Obesity is the most common preventable health problem in pet animals, causing chronic disease and shortened lifespans across dogs, cats, rabbits, and other companion species.
Pet obesity is a welfare problem created by love expressed in the wrong currency. Food equals affection in many human-animal relationships; the result is animals carrying chronic disease burdens that shorten their lives and reduce their quality. An obese dog cannot run and play as it should; an obese cat cannot groom itself properly; both experience chronic joint pain and metabolic stress. Addressing pet obesity requires veterinary honesty — body condition scoring and weight management conversations at every consultation — and owner willingness to hear and act on that honesty. The barrier is rarely knowledge; it is the emotional difficulty of restricting food from an animal that responds to feeding with visible pleasure.