Obesity in Dog

According to estimates by experts, almost every second adult dog in Germany is now overweight. Many dog owners don’t even notice that their dog is overweight, or rather consider being overweight to be a blemish. From a medical point of view, however, obesity is an independent disease that must be taken seriously.

When is a Dog Considered Overweight?

At the latest when a dog is 10% over its ideal weight, it is overweight. For a small dog with an ideal weight of 10 kg, an additional kilo is enough to become obese.

The difficulty, however, is knowing what the ideal weight of the dog would actually be. Unlike humans, there is no objective formula for dogs like the Body Mass Index, which can be used to calculate the ideal weight if size and sex are known. A large number of dog breeds with sometimes aerodynamic, sometimes massive physique prohibits such a calculation.

You can only help yourself by feeling the dog and determining its so-called Body Condition Score (BCS).

Roughly speaking, a dog whose ribs can be felt under the palm of his hand (but not visible from afar) and who has a clear waist when viewed from above has a BCS of 3/5 and is the therefore ideal weight.

You can read more about the body condition score in our nutrition information section under “Is my dog ​​overweight?”.

If you still know how much your dog weighed at the end of the growth phase, you can usually assume this value as the ideal weight.

Medium-sized dogs are fully grown at around 12 months, very small breeds as early as 10 months, while giant breeds sometimes take 18 months or longer to reach their final size.

What is Obesity?

Obesity is the medical term for obesity. Some experts describe 10% overweight as incipient obesity and dogs with 15% excess weight on their ribs as obese, others only draw the line between overweight and obesity at a 20% increase in weight.

Obesity is considered a disease in its own right and also increases the risk of numerous other diseases.

What Causes Obesity in Dogs?

Actually, the answer to this question seems banal: If a dog takes in more energy than it uses, the excess energy is stored in the form of fat and the dog becomes fat.

In fact, being overweight has a variety of very complex, interwoven causes. Both organic and behavioral and environmental factors play a role.

What Organic Factors Promote Obesity?

Similar to us humans, there are individuals in dogs who apparently only need to look at the food and already have a few grams more on their hips, while others fill their stomachs and still remain thin. Are the genes responsible for this? Apparently, some breeds of dogs do. Due to genetics, they have lower energy requirements and therefore need to consume fewer calories per day than other breeds. At the same time, however, many of these dogs seem to have a constant appetite and develop into true vacuum cleaners.

Breeds with a tendency to be overweight include:

• Labrador Retrievers
• Golden retriever
• Cocker spaniel
• collie
• dachshund
• beagle

Age also plays a role in the development of obesity. On the one hand, older animals usually move less, on the other hand, their metabolic rate changes, so that their energy requirements decrease. Puppies that consume too much energy during the growth phase will not initially gain weight but will grow faster, but tend to become overweight as adult dogs.

Neutering increases the risk of obesity since neutered dogs tend to eat more than unneutered ones and at the same time become calmer, i.e. use less energy. Therefore, your dog should be switched to a lower-calorie food for castrated dogs immediately after the castration (see “What food is suitable after the castration?”).

Since the energy consumption of the organism is influenced by hormones, various hormonal diseases also lead to obesity, for example:

• Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
• Overactive adrenal gland (Cushing’s disease)
• Malfunctions of the sex glands

Diseases that cause the dog to move less lead to a lower energy requirement and thus easier to obesity. For example:

• Joint diseases such as hip dysplasia, arthrosis, etc.
• cardiovascular diseases
• respiratory diseases

Some diseases give the illusion of being overweight because they lead to water retention. This should also be ruled out by a veterinarian.

Certain medications reduce energy requirements or increase appetite and can also contribute to the development of obesity when administered over a longer period of time. For example, cortisone preparations, progesterone preparations (e.g. to suppress heat), or certain antispasmodic medications are possible. For this reason, long-term administration of such medication should possibly result in the dog being switched to lower-calorie dog food.