Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Body fat and muscle in medium to giant dogs with ligament disease
By Santarossa, Amanda et al.·Published in Veterinary surgery : VS·2020·Department of Clinical Studies, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Body composition of medium to giant breed dogs with or without cranial cruciate ligament disease.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that adult dogs with cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease had a higher body fat percentage and lower muscle condition compared to healthy dogs. Specifically, the affected dogs had about 39% body fat, while healthy dogs had around 27%. Additionally, the pelvic limbs of dogs with CCL disease had less lean tissue and more fat. This suggests that being overweight may increase the risk of developing CCL disease, and managing body composition is important for these dogs' care.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe the body composition of dogs with or without cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. ANIMALS: Adult dogs in which CCL disease was diagnosed (n = 30) and adult dogs without clinical signs of orthopedic disease (n = 30). METHODS: Body weight, body condition score, and muscle condition score (MCS) were recorded. Body composition of the whole body and pelvic limbs were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Body condition score, whole body, and pelvic limb body composition measurements were compared by using general linear mixed-model analysis of variance. Muscle condition score between groups was assessed by using a Mann-Whitney U test, while paired data were analyzed by using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: Body fat percentage (P < .0001) was higher in affected dogs (38.78% ± 1.40) than in control dogs (27.49% ± 1.24). Affected dogs had lower MCS (1.90 ± 0.13, P < .0001) compared with control dogs (2.77 ± 0.08). The affected pelvic limb of affected dogs contained less lean soft tissues (P < .0001) but more fat (P = .0451) compared with the contralateral pelvic limb. CONCLUSION: Dogs with CCL disease were overweight compared with the control group. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Dogs that are overweight may be predisposed to developing CCL disease. Body composition changes in the pelvic limbs should be considered when managing the care of these dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32357267/