never realized it was happening. They wondered why the kibble was vanishing so quickly, though. A kitchen cam caught him at it.

[TheWraith]

8. That... is hilarious.

It used to be that before I got the dispenser, my cats would climb up on the storage table and attack the cat food bag, "killing" it and tearing it open so they could feast any time they wanted. I guess it made them feel nice and wild, but it was a little messy. These days if they want to feel like hunters, they have to catch mice.

[get the red out]

2. Those poor creatures!

My dog isn't overweight, but we exercise her. We do have to use treats for rewards in training, but I try to make them as small as possible.

But it's hard to walk the dog or play with the cat if you are glued to the couch with a bag of chips in one hand and the remote in the other.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Wow--those are some real fatties! I have been working to slim down my dog--

he's on weight-control kibble, only occasional tiny treats, and it seems to be working. He's got some ribs in there, under all that padding, as it turns out.

[zbdent]

4. one of my favorite moments of being owned by a dog and cat

was when we took our dog out ... and someone fussed over her ... "Oh, look! A pretty Corgi! And it's not overweight!"

My wife's niece called her parents' Corgi a "tub of shi*" ... (not ours!)

[Solly Mack]

5. Yikes.

[tridim]

6. My dog is currently eating fallen red maple buds off the back porch.

It's hard to keep them all swept up, she finds every one I miss. Down the hatch.

Fortunately she's not overweight, but she sure likes to eat. She'd be huge if I didn't control her food.

[mike_c]

9. oh, dear....

Unfortunately, I've known lots of people who overfeed (and under exercise) their pets.

[xchrom]

10. du rec. nt

[RebelOne]

11. I was guilty of that with my Rottweiler.

When I first adopted her, she was a sleek 75 pounds, but over the years, I overfed her and she balloned to 93 pounds. But then she developed liver and bone cancer and her weight had dropped to 73 pounds when I sent her to doggy heaven. The vet said that it was a good thing that she had that extra weight on her otherwise she would have been seriously underweight. She was just 2 months short of her 13th birthday, so she had a happy overweight life.