American pets almost as fat as humans
We love fat pets, according to the Wall Street Journal, a daily tome that keeps track of such things.
Crestor is his Ace up his sleeve.
It makes sense a Krispy Kreme-lovin’, exercise-hating society that is itself busting at the seams would have chubby furry pals. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention more than half of all dogs and cats are overweight, 20 percent are obese, a kinder way of saying “really fat.”
The pets are doing better than their two-legged friends – WebMD says 63 percent of Americans are overweight, 36 percent obese — but only because they can’t open the fridge themselves at 2 a.m. and grab a midnight ice cream snack.
Or perhaps they have secret access to these $600 puppy treadmills?
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46 comments Add your comment
Kingfish
February 24th, 2011
10:10 am
If you have an overweight pet, the owner is not getting enough exercise.
Lori
February 24th, 2011
10:25 am
It’s really easy to keep your pet from getting too fat. Just control how much they eat. I give my dog the recommended amount of food based on her size (there is always a label on the bag). I don’t give her table food. If they don’t ever get it, then they don’t beg for it! Pretty simple. She is a lean and healthy dog.
donkey200
February 24th, 2011
10:41 am
Oscar, you’re a fool. What, you want to kill this dog too? Onions are incredibly bad for dogs – you may as well feed him raisins and more chocolate. If I knew where you lived, I’d call the SPCA on you for cruelty.
reader
February 24th, 2011
10:52 am
to oscar… FYI onions are toxic to dogs.
Oscar is an idiot
February 24th, 2011
10:54 am
onions and chocolate are incredibly TOXIC to dogs and cats and can be fatal.
Chad
February 24th, 2011
11:01 am
Chris, please stop taking your dog on the multiple mile runs. keep your pet active by playing outdoors with him/her and by going on frequent walks. your pet doesn’t need to go running that much. it’s obviously causing your pet to burn too many calories, and it could be tough on its joints.
Oscar Llewellyn
February 24th, 2011
11:03 am
I do believe I have the right to feed my dog whatever I want to feed him. I’ve probably owned more dogs than the years you’ve been alive, and they been just fine. About every 3-4 years they die, I get new one, they are my companions and what’s good enough for me to eat is good enough for them. And for the record, grapes are just fine for dogs.
Scott
February 24th, 2011
1:03 pm
My cats just LOVE yogurt. They will fight you for the lid.
schneesmom
February 24th, 2011
3:57 pm
interesting…..not one person, even the vet, mentioned the fact that cat and dog food, even most of the premium brands, contains high levels of corn. Dogs and cats are not designed or evolved to eat corn, yet we feed it to them daily. Just like processed foods that contain make humans fat because of how the corn is metabolized, it seems that corn is metabolized the same way by our pets. Humans can eat whole foods and avoid anything with corn in it (including industrial meat as opposed to grass-fed, naturally raised meat), but in order to do this for our pets, we would have to feed them a raw diet. Most people would not want to do this because if there are multiple pets in a household, it can get quite expensive and not all pets will eat the raw diet. Even limiting intake of the corn based food can cause weight gain. I have a Saint Bernard that is on a low calorie food and is fed 2 cups twice a day and still he is overweight, despite getting plenty of exercise.
Vet Student
February 24th, 2011
4:20 pm
Onions can cause hemolytic anemia where the animals red blood cells are destroyed. Your dog may be able tolerate a small amount of onion; however, I would just be aware that onions (cooked or raw) are not a good treat for dogs or cats. As with any toxicity, it depends on dose given and the size of your dog whether you will see clinical signs from the toxicity.