Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Overweight and obesity in dogs and cats during COVID-19 pandemic
By B. Machado et al.·Published in Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia·2022·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: An overweight/obesity survey among dogs and cats attended at a veterinary teaching hospital during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A survey of 1,001 dogs and cats at a veterinary hospital found that about 36% were overweight or obese, with slightly more cats (38%) than dogs (36%) affected. Factors like being neutered, older than 10 years, and male gender in cats were linked to higher rates of obesity. The study highlighted issues with record-keeping, as many medical records did not include body weight or condition scores. This suggests that pet owners should be aware of their pets' weight and discuss any concerns with their veterinarian, especially during times of lifestyle changes like the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Abstract
ABSTRACT Anecdotal reports suggest that the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19) has increased overweight and obesity prevalence in dogs and cats. The present report aimed to perform a retrospective overweight/obesity survey on 1,001 consecutive cases attended in the Veterinary Clinics Hospital from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul during its reopening to the public after months closed due to the pandemic. The overall overweight or obesity observed prevalence was 36.63%; being the frequency in cats slightly greater (38.37%) than compared to dogs (35.76%). No local increase in these frequencies was detected. Neutering (dogs and cats), age greater than 10 years (dogs), and male gender (cats) were factors associated with overweight/obesity. Bodyweight was not registered in about 30% of the medical records, while the body condition score was not registered in about 50% of the cases. These flaws were more often observed in feline medical records and efforts to improve these data records are warranted.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/128dc0cf8ac523b3a4eb9dcd314bb0b70c31f923