If you think about it, life for dogs and cats is about motion. In the wild, creatures must escape predators, travel about to find a mate, and work hard and relentlessly to find food.
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But think about how modern life has changed that for us and our pets. In our urban settings we have no predators lurking about, mates can be found on the Internet, and food simply sits in a restaurant or grocery store. We have become about as immobile as it is possible to become.
 
This departure from what is natural takes a tremendous toll on health. The body becomes what it is called upon to do. Sit on a couch; start to look like a couch. Exercise and work hard; look like an athlete.
 
Every disease is positively impacted by exercise. In medical studies of drugs, billions of dollars are spent to prove effectiveness. In almost every instance where the drug is measured against exercise, the drug loses-not to mention the dangerous side effects of drugs.
 
When the body is exercised it senses the need to stay fit and capable. It feels alive through the tests placed upon it. Not only is stamina increased, but reserve capacity and resistance to disease are increased. If we act dead by barely moving, then the body loses its resistance and easily succumbs to disease and death.
 
With regard to food, consider this. Food is the payment for exercise. In the wild we and our pets would starve if we did not expend considerable effort finding it. Therefore, in the natural order of things it is theft to take food without paying the price of exercise and physical work. The penalty for this theft is obesity and disease.