59% of pet dogs in the UK considered to be overweight/obese (Courcier et al., 2010, German, 2015, Holmes et al., 2007, Sandøe et al., 2014 as cited in Yam et al., 2016).
A dog is considered to be obese when its body weight exceeds optimum weight for body size by fifteen percent (Laflamme, 2001, Simpson et al., 1993 as cited in Yam et al., 2016). To put this in perspective if the ideal weight for a Cocker Spaniel was 10kkg then it would be considered obese at just 11.5Kg.
Dogs who are overweight are at higher risk of numerous health conditions.
· Osteoarthritis (Blagojevic et al., 2010, Kealy et al., 1997 as cited in Yam et al., 2016)
· Type II diabetes mellitus (Guh et al., 2009 as cited in Yam et al., 2016)
· Lung problems (Bach et al., 2007, Manens et al., 2012 as cited in Yam et al., 2016)
· Urinary and reproductive disorders (German et al., 2012 as cited in Yam et al., 2016)
· Reduced Health-related quality of life (Yam et al., 2016)
Below is an infographic with all of the relevant information and a body condition score chart to help you assess your own dog
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