Then you have Meow weighing in at nearly 40 pounds.

"He's very sweet. He's doing everything a normal cat would do except he loses his breath and tires easily," Swan said. "We're seeing what we can to do help him."

People indulge their pets, because they will always be "children" even when fully overgrown.

Our dog gets small amounts of people food (bits of gristle off steak, etc.) but isn't overweight. On the other hand, she weighs a bit more than Lucy so there's room for small treats.

My cats get "people food" all the time. Gently cooked meat, vegetables, and good, non-chemically processed saturated fats and omega-3s from natural sources. If I make beef or chicken stock, the cats will come begging for the scraps from the pot, which they get.

Bear and Duchess are especially good at stealing "Paleo Sushi" from me. (That would fish or crab, veggies, and avocados rolled up in sushi nori without the rice.)

They are all sleek, muscular, active, happy animals -- even the 16-year-old cat with lymphoma who "should be dead" according to the doctor. She's never seen a cancer-afflicted animal with the kind of health, good mood, and energy she has.

If the "people food" makes your pet sick, you probably shouldn't eat it, either. (Except, of course, dark chocolate and good wine.)

When my dog was still alive he'd get the leg bones off my cattle, he'd usually have the flesh striped off in a few hours but it would usually take him about a month to devour the bone in its entierty

The dog and cat get the occasional chicken liver from me, but that's about it.

My grandmother feeds her dog table scraps and lets him lick every plate clean (gag). She doesn't understand why he's so fat because she's very strict about the amount of dog food she feeds him. /headdesk

I've never been one to treat my animals like children. Still, I gained some empathy for parents when I caught my MIL trying to give my dog food from her dinner plate behind my back after we told her the dog can't have people food.

But people food isn't the only problem. If you look at the bargain or popular pet foods you'll see corn and grains as the first couple ingredients. Corn! For obligate carnivores! Not only is it not ideal for dog and cat digestive systems, it's calorically dense and nutritionally sub-par. So the animals stay hungry and eat more. (Just like the difference between jelly sandwiches and steak). Honestly, if you're eating good people food yourself (meat and veggies) it might actually be a better choice for the animals that Purina.

Fortunately there are grain free dry kibbles. Our dog and cat each maintain a healthy weight despite having access to food 24/7. And I am very happy I don't have to prepare a raw diet for them.

Gary Taubes points out in Good Calories, Bad Calories, that carnivores don't get fat--only herbivores do. My first thought was, what about all the fat cats and dogs? Obviously it's the food they're fed by their loving owners.

Last year my 3-year-old neutered tabby was diagnosed with diabetes and put on insulin. We started feeding him special kibble prescribed by the vet. His blood sugar went up. We ordered "low carb" kibble online. His blood sugar still went up. The special food and insulin were costing so much we were contemplating whether our sweet rescue cat was worth it.

Then the people at the Feline Diabetes Message Board suggested (insisted, really) that I started feeding him canned cat food exclusively. Cheap, expensive, it didn't matter the brand. They even pointed me to a website that listed the nutritional information, i.e. carbs, for almost every kind of canned cat food on the market.

I started feeding him cheap Walmart Special Kitty, then 9 Lives when Walmart raised their prices. Within 2 months he didn't need insulin anymore.

My point is, a low carb diet saved my diabetic cat. And many veterinarians have no idea of the benefits such a diet can have for diabetic animals.

Horses, which are herbivores, also should not consume grains or corn, only grass. They can suffer from an equine version of diabetes, which destroys their feet. We call it "founder", but it's a whole-animal disease. The ancient Greeks called it the "barley disease".

Modern GMO corn is highly suspect as 'food' for either humans or animals. Epicyte Company here in CA has created a GMO variety of corn that contains a human gene for immune infertility-- Contraceptive corn! Animals can tell the difference and they won't eat it if they have a choice.
I've read that food will become a weapon in the 21st century, and by definition, this stuff is a genuine bio-weapon.

The problem I have is people who don't understand that my dog, a corgi, would eat herself to death if I let her. I must restrict her food to keep her healthy, but she wanders through the house begging or looking for stray crumbs. Visitors, my dad in particular, come over and accuse me of starving her. No, it has to be done bc trust me she has no off switch. People are too indulgent with their pets, but that shouldn't surprise us given how children are raised these day

Carnivores don't get fat in the wild, no, but you can sure as hell MAKE a lion fat with noting but meat. Herbivores get fat in captivity, yes, but I bet you don't see many obese elk up in Alaska.

I am a fan of low-carb, but "evidece" for it like this is just stupid.

An overweight dog means the owner isn't getting enough exercise.

As Elle pointed out earlier, a lot of the standard dog foods you buy in the grocery stores have corn as the first ingredient. Add to that the fact that many dogs really don't have an "off" switch for their appetites, and you get... a fat dog.

We rarely give our dogs people food- not because we're worried about weight gain, but because we don't want them getting an upset stomach and barfing or pooping all over the floor. We had a Great Dane. You do not want to give your Dane GI problems.