Leaner, Healthier, Happier Together––A Family-Centred Approach to Weight Loss with the Overweight Dog and Her Caregivers

Abstract

Obesity represents a one of the most significant healthcare issues facing human and companion animal populations worldwide. A complex relationship commonly exists between owners and their companion animal, particularly around feeding behaviour. Obese companion animals commonly live alongside caregivers who are also struggling with their own body weight. This case report highlights the importance of a family-centred approach to canine obesity as a way to engage with the pet’s caregivers to help maximize their compliance towards the successful implementation of a tailored weight loss programme. Lara, an overweight dog weighing 35 kilos with a body condition score (BCS) of 7–7.5/9, was referred for a nutritional assessment. A comprehensive, pro-active and multidisciplinary protocol, tailored towards a family-centred approach, was established. After a 16-week programme, Lara reached the target body weight. The caregivers’ compliance was assessed as being excellent; they also reassessed their individual lifestyle and were able to increase awareness towards their own nutritional issues and body weight perception, resulting in weight loss in all caregivers. Lara’s case report represents how a family-centred approach can lead to successful patient weight loss and to a modification in the caregivers’ way of thinking about nutrition and their own lifestyle, with the final goal of living a healthier and longer life together.

Is There a Correlation Between Dog Obesity and Human Obesity? Preliminary Findings of Overweight Status Among Dog Owners and Their Dogs

“…Given these shared health concerns, future studies could also investigate how to more effectively leverage the dog-owner relationship to promote healthier and more active lifestyles for both dogs and owners. As mentioned above, a number of studies have already begun investigating this relationship [i.e., (12,13,15)], but there are a number of additional directions for research, including crosscultural considerations and large-scale studies. The preliminary findings from this limited population could build on previous knowledge to better develop and inform study design of future large-scale studies (for example, informing the potential target population and recruitment considerations).…”

“…Future studies could examine the possible mechanism behind this association for obesity in dog owners and dogs and what further health problems dogs and their owners might share. Additionally, motivation to improve the health of dogs as an incentive to engage in One Health weight loss programs could be further explored with dog owners, as Candellone et al (13) explored in the case report of one family. The preliminary findings from this limited population also allow for more informed study design of future studies such as potential target populations and recruitment considerations.…”

“…While a number of studies have been published considering this One Health approach of using the human-animal bond to facilitate weight loss in both humans and their dogs [i.e., (12)(13)(14)(15)], additional information could prove useful to build on these studies to better inform future successful interventions. For example, while the People and Pets Exercising Together (PPET) study (14) included pairs of dog owners and dogs in the US that were both obese, these participants were specifically recruited for this study, so it is not known how frequent this correlation is within the general US population.…”

When Veterinarians Support Canine Therapy: Bidirectional Benefits for Clinics and Therapy Programs

“…Conservative current estimates indicate that, when prompted to identify their family members, participants in studies include their dog as a family member 63% of the time [ 10 ]. As an illustration of this, new research on canine weight loss reveals that weight gain is common within families and both family members and canines themselves correspondingly gain (and lose) weight [ 11 ]. As a reflection of this repositioning of dogs from the backyard to the family room, dogs are routinely incorporated into the day-to-day life of their owners (e.g., dogs are often seen attending move-in day on college campuses to bid freshmen students farewell).…”

Discussing overweight in dogs during a regular consultation in general practice in the Netherlands

“…Furthermore, a complex relationship commonly exists between owners and their companion animal, particularly around feeding behaviour. Obese companion animals commonly live alongside caregivers who are also struggling with their own bodyweight (Candellone et al, 2017). An important owner-related risk factor for the development of obesity or other comorbidities related to overweight in dogs is the ignorance and/or unawareness of dog owners regarding overweight.…”