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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #89: Weight gain among U.S. cats and dogs

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It’s not just humans who are becoming more obese – dogs and cats are as well. Data from the largest electronic veterinary health records system in the United States shows that the percentage of dogs who are overweight or obese rose from 16 percent in 2011 to 34 percent in 2020. Among cats, the increase went from 18 percent to 38 percent. The data also showed that overweight dogs were nearly 4 times and overweight cats 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with conditions such as diabetes or hypothyroidism. According to the pet hospital chain that collected the data, “there's no definitive answer to why the number of overweight pets continues to rise.”