Co-morbidity of Overweight and Obesity in Dogs and Cats

Obesity is a nutritional disease of concern in both canine and feline pets, with up to 35% of adult dogs and cats in the United States reported to be either overweight or obese. Several chronic diseases have been associated with overweight and obesity in both dogs and cats, including osteoarthritis, heart disease, and diabetes mellitus, as well as hypothyroidism in dogs.

Introduction

Obesity is a nutritional disease of concern in both canine and feline pets, with up to 35% of adult dogs and cats in the United States reported to be either overweight or obese (1-4). Several chronic diseases have been associated with overweight and obesity in both dogs and cats, including osteoarthritis, heart disease, and diabetes mellitus, as well as hypothyroidism in dogs (5, 6). This population analysis was conducted in order to provide a recent assessment of select chronic conditions as co-morbidities in the US pet population.

Methods of analysis

Medical records of all canine and feline in-patients seen in 2013 at over 850 Banfield Pet Hospitals were used to extract information regarding body condition score (using a 5-point scale, with 1 = cachexia, 3 = ideal, 5 = obese), reproductive status and diagnoses of select chronic diseases hypothesized to be linked to overweight or obesity: diabetes mellitus, heart disease (cardiomyopathy, heart failure, valvular insufficiency), osteoarthritis and hypothyroidism (dogs only). Relative risk (calculated as a prevalence ratio, i.e., the probability of being overweight if an animal has a chronic disease vs. not having the disease) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each chronic disease, and adjusted for spay/neuter status.

Results

In 2013, more than 463,000 cats and 2,281,000 dogs visited a Banfield hospital. The distribution of sex and neuter status for the cat population was as follows: 6.5% intact females, 5.5% intact males, 43.6% spayed females and 44.4% neutered males. The distribution in the dog population was 10.7% intact females, 14.3% intact males, 37.4% spayed females, and 37.6% neutered males. 
Among the cats, 23.1% were juveniles (< 12 months of age), 20.9% young adults (1-3 years old), 37.2% mature adults (3-10 years of age), and 18.8% geriatric adults (10 years and older). Among the dogs, 22.0% were juveniles, 23.3% young adults, 44.6% mature adults, and 10.1% geriatric adults. [...]