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Dog obesity: Veterinary practices’ and owners’ opinions on cause and management

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Abstract

Obesity in dogs is attributed to several factors, including genetic pre-disposition, reproductive management and dietary/exercise (human) management. A quantitative analysis of questionnaire responses from dog owners and veterinary practices in Victoria, Australia was used. A total of 219 dog owner questionnaire and 153 veterinary practice questionnaires were returned. Veterinary practices estimated the prevalence of dog obesity within their practice as 30% on average, ranging from <10 to 100%. Veterinary practices felt that 3% of cases could be attributed to dog specific factors and 97% to human specific factors such as diet, exercise and owner attitudes. Management strategies included reducing food intake, reduced treat feeding and changing diet before recommending more intensive options such as obesity clinics. Of the surveyed veterinary practices, 43% ran obesity clinics and 79% of those believed they were a valuable management tool. Of veterinary practices that did not run obesity clinics, only 46% believed them to be a valuable management tool. Dog owners preferred to try to reduce dog weight through diet manipulation, increasing exercise and elimination of treats prior to consulting the veterinary practice. There is a clear difference in expectations with veterinary practices recommending reduction in dietary intake compared to owners expecting to have to modify the diet itself, which may have a cost and hence psychological implication to the owner.

Introduction

Over the past 30 years, obesity in dogs has been identified as an emerging issue that may affect canine health and well-being (Bland et al., 2009). However, it is difficult to obtain good estimates of obesity in the canine population reflecting differences in survey method, target population and the methods applied to calculate national prevalence (Edney and Smith, 1986, Diez et al., 2002, Robertson, 2003). A further complexity in interpretation is the identification of significant associations between body weight of the animal (observed by McGreevy et al., 2005) and the reasons for visiting the veterinary practice. This situation prevents the information being used (admission rate bias) to estimate the prevalence of obesity in the national population. The reported prevalence is 20–40%, or up to 1.6 million animals in the Australian canine population of 3.7 million dogs (McGreevy et al., 2005).

It is recognised that obesity in dogs results primarily from excessive intake of food energy and reduced physical activity (Burkholder and Bauer, 1998, Bland et al., 2009). Other factors for increased prevalence have been identified as decreased metabolic rate, ‘insufficient feed nutrients’, gender, advancing age, breed and de-sexing (Fettman et al., 1997, Edney and Smith, 1986, Robertson, 2003). However, given the control owners have over the management of dogs, it is not surprising that human socioeconomic and lifestyle factors play a major role (Burkholder and Bauer, 1998) in the emerging obesity problem. Often animals that present to the veterinarian have weight problems but these are not recognised by the owner as an underlying reason for a range of causative conditions (Freeman et al., 2006). This situation is compounded by the fact that owners are often inaccurate in their assessment of their dog's weight (Singh et al., 2002). Surprisingly the attitudes of Australian dog owners and veterinarians towards strategies for management of the obese dog have not been surveyed to any extent, even though there is a consensus amongst animal health professionals that there is an apparent rise in obesity. This study aims to provide veterinarian's information about owner expectations of the veterinary profession in canine weight management and the responses of the veterinary industry to causes of obesity.

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Materials and method

The study reported in this paper builds on the earlier study of Bland et al. (2009). In his study on the responses from dog owners and veterinary practices on the routine care and management of overweight and obese dogs, Bland et al., evaluated 550 responses of dog owners in Victoria, Australia during July–August 2007. In a concurrent study, 419 questionnaires were distributed to veterinary practices (located in both rural and urban areas) in Victoria. The questionnaire was designed to provide

Results

The veterinary questionnaire was sent by mail to 419 metropolitan and rural veterinary practices in Victoria during July and August 2007 with 153 (37%) completed questionnaires received within 4 weeks of mailing. The respondent veterinary practices were identified as 63% in metropolitan Melbourne and 30% in rural Victoria. A further 7% of questionnaires received listed no location; however these were identified as either metropolitan or rural by the post office franking. Of the veterinary

Discussion

Studies into human obesity have clearly identified the need for multifaceted management strategies that aim towards altering the home environment to one favouring better weight control through sustainable behavioural changes to diet and physical activity (Hofbauer et al., 2006, Levy et al., 2007). Clearly, there is a requirement for multifaceted management of the nutritional disorder, however it was demonstrated that the majority of animal health professionals would recommend simple nutritional

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