Obesity in dogs: a growing issue

Obesity is a modern day epidemic in companion animals and is one of the most common disorders affecting dogs. Veterinary professionals are all too aware of the welfare consequences of obesity in dogs, from associations with shortened lifespan, reduced quality of life and a higher incidence of important conditions including osteoarthritis, diabetes mellitus and certain types of neoplasia. There has been a recent call for the veterinary profession to formally recognise companion animal obesity as a disease, which has support from many veterinary healthcare professional organisations globally.

The use of bodyweight itself and our interpretation of bodyweight — body condition scoring (BCS) — are recommended to classify dogs as underweight, a healthy weight, overweight or obese. However, despite BCS being recommended as routine during veterinary examinations, recording of BCS in veterinary clinical notes is not common. Prevalence estimates for overweight status in dogs have varied widely, with estimates based on veterinary clinical records much lower than those based on planned prospective studies, almost certainly reflecting underreporting of overweight status in veterinary notes.