Meow, allegedly the country’s heaviest feline, passed away over the weekend after developing respiratory complications.

The nation met the rotund kitty last month after his 87-year-old owner dropped him off at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter, claiming she could no longer care for him – no surprise, given that Meow tipped the scales at 39 pounds. The average cat Meow’s “height” weighs 8-12 pounds; an equivalent-sized human would weigh around 600 pounds.

The orange-and-white tabby became a media sensation, appearing on Anderson Cooper’s show and elsewhere in an effort to find a new home (and perhaps raise awareness of the country’s growing pet-obesity problem). But Meow’s high weight put him at risk of life-threatening complications, which sadly took his life before his new caretakers’ dietary measures could show a benefit. “We are devastated,” Mary Martin, the Santa Fe shelter’s executive director, commented. “We were in a race against time to get the weight off Meow before he developed complications from his morbid obesity and we lost.”

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

Meow, country’s heaviest cat, dies | Pets – Yahoo! Shine

Slowing the rising rates of obesity in this country by just 1 percent a year over the next two decades would slice the costs of health care by $85 billion.

Keep obesity rates where they are now — well below a 33 percent increase that’s been expected by some — and the savings would hit nearly $550 billion over the same 20 years.

Those are two attention-grabbing conclusions from an analysis released this morning at the Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from Duke University, RTI International and CDC prepared the analysis, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

It’s the latest work that shows the health care costs associated with obesity, and the stark financial consequence of the epidemic.

Fat Thanks to Sona S. for the tip!

Even A Small Slowdown In Obesity’s Rise Would Save Big Money : Shots – Health Blog : NPR

A new forecast on obesity in America has health experts fearing a dramatic jump in health care costs if nothing is done to bring it under control.

The projection, released Monday, warns that 42% of Americans may end up obese by 2030 up from 36% in 2010, and 11% could be severely obese, roughly 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight vs. 6% in 2010.

“If nothing is done, its going to hinder efforts for health care cost containment,” says Justin Trogdon, a research economist with RTI International, a non-profit organization in North Carolinas Research Triangle Park.

Extra weight takes a significant toll on health. It increases the risks of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer, sleep apnea and other debilitating and chronic illnesses.

“The obesity problem is likely to get much worse without a major public health intervention,” says the studys lead researcher, Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with the Duke University Global Health Institute.

In an earlier study, Finkelstein and experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that medical-related costs of obesity may be as high as $147 billion a year, or roughly 9% of medical expenditures.

Obesity could affect 42% of Americans by 2030 – USATODAY.com