[susannah59]

Very elderly owner probably never played with him and just kept feeding him. And feeding him, and feeding him.

I've seen quite a few older folks do this with their little dogs. They don't actually walk the dog, only let it outside in a fenced yard to do its business then let it back in. Then they feed the dog too much and too often, sometimes with table food or even specially prepared "people food" which is really not healthy for pets.

The little dogs get so big around they can barely walk, they make noise breathing, snore, and so forth.

The owner doesn't realize that they are just loving the poor little thing literally to death.

[Slings and Arrows]

Very likely.

That's one reason why I have multiple cats - they burn calories annoying playing with each other.

[unkus]

I knew of a man in his late 80’s who was given a cat to keep him company after his wife of 62 years died.

His daughter paid him a visit a week after he’d gotten the cat and the poor old guy remarked that the cat didn’t like it’s food even after he’d added milk to it. His daughter saw that he’s been pouring milk over kitty litter. The canned cat food hadn’t been touched.

It was sad but at least the cat only went hungry for a week.

[CatherineofAragon]

"The owner doesn't realize that they are just loving the poor little thing literally to death."

I just have no patience with that, though. How can they NOT know they're killing the animal, unless they're stupid? It's animal abuse, plain and simple. I hate the way people treat obese cats as some kind of joke, or as though they're cute. They're neither. They break my heart.

[CedarDave]

I've seen quite a few older folks do this with their little dogs. They don't actually walk the dog, only let it outside in a fenced yard to do its business then let it back in. Then they feed the dog too much and too often, sometimes with table food or even specially prepared "people food" which is really not healthy for pets.

The little dogs get so big around they can barely walk, they make noise breathing, snore, and so forth.

The owner doesn't realize that they are just loving the poor little thing literally to death.

I've got a kindly old neighbor lady that does just that with her 7-year old Chihuahua. Except, she has a doggie pad so the dog doesn't even have to go outside to relieve itself! Dog waddles around on its tiny feet and is always having breathing problems. Dog is grossly obese and she takes it to the vet for hip problems. Vet gives her pills for the hip (and probably lectures her on the dog's weight) but she insists on feeding it people food (and the dog food goes untouched). She's a nice lady, but can't see she's killing her dog.