Inaccurate Assessment of Canine Body Condition Score, Bodyweight, and Pet Food Labels: A Potential Cause of Inaccurate Feeding

Yam, P.S.; Naughton, G.; Butowski, Christina F.; Root, Amanda L.

doi:10.3390/vetsci4020030

Cited by 23 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…For example, dog food manufacturers produce advice for dog owners on food packaging as to how much to feed their dogs. In light of the current, significant dog obesity problem [63,64,100], it may be worth questioning how effective this information and approach is in providing the information owners need to feed their animals appropriately [100].…”

Section: What Is Education?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the Welfare of Companion Dogs—Is Owner Education the Solution?

Philpotts

Dillon

Rooney

2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryThe welfare of most dogs living in homes is largely unknown. However, national surveys carried out by animal welfare charities and findings by animal welfare researchers have shown significant deterioration in some key aspects of dog welfare. For example, more dogs presenting to vets with behavioural problems, obesity, and ill-health due to poor breeding practices. This means that some dogs are suffering due to their owners’ behaviours or ownership practices. Educating dog owners as to how best to look after their dogs is, and has been seen by many, as key to improving the welfare of dogs living in homes. However, the concept of education, the context in which it occurs, and the lack of systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of education interventions means that nobody really knows if this approach works. This paper explores these concepts and draws together a wide range of sources of information to highlight some of the complexities of improving dog welfare by educating owners.AbstractVets, animal welfare charities, and researchers have frequently cited educating owners as a necessity for improving the welfare of companion dogs. The assumption that improving an owner’s knowledge through an education intervention subsequently results in improvements in the welfare of the dog appears reasonable. However, the complexity of dog welfare and dog ownership and the context in which these relationships occur is rapidly changing. Psychology has demonstrated that humans are complex, with values, attitudes, and beliefs influencing our behaviours as much as knowledge and understanding. Equally, the context in which we individuals and our dogs live is rapidly changing and responding to evolving societal and cultural norms. Therefore, we seek to understand education’s effectiveness as an approach to improving welfare through exploring and understanding these complexities, in conjunction with the relevant research from the disciplines of science education and communication. We argue that well designed and rigorously evaluated education interventions can play a part in the challenge of improving welfare, but that these may have limited scope, and welfare scientists could further consider extending cross-disciplinary, cross-boundary working, and research in order to improve the welfare of companion dogs.

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Section: What Is Education?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the Welfare of Companion Dogs—Is Owner Education the Solution?

Philpotts

Dillon

Rooney

2019

Animals

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“…Most of dog’s owners aware the importance of adequate nutrition and activity but it is difficult for them to feed their dogs in an appropriate feeding level because of the variety of diets and sources of information available [9]. In addition, it is not easy for dog owners to accept the necessity of their own dog’s weight reduction although they recognize well about the problematics of overweight and obesity [10–12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A simple method to evaluate body condition score to maintain the optimal body weight in dogs

Chun

Bang

et al. 2019

J Anim Sci Technol

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Overweight and obesity induce serious health problems that exert negative effects on dog’s welfare. Body condition score (BCS) is a common method to evaluate the body fat mass in animals. By palpating and observing fats under the skin it is possible to predict animal’s body fat accumulation condition. BCS is also a useful tool to estimate body fat composition in dogs. However, BCS can be subjective when it was performed by non-professionals like pet’s owners. To develop a method to avoid the misevaluation of BCS twenty-four Beagles were enrolled and performed BCS evaluation. In addition, the length of chest and abdominal girths were measured. In correlation analysis, the sizes of chest and abdominal girth were significantly correlated with BCS. Especially, the difference and ratio of the chest and abdominal length were highly correlated with the BCS. With that, we suggested that this simple measurement of chest and abdominal girths by a measuring tape would be an effective method to estimate BCS scores in dogs that helps non-professionals to manage their own dog’s nutritional condition by monitoring body fat accumulation condition.

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“…Identificar o problema da CC do animal é primordial para estabelecer uma conduta terapêutica, mas muitos tutores não sabem reconhecer que seus animais são obesos ou dos riscos do excesso de peso (25); como agravante, não compreendem os rótulos dos alimentos para animais de estimação (26).…”

Section: Resultsunclassified

Comparação De Métodos De Avaliação Corpórea De Cães Da Raça Labrador E Teckel

Leite

Gama

Mata

et al. 2021

RVZ

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Uma nutrição apropriada é um dos pré-requisitos mais importantes para a saúde e bem-estar animal, e a manutenção do peso ideal pode prevenir inúmeras doenças. Diferentes métodos de avaliação da condição corpórea vêm sendo empregados na medicina veterinária. Apesar da alta reprodutibilidade do escore de condição corpórea (ECC), ainda existem preocupações sobre subjetividade e precisão, e os métodos morfológicos, como o índice de massa corporal canina (IMCC), aparecem como uma alternativa para essa desvantagem, por ser um método quantitativo. O estudo avaliou o IMCC de 50 cães, 30 da raça labrador e 20 da raça teckel e comparou com os ECCs. Informações sobre características dos animais, hábito alimentar e tipo de manejo, também foram analisados quanto à condição corpórea apresentada. A comparação entre os métodos de ECC e IMCC apresentou discrepância de classificação em um elevado número de animais, a característica da morfologia corporal dos cães pode interferir com sua precisão.

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Inaccurate Assessment of Canine Body Condition Score, Bodyweight, and Pet Food Labels: A Potential Cause of Inaccurate Feeding

Cited by 23 publications

References 20 publications

Improving the Welfare of Companion Dogs—Is Owner Education the Solution?

Improving the Welfare of Companion Dogs—Is Owner Education the Solution?

A simple method to evaluate body condition score to maintain the optimal body weight in dogs

Comparação De Métodos De Avaliação Corpórea De Cães Da Raça Labrador E Teckel

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