First Annual Dog Obesity Prevention and Awareness Survey – for Canadian Veterinary Practises.
In the US, according to the 2014 National Pet Obesity Awareness Day Survey by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, an estimated 43.8 million or 53% of US dogs are estimated to be overweight or obese (BCS 4-5). Of those, 13.9 million or 18% are estimated to be obese. The cost of this health epidemic is huge.
Starting Friday April 24, 2015, we will conduct our First Annual Dog Obesity Awareness Survey in Veterinary Practises across Canada for 2 weeks.
In order to do this, we need your help. We are asking you to record simple information for each dog that you perform a routine examination on over 2 weeks. How many dogs and the detail of information you obtain is up to you. Obviously more is better, but our goal is to determine more accurately the number of dogs in Canada that are overweight or obese. Based on US experience (https://www.petobesityprevention.org/national-pet-obesity-awareness-study/) this should add no more than 1-2 minutes to your normal physical examination routine.
If you are interested, simply complete the individual sheets for each dog.
This study is independent of any and all corporate sponsorships to protect the integrity and interpretation of results. However these efforts are supported by the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians (https://www.oavt.org/)
Body Fat Index and Charts:
Images used with permission from owner, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.
If you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns feel free to contact me directly: Susan@www.talenthounds.ca
Thank you for helping us in our fight against obesity.
We will be offering a small additional incentive of 2 x $25 VISA GIFT CARDS to be drawn randomly from the dog forms submitted.
Join the 2015 Study
Click FOR DOWNLOADABLE DATA SHEETS and SIGN UP FORM.
E-mail scanned copies to : talenthounds@gmail.com
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