If you're like most people, you can probably think of a handful of beloved dogs in your life who are overweight or obese. Perhaps your own dog is starting to gain excess weight. While dogs of all shapes and sizes are adorable and easy to love, part of caring for your pet is protecting their well-being to the best of your ability. And unfortunately, overweight and obese dogs are at higher risk of health issues and decreased quality of life.

Dog Obesity-Related Illness and Disease

Obesity in dogs is linked to systemic illness and disease and decreased quality of life. Associated conditions include:

• Cardiac disease

• Joint disease

• Ligament rupture

• Diabetes

• Poor circulation

• Poor healing from common illness and/or injury

• Pancreatic disease

• Cancer

• Skin disease

• Immune system disease

• Increased susceptibility to heat stroke

• Increased risk for adverse anesthetic risk

• Reproductive challenges

• High blood pressure

• High fat levels in blood (hyperlipidemia)

• Respiratory disease

Body Condition Scoring

Body condition scoring is a quantitative tool veterinarians use to assess body fat. While you don't need advanced training in this scale, recognizing the signs of an overweight dog isn't as simple as eyeballing it. Instead, you'll need to carefully examine a few parts of your dog's body.

1. Ribs and Spine

You should be able to easily feel your dog's ribs when lightly running your fingers along their side and their spine when passing your hands over the top of their back. While a thin layer of fat is healthy, you shouldn't have to press hard to feel them.

If you can't feel your dog's ribs or spine due to increased fat, they're likely overweight or obese.

2. Hips

Your dog's hip bones should be easy to feel and see (provided their fur doesn't block your view).

If your dog's hips aren't visible or you can't feel them when lightly touching the area, your pup may be overweight or obese.

3. Abdomen/Waist

Standing over your dog and looking at them from above, you should see a slight tuck behind the ribs (their waist). From the side view, you should see an upward slope from the bottom of their abdomen to the groin.

From above, an absent or rounded waist indicates obesity. From the side view, a sagging abdomen indicates excess abdominal fat consistent with obesity.

Pet Parent Bias

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it turns out, this adage holds true with our beloved canine companions. Pet parents frequently normalize their dog's body condition, which means they often underestimate their overweight dog's shape and downplay harmful extra pounds.

This bias highlights how critical regular veterinary visits are in ensuring an accurate picture of your dog's weight and health goals. Sometimes, you can be too close to the problem to see it clearly.