Chun JL, Bang HT, Ji SY, Jeong JY, Kim M, Kim B, Lee SD, Lee YK, Reddy KE, Kim KH. A simple method to evaluate body condition score to maintain the optimal body weight in dogs.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2019;
61:366-370. [PMID:
31844547 PMCID:
PMC6906133 DOI:
10.5187/jast.2019.61.6.366]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Revised: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Overweight and obesity induce serious health problems that exert negative effects
on dog’s welfare. Body condition score (BCS) is a common method to
evaluate the body fat mass in animals. By palpating and observing fats under the
skin it is possible to predict animal’s body fat accumulation condition.
BCS is also a useful tool to estimate body fat composition in dogs. However, BCS
can be subjective when it was performed by non-professionals like pet’s
owners. To develop a method to avoid the misevaluation of BCS twenty-four
Beagles were enrolled and performed BCS evaluation. In addition, the length of
chest and abdominal girths were measured. In correlation analysis, the sizes of
chest and abdominal girth were significantly correlated with BCS. Especially,
the difference and ratio of the chest and abdominal length were highly
correlated with the BCS. With that, we suggested that this simple measurement of
chest and abdominal girths by a measuring tape would be an effective method to
estimate BCS scores in dogs that helps non-professionals to manage their own
dog’s nutritional condition by monitoring body fat accumulation
condition.
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