Fact Sheet: Overweight Dogs and Cats

Obesity has far-reaching consequences in our lives and the same is true for our pets. Problems like degenerative arthritis, tumours, skin disease, cruciate disease, diabetes, pancreatitis, tracheal collapse, hypertension, and hepatic lipidosis are all caused, in part, by being overweight. The end result is that a fat dog or cat has a decreased life expectancy.

In fact, numerous studies have concluded that calorie restriction is the only consistent nutritional intervention that extends the life of an animal, including humans.

It is important to note that some diseases can cause weight gain or loss in an animal. If your regime with feeding and exercising has not changed and your pet has gained weight over a short period of time, make an appointment to see your veterinarian because there could be an underlying disease process in place. The same is true if your animal has lost weight suddenly.

There are a few different charts that are used by veterinarians to quantify the body condition your animal is in. The one I will use is the 9-point scale that many practitioners use. There is another chart that uses only 5 points. Either one will help to assess whether an animal is over or under weight.

On this scale for cats and dogs, an animal is at their ideal body weight at a BCS of 4 or 5, anything under 4 is considered underweight and anything over 5 is considered overweight.

How to use the chart

Step 1 Look down at your pet when they are standing up. Take note of their shoulders, rib cage and rump. Compare to the chart on this page. Your animal should have a waist, that is, a slight hourglass appearance.

Step 2 Look at your animal from the side. Your cat or dog should have their bellies tucked up to look trim and sleek. The thinnest point of your pet from this view should be the point right in front of their hind legs. If your dog or cat has excessive hair, these first couple of steps can be hard to do. Don’t worry, Step 3 should solve that problem.

Step 3 Put your hands on your animal. Give them a pet from their heads to their tails. You should be able to easily feel the tops of their backbone with your fingertips, but they shouldn’t be poking out to excessively.

Step 4 Now feel the ribs. They should be easy to feel by just running your hand down the sides of their chest. A thin layer of fat over the ribs is normal in a healthy animal. If you find yourself having to press really hard to find ribs, then your animal is most likely overweight.

Step 5 Compare what you saw and felt to the Body Condition Score charts on this page.

How did your animal score? Great! If your animal falls within the 4 - 5 point range, congratulations! Your pet is in ideal body condition. If, however, your pet body condition score fell above the ideal range, some dieting and/or exercise is in order!

Now that you know where your animal is in regards to its body condition, we can now look at different general feeding methods to determine which category you fall into.