Brazilian owners perception of the body condition score of dogs and cats
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Brazilian owners perception of the body condition score of dogs and cats Fabio Alves Teixeira1, Mariana Ramos Queiroz1, Patrícia Massae Oba2, Rodrigo Fernando Gomes Olivindo1, Mariane Ceschin Ernandes1, Caio Nogueira Duarte1, Mariana Fragoso Rentas1 and Marcio Antonio Brunetto1*
Abstract Background: The knowledge of how owners view the body condition of their animals is an important factor for the success of the prevention/treatment of obesity and the engagement/adherence to nutritional interventions, which are fundamental to improve the animal prognosis. For this reason, the objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of the owners regarding the body condition score of their animals, compare the perception between cat vs. dog owners, and owners from the countryside vs. metropolitan region of São Paulo State in Brazil. Results: 601 dogs and 110 cats were included in this study. There was no significant difference in body condition score assigned by owners by species. Owners of dogs and cats classified by the veterinarian as ideal, overweight, and obese who disagree with body condition score assigned by veterinarian mainly underestimate the body condition score of their animals, while lean dogs’ owners overestimate it. Countryside dog owners had a higher rate of disagreement with the veterinarian and more often underestimate the body condition score than owners from the metropolitan region. The owners of lean cats have the same judgments with veterinarians. Conclusions: Owners of dogs and cats have difficulty assessing the body condition score, especially owners from countryside. Keywords: canine, feline, obesity, nutritional assessment, body composition, nutritional tool
Background The body condition score (BCS) is an important tool to determine the nutritional status of dogs and cats in clinical cases [1, 2]. Nowadays, obesity is the most commonly diagnosed nutritional disorder in cats and dogs and its prevalence is increasing in the last few years [3, 4]. BCS is the primary diagnostic tool for obesity [5]. Helping pet owners identify when their animals are getting overweight is essential to prevent obesity and avoid the consequences that this disorder can generate such as * Correspondence: [email protected] This study was presented, in part, at the 2015 AAVN Symposium, June 3, 2015, Indianapolis, IN. 1 Department of Animal Nutrition and Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 255, Pirassununga, SP, São Paulo, Brazil Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
insulin resistance; diabetes mellitus; higher levels of inflammatory cytokines; hyperlipidemia; possible relation to cardiac, respiratory, skin, pancreatic and renal disease; hepatic lipidosis; osteoarthritis; negative impact on the quality of life and life span [6–16]. Besides, tracking the BCS assists in the monitoring of cardiac, renal, oncological, and endocrine diseases; as well as to determine the optimal tim
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