Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
What dog owners want to know about overweight dogs' life expectancy
By Davies, Abby R et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2024·Ontario Veterinary College, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Impact on life expectancy was the most important information to clients when considering whether to take action for an overweight or obese dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Many dog owners want to know how being overweight affects their dog's life expectancy when discussing weight management with their veterinarian. A recent survey found that the most important factor for owners was the potential impact on their dog's lifespan, followed by concerns about future arthritis, quality of life, food costs, and mobility. This suggests that when veterinarians talk to clients about obesity, emphasizing how weight management can help their dog live longer may encourage more owners to take action.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine dog owner preferences for information communicated during veterinarian-client obesity-related conversations within companion animal practice. SAMPLE: Dog owners recruited using snowball sampling. METHODS: A cross-sectional online questionnaire was distributed to dog owners. A discrete choice experiment was used to determine the relative importance, to participating dog owners, of information about selected weight-related attributes that would encourage them to pursue weight management for a dog when diagnosed as overweight by a veterinarian. RESULTS: A total of 1,108 surveys were analyzed, with most participating dog owners residing in Canada. The most important weight-related attribute was life expectancy (relative importance, 28.56%), followed by the timeline for developing arthritis (19.24%), future quality of life (18.91%), change to cost of food (18.90%), and future mobility (14.34%). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that dog owners may consider information relating to an extension of their dog's life as the most important aspect of an obesity-related veterinary recommendation. By integrating dog owner preferences into discussions between clients and veterinary professionals about obesity, there is the potential to encourage more clients to engage in weight management efforts for their overweight or obese dog.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38513358/