Department of Animal Nutrition and Production, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 255, Pirassununga, SP, São Paulo, Brazil.
Department of Animal Sciences , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Illinois, Urbana, USA.
BMC Vet Res. 2020 Nov 27;16(1):463. doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-02679-8.
The knowledge of how owners view the body condition of their animals is an important factor for the success of the prevention/treatment of obesity and the engagement/adherence to nutritional interventions, which are fundamental to improve the animal prognosis. For this reason, the objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of the owners regarding the body condition score of their animals, compare the perception between cat vs. dog owners, and owners from the countryside vs. metropolitan region of São Paulo State in Brazil.
601 dogs and 110 cats were included in this study. There was no significant difference in body condition score assigned by owners by species. Owners of dogs and cats classified by the veterinarian as ideal, overweight, and obese who disagree with body condition score assigned by veterinarian mainly underestimate the body condition score of their animals, while lean dogs' owners overestimate it. Countryside dog owners had a higher rate of disagreement with the veterinarian and more often underestimate the body condition score than owners from the metropolitan region. The owners of lean cats have the same judgments with veterinarians.
Owners of dogs and cats have difficulty assessing the body condition score, especially owners from countryside.
了解主人如何看待动物的身体状况是预防/治疗肥胖以及参与/坚持营养干预的成功的重要因素，这对于改善动物预后至关重要。出于这个原因，本研究的目的是评估主人对动物身体状况评分的看法，比较猫主人与狗主人、巴西圣保罗州农村地区与城市地区主人之间的看法差异。
本研究共纳入 601 只狗和 110 只猫。主人根据物种给动物评分的差异无统计学意义。兽医将狗和猫分为理想、超重和肥胖组，而主人不同意兽医的评分，主要是低估了动物的身体状况评分，而瘦狗的主人则高估了。农村地区狗主人不同意兽医评分的比例更高，且更倾向于低估动物的身体状况评分。瘦猫的主人与兽医的判断相同。
狗和猫的主人评估身体状况评分存在困难，尤其是农村地区的主人。
