Dogs in Japan were once raised on leftover rice mixed with miso soup and lived relatively short lives. Thanks to healthy pet foods they now live longer but are also starting to develop humanlike problems.

In the past, dogs lived relatively short lives, in part because they were fed a poor nutritional balance, according to Mitsuhiro Furuse, 51, who is researching dietetics of pets at the graduate school of Kyushu University.

It was customary for families to feed their dogs dinner scraps, pouring miso soup over a bowl of rice.