Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How obesity affects physical activity levels in dogs
By Morrison, R et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2013·School of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Associations between obesity and physical activity in dogs: a preliminary investigation.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs was studied to see how their weight affected their activity levels. The researchers found that obese dogs were less active than dogs at a healthy weight, spending much less time in vigorous exercise. While all dogs were mostly sedentary, the ideal weight dogs averaged about 21 minutes of vigorous activity each day, compared to just 7 minutes for the obese dogs. This suggests that maintaining a healthy weight may help dogs be more active and energetic.
People also search for: dog obesity exercise · why is my dog not active · how to help my dog lose weight
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To assess whether obesity has any association with objectively measured physical activity levels in dogs. METHODS: Thirty-nine dogs wore Actigraph GT3X accelerometers (Actigraph) for 7 consecutive days. Each dog was classified as ideal weight, overweight or obese using the 5-point body condition scoring system. Total volume of physical activity and time spent in sedentary behaviour, light-moderate intensity physical activity and vigorous intensity physical activity were compared between body condition categories. RESULTS: Valid accelerometry data were returned for 35 of 39 dogs recruited. Eighteen dogs were classed as ideal weight, 9 as overweight and the remaining 8 as obese. All dogs spent a significant proportion of the day sedentary and obese dogs spent significantly less time in vigorous intensity physical activity than ideal weight dogs (7 ±3 minute/day versus 21 ±15 minute/day, P=0·01). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Obesity is associated with lower vigorous intensity physical activity in dogs, as is also thought to occur in humans. These preliminary findings will help inform a future, larger study and may also improve our understanding of the associations between obesity and physical activity in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24117778/