well, pets do tend to take on the behaviors of their "owners".
if the humans in the house eat a lot and just lay around all day, then what is the pet gonna do?
i'm not the most physically active person that ever lived, but i do like to keep somewhat active. i had two Siamese cats- mother and daughter- for about 10 years. i always kept their food dish full of good cat food (Iams dry) and they ate how much they wanted whenever they wanted. they were both skinny their entire lives. of course, they spent a lot of time chasing each other around. one time, when i lived in a trailer house, they kept themselves occupied for 3 days torturing a mouse they had captured. when it die, they lost interest.. but that's another topic.. they were indoor cats, and never went outside.
for 3 years, i had a female German Shepherd that i raised from a pup. she was an outdoor dog that had an automatic feeder that dispensed as much Iams dry dog food as she cared to eat. she got to roam free about 12 hours of the day- the rest of the time in a 6X12 cage- and she kept active. she weighed about 75 pounds all grown up, and could run a good 35 mph (i clocked her with my car chasing her home one day when she jumped the fence and went exploring).
in either case- the dog or either cat- if they had just laid around, they would have no doubt gotten fat.
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