Obesity is the most common nutritional disease in companion dogs and causes significant chronic welfare harms. Understanding causes and prevention helps owners protect their dogs from a preventable condition.
Dog obesity causes chronic welfare harms through increased pain from joint disease, reduced mobility and ability to engage in normal behavior, respiratory compromise, and shortened lifespan. The welfare cost is substantial and cumulative: an obese dog with arthritis experiences daily pain that limits movement, reduces quality of life, and shortens the time owners have with their companions. The fundamental cause is caloric excess relative to expenditure, a problem that is entirely within owner control. The social dynamic around feeding dogs is complicated by human tendencies to use food as emotional expression, making obesity prevention require attention to the human-animal bond as well as nutritional guidance. Veterinary body condition scoring at each visit and owner education about appropriate feeding are the most impactful prevention tools.