Pet Obesity: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

This undergraduate internship project was designed to communicate to pet owners the health and welfare implications of pet obesity and to provide information on how to achieve weight loss. Being overweight and obese contributes to a variety of disease processes and negatively affects the quality of life in pets. A survey was created and distributed to determine how owners view their pet's weight whether it is obese, overweight, normal weight, or underweight. The results revealed that the pet owners see their pets as a normal weight until they examine the Body Conditioning Score chart where they gain a better perspective of their pets' weight.