The username is actually from when I was growing up - my handwriting was so sloppy, my mom used to tease me and say it looked like whatever I wrote had been written by an epileptic ferret. When I got older, I actually needed several rounds of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT aka "shock therapy") to treat my depression, so it kind of fit (even though the seizures were medically induced and not from epilepsy) and I just kept the nickname. It just drives me nuts when people make their animals fat. People think they are being kind by feeding them table scraps or treats whenever they beg, but they don't realize they're actually doing more harm than good. My grandfather has this sort of mentality, and if I have my dog around when there's a family dinner going on, he slips her scraps from the table. Thankfully that doesn't happen often, and we portion control her meals as well as keep her active, so in the long run it doesn't affect her weight. But a lot of people free-feed their pets, don't exercise them, and give them too many treats or table scraps. One of my cats, although not overweight, unfortunately has a fatty lipoma. The vet said it's non-cancerous which is good, but she's still got a hard little lump below her navel. It's kind of weird because she's not fat, but has a fatty tumor. It's been that way for a few years though, and it hasn't gotten any bigger, so it hopefully won't become an issue for her.