Cruelty by Kindness.

People talk about it all the time, the obesity epidemic. That's gnawing a bone that's been gnawed for years. I'm here to talk bitch about how people's greed/gluttony are passed on to their animal companions resulting in the animal obesity epidemic we're seeing so much these days.

I see it day in and day while doing my job (professional animal groomer). Animals coming in that weigh much more than they should, sometimes double or triple what they should. What I don't understand is where it got lost in translation and got turned around that this is okay. Apparently 90% of people are completely blind to the fact that their animals are extremely overweight, while some are in complete denial about the whole thing, and still others just don't care. It takes all sorts, too. You see really tall thin people that have extremely overweight cats and heavy people that have slender dogs, etc. It's not just caused by heavy people who feed their animals much like they do themselves and ignore the need for exercise. These overweight animals are owned by people from all walks of life.

It's not uncommon for someone to bring in their dog (or cat) for grooming and want to leave some kind of disgusting food or treats for it and expect me to feed it to them. I usually agree to it because I don't want to be rude and cause a dispute but as soon as they walk out the door whatever it is usually ends up in the trash first thing. I've seen some utterly disgusting things over the years. I had a two heavy-set ladies bring in a small severely overweight shih tzu mix and they were feeding it chewed-up fast-food chicken from a cardboard tray. I was appalled. It was absolutely disgusting. I've had others bring in canned vienna sausages, spam, wet dog/cat food, baby food, and other manner of horrifying vile-scented things.

Be it denial, stupidity, or just plain lack of caring people really need to step back, look at their severely overweight animals, and realize that they are not actually being kind to them, but in reality, killing them. It’s all cruelty by kindness. People think they are doing nice things for their beloved pets by feeding them all sorts of things, such as table scraps, but it’s really the opposite. A lifetime of being fed all wrong leads to a staggering amount of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high-blood pressure, and other things. Most of the same illnesses humans get by being overweight affect animals too when they are too heavy to be properly healthy. Just five pounds of extra weight on a dog or cat can shorten their life by more than a year and that shortened mortality rate increases with the more excess weight your pet is carrying.

Pets must be fed/treated properly to be healthy. This means saying no to overfeeding, excessive table scraps, feeding the right kinds of food, not overtreating, and proper exercise. It’s not doing your pets a kindness when you feed them everything under the sun. Pet food is made for a reason. Next time you want to feed your dog or cat something fatty or just plain disgusting, think of someone you know with a muffin top jelly roll belly hanging over their pants or someone that has severe diabetes or heart disease and rethink your decision. It might, in the end, save your pet from a lifetime of health problems and actually extend their healthy happy years.