--- title: Pets in US Are Getting Fatter, Banfield Pet Hospital Says description: About one-third of dogs and cats in the U.S. are now overweight, according to a report released by Banfield Pet Hospital canonical: https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-27T15:48:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:05:16.400Z article:section: Health og:title: America’s Pets Are Getting Much Fatter, New Research Finds og:description: About one-third of dogs and cats in the U.S. are now overweight og:url: https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52411153e5003f60/6988d3747cdbac604bd58f2d/fat-pets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Pug dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: America’s Pets Are Getting Much Fatter, New Research Finds twitter:description: About one-third of dogs and cats in the U.S. are now overweight twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52411153e5003f60/6988d3747cdbac604bd58f2d/fat-pets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # America’s Pets Are Getting Much Fatter, New Research Finds > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jun 27, 2017 3:48 PM UTC  Funny pug dog sitting on a flor posing Funny pug dog sitting on a flor posing Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jun 27, 2017 3:48 PM UTC America’s pets are growing increasingly fatter, new research has found. About one-third of dogs and cats in the U.S. are now overweight, according to a report released Tuesday by [Banfield Pet Hospital](https://www.banfield.com/state-of-pet-health/obesity), which operates nearly 1,000 veterinary clinics across the country and Puerto Rico. The organization found the number of overweight cats spiked 169% from 10 years ago, while the number of overweight dogs jumped 158%. Banfield said it analyzed visits in 2016 from 2.5 million dogs and 505,000 cats. The figures are alarming since obesity can have serious consequences and is associated with other chronic conditions and diseases, including arthritis and tracheal collapse in dogs, researchers said. “Overweight pets — and the many related conditions associated with those extra pounds — are critical issues that we strive to both educate pet owners on and address in partnership with our clients to ultimately help pets live their best life,” Dr. Daniel Aja, Banfield’s senior vice president and chief medical officer, said in a statement. The report said overfeeding and lack of exercise are major contributing factors of obesity in pets. [Obesity](http://time.com/4713855/how-to-help-your-family-beat-obesity/) plagues more than one-third of American adults, according to the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html). “Obesity is so common that many people underestimate their pet’s body condition, preventing them from taking action to manage their pet’s weight,” the Banfield report said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/"},"headline":"America’s Pets Are Getting Much Fatter, New Research Finds","datePublished":"2017-06-27T15:48:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:05:16.400Z","description":"About one-third of dogs and cats in the U.S. are now overweight","url":"https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/","keywords":["animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52411153e5003f60/6988d3747cdbac604bd58f2d/fat-pets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52411153e5003f60/6988d3747cdbac604bd58f2d/fat-pets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pug dog","caption":"Pug dog","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4834756/pets-getting-fatter-report/","name":"America’s Pets Are Getting Much Fatter, New Research Finds"}}]}] ```