In discretionary spending news, there's apparently a new trend afoot: sending your overweight "children" (which in San Francisco means cats and dogs) to pet gyms and enrolling them in diet and exercise programs.

As we all know, there are more dogs than children in the city, and all that pet love has its consequences: feeding Fluffy too much Fancy Feast. The solution? For some folks, it's spots like the Swimming Dog in Petaluma and Derty Dog Fitness, a dog gym in Santa Rosa that boasts canine-friendly treadmills and weight systems. The Chronicle reports that "big-boned" calico cat Cassie enrolled in a three-month pilot of Fetch Pet Care, a sort of Weight Watchers for pets that the Berkeley-based company plans to launch later this year.

Whither the pet obesity problem? According to the Association for Pet Obesity and Prevention, more than half of American dogs and cats are overweight. And of course San Francisco's private sector and innovation-minded start-ups are trying to solve the problem their way: if you want to keep better track of your child dog's fitness, there's always the Whistle, a $100 dog activity tracker that attaches to a dog's collar. Next up: Pet Fat Camp, the reality TV series (we hope).

[SFGate]