When Wendy Lewis finds a road-killed deer on the side of the road, she hauls it home, skins it, chops it up and feeds it to her dogs. She'd love to leave the carcass out in the yard and let the dogs go at it, but she doesn't think the neighbors on her busy Bethel street would approve.

She hauls the deer meat home because her two dogs do not eat kibble. They eat meat, specifically raw meat, usually from the grocery store. Lewis one of a growing group of pet owners who are exclusively feeding their dogs and cats a diet of raw protein they believe makes their pets healthier and enables them to live longer.

"There is a demand for raw food and it is growing," Ken Sherbacow, who owns the Wholesome Animal Grocery Store in Avon, said. "It's becoming more mainstream and accepted. It's like Whole Foods for your dog."

Last month an Association for Pet Obesity Prevention study made national headlines when it revealed that more than half of American pet dogs and cats are overweight or obese. The association has conducted the study annually for the past four years, and the numbers of overweight pets has been increasing.

Michelle Hulse, a veterinarian at Highway Animal Hospital in Fairfield, estimated two-thirds of the animals that come in for treatment are overweight, and 10 to 20 percent are morbidly obese. A major culprit for obesity in pets is common pet food, said Michelle Hulse, a veterinarian at Highway Animal Hospital. Most commercial brands are high in carbohydrates and grain fillers like corn, neither of which have any nutritional value for animals. In many commercial foods, corn is often the first or second listed ingredient, said Kayla Ursini, an employee at Unleashed pet boutique in Fairfield.

However, the vice president of the Pet Food Institute, a lobbying firm that represents most major pet food companies, said corn provides energy and essential fatty acids that aren't found in other ingredients.

Because pet food companies want to sell more food, they will list portion sizes for an animal that is very active, which is too much for most pets, Ursini said. In addition, most treats on the market are no better than candy is for humans, Ursini said.

Often, both people in a household work, so pets do not get a lot of exercise during the day, Hulse said. Then owners feel guilty for leaving the pet alone for so long that when they return home, they give them an unhealthy treat, she added. Animals are at the same risk of health problems due to obesity that humans are, Hulse said.

"They can get heart disease, diabetes and joint issues," Hulse said. "In large breeds, if they have joint problems and people can't pick them up, it could be a death sentence."Lewis said her raw-fed dogs are very healthy. "Their fur is gorgeous; their teeth are gorgeous; they don't stink," Lewis said. And they poop less, she said.

Bob Swanson, a dog breeder in Sherman, said he never takes his labrador retrievers to the veterinarian since he has been feeding them raw food because they don't get sick. Swanson first began the raw food diet in the 1990s when one of his very active dogs began acting sluggish. He learned that eliminating carbohydrates from the diet could help, so he started feeding her raw chopped chicken. Within weeks, his dog was back to normal.

"From that day on she never had processed food again," Swanson said. "I slowly started switching all my dogs over. It may be initially more expensive, but when I think what I save in vet bills, it's cheaper. Since I switched to raw food, they don't have ear infections or skin infections. I don't deal with that anymore."An average breakfast for Swanson's dogs is chopped beef, raw egg and tripe. He also heavily supplements their food with vitamins, which he takes himself.

Pet owners with cats and ferrets also have adopted the raw food diet, Lewis said. For someone with one or two dogs, a raw diet doesn't cost more than high quality kibble, Swanson said. He knows people who buy meat on sale at the grocery store to save money, he said. Lewis said she has spent about $40 in the past six months on food, but she is friends with hunters who often give her meat for free.

Hulse was hesitant to recommend the raw food diet because of the health threat it posed to the humans in the household. "Dogs may tolerate salmonella and other diseases, but if one eats some raw meat and licks you across the face, then you have it."The U.S. Food & Drug Administration warns people that handling raw meat for pet food can put them at risk for contracting illnesses if they do not follow proper hygiene.

Nancy Cook, vice president of the Pet Food Institute, said she doubted a raw meat diet alone gives dogs all the nutrients they need. "You can't just feed a dog raw meat and expect them to live very long," Cook said. "Dogs are omnivores."

Swanson said dogs crave raw meat. "Dogs are descended from wolves," Swanson said. "When they take down prey, they want meat."