At what point does overindulgence become animal abuse?

If your pet is at an unhealthy weight, then you are guilty of animal neglect.
If it is so fat it is in misery, and can no longer function day to day in a normal manner, with a significant reduction in life span because of obesity, then I feel that is abuse.

>>2305406
significant reduction in life span for a little cat or dog can happen way before extreme visible obesity from what my vet told me.
I brought in my moms dog who was almost twice her ideal weight without anyone really noticing. She actually looked lean, but I got a feeling that her harness was slightly more difficult to get her into one day.

>>2305418
Right, some animals hide their weight better. Of course this is a non issue if you schedule yearly vet check ups. A responsible owner won't let a pets weight and health go unchecked for any period longer than a year.

What about the animals that have naturally bigger bones then others? That cat just have bigger muscles then normal. Don't hate

>>2305406

>If your pet is at an unhealthy weight, then you are guilty of animal neglect.

Where is the scienctific evidence determining a healthy weight for a given animal (particularly a cat or a dog)?

>>2307200
I use the WSAVA (world small animal vet's association) as a benchmark most of the time. They part fund a scientific journal called the JSAP which is relate to all aspects of care for small pets with shit like link related which are generally better indicators of health than outright weighing the animal.

https://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Body%20condition%20score%20chart%20cats.pdf