Update on canine obesity: the One Health approach

Obesity in dogs is a multifactorial condition that needs to be treated as a complex nutritional disorder requiring comprehensive and lifelong management. Despite standard diet and exercise intervention, many weight loss plans do not see success in part due to the veterinary healthcare team and pet owners not understanding and addressing the complex nature of obesity. Successful weight management programmes extend beyond standard nutritional management and incorporate an understanding of the human–animal bond between owners and their dogs. Novel ‘One Health’ approaches to weight loss are starting to consider the beneficial aspects of the human–animal bond that can be harnessed for physical health benefits in humans as well.

One of the first studies to attempt this One Health approach was the People and Pets Exercising Together (PPET) study, in which pet owners and their dogs were paired up to engage in a physical activity programme for 1 year (Kushner et al, 2006). Though the results did not show a drastic change in bodyweight for the owners, the study did note that participating in a weight loss programme for their dogs could have a positive impact on the pet owners' physical health and activity level. In addition, another cross-sectional study showed overweight pet owners may have a stronger attachment to their dogs and have less perceived social support from peers than healthy-weight pet owners (Stephens et al, 2012).