Obesity is the most common preventable disease in dogs, affecting an estimated 25–40% of the pet dog population and causing chronic pain, reduced longevity, and significantly diminished quality of life.
Canine obesity causes daily suffering through joint pain, exercise intolerance, breathlessness, heat sensitivity, and skin problems in skin folds. The irony is that obesity is typically caused by expressions of love — feeding treats, supplementing meals — that inadvertently harm the animal. Owner education is the central welfare intervention: recalibrating what a healthy dog body looks like, understanding that begging behaviour is not hunger, and accepting that withholding excess food is an act of care rather than deprivation. Veterinary practices have a responsibility to raise obesity at every consultation rather than avoiding a sensitive topic. Prescription weight-loss diets, exercise prescriptions, and feeding enrichment tools (slow feeders, puzzle feeders) that increase satiety while reducing caloric load are effective management strategies.