Canine obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disease in dogs, causing chronic pain and reduced lifespan. Owner education and veterinary guidance are essential for prevention and treatment.
Canine obesity is a welfare crisis caused primarily by overfeeding and insufficient exercise within the human-dog relationship. The welfare impact is significant and multifaceted: excess weight causes joint pain through increased loading of arthritic joints, reduces exercise capacity creating a vicious cycle, impairs thermoregulation, increases anaesthetic risk, and is associated with several chronic diseases. The psychological dimension is complex: many owners express love through food, making dietary restriction emotionally difficult. Veterinary framing of weight management as a welfare and quality of life improvement rather than aesthetic concern is more effective at motivating change. Weight loss in obese dogs consistently produces dramatic improvements in mobility, activity, and apparent wellbeing — demonstrating the substantial welfare burden of obesity. Prevention through age-appropriate feeding and regular body condition assessment is far easier than treatment.