Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How being overweight or obese affects dogs' quality of life
By Yam, P S et al.·Published in Preventive veterinary medicine·2016·School of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Impact of canine overweight and obesity on health-related quality of life.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that overweight and obese dogs have a lower quality of life compared to dogs at a healthy weight. The research looked at how energetic and active dogs felt, revealing that those with higher body condition scores (indicating obesity) were less enthusiastic and comfortable than their slimmer counterparts. This suggests that maintaining a healthy weight is important for your dog's overall happiness and activity levels. If your dog is overweight, discussing a weight management plan with your veterinarian could help improve their quality of life.
People also search for: dog obesity effects · how to help my dog lose weight · signs of overweight dog · improving dog quality of life
Abstract
Canine obesity is increasing in prevalence in the UK and raises concerns about dog welfare. This study compares the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of dogs of varying body condition: overweight and obese (BCS 4 and 5) versus non-overweight dogs (BCS 2 and 3), obese (BCS 5) versus non-overweight (BCS 2 and 3) and an overall comparison between all four BCS (BCS 2, 3, 4 and 5) using a novel, validated HRQL instrument which is both web and mobile tablet/phone app based. Of 271 dog owners who were approached, 174 completed a web-based instrument (2013) or a mobile tablet app instrument (2014) during the summers of 2013 and 2014. Automatically generated scores in four domains of HRQL (energetic/enthusiastic, happy/content, active/comfortable, calm/relaxed) were compared for dogs with each of the body condition scores (BCS 2-5). For all body condition scores a statistically significant difference was found between the HRQL scores in two of the domains: energetic/enthusiastic (p=0.02) and active comfortable (p=0.004). When BCS 2 and 3 were compared to BCS 4 and 5, statistical significance was found in the same two domains - energetic/enthusiastic (p=0.01) and active comfortable (p=0.001) - as it was in comparison of non-overweight (BCS 2 and 3) compared to obese dogs (BCS 5): energetic/enthusiastic (p=0.012) and active comfortable (p=0.004). These results suggest that overweight and obese dogs have a reduced HRQL in two of the domains compared to non-overweight dogs, and that differences in HRQL are detectable between BCS scores 2, 3, 4 and 5.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27094142/