Dr. Evan Antin explains: How to tell if a pet is a healthy weight

You might appreciate the extra rolls on your pet’s back — it means there’s more of them to love. But, sometimes, those loveable pounds signify a health risk, like obesity. Pet obesity doesn’t look the same for every animal, though. 

That’s why we spoke to Dr. Evan Antin, a practicing small animal, exotics and wildlife veterinarian at Conejo Valley Veterinary Hospital and member of Fetch’s Veterinary Advisory Board. He’s sharing ways to determine if a pet is overweight and the first steps to helping them lose unnecessary pounds. 

‍How heavy should a dog be? 

Like people, dog breeds vary dramatically, so it really depends on the individual. For most dogs, I evaluate their stature and lean body mass (aka muscle that I can see and feel) and consult with pet parents from that. For most dogs, it's more about what you see visually, not what the scale says. The weight scale is a great way to gauge weight goals and progress, but there's no black-and-white number that a pet needs to weigh. 

‍If there’s not a specific weight goal that pets should aspire to, how can parents tell if their pet is a healthy size? 

For dogs, I tell the parents to look at their pets from two important angles. The first is an overhead bird's-eye view, and the second is a profile view — both when the pet is standing on all four legs. In the overhead view, I like to see an “hourglass” figure, where the shoulders are pronounced, the caudal ribs and abdomen taper nicely and then the hips and thigh muscles are pronounced. 

Overweight dogs don't taper. They look more like looking down at a corndog. For the lateral profile view, I'm focused on the underside of the chest and abdomen. A healthy-weight dog's abdomen is higher off of the ground than their chest. A chubby dog still looks like a corndog. 

Of course, both of these views can vary dramatically across breeds. For example, a German Shepherd’s chest is significantly lower/deeper compared to a French Bulldog’s. But even French and English Bulldogs should have a chest deeper than their abdomen and an apparent hourglass shape from above. I apply this visual method to breeds of all sizes, from Chihuahua to Great Dane. 

‍What about cats?

I use the same approach on cats with even more attention to the lateral profile view. Cats' abdomens aren't higher off of the ground than their chest, but they shouldn't be too much lower. And from above, the midsection/abdominal area shouldn't be much wider than the cat's shoulder or hip regions. When cats are overweight, the majority of unneeded fat accumulates in their abdominal region — so my focus is all on the kitty belly. It's not as straightforward to evaluate cats’ body condition compared to dogs, and I also think more pet parents are surprised when I tell them they have a fat cat compared to when I tell dog parents, as most of them are already aware of their overweight canine. 

For all pets, I always recommend weighing your pet regularly at home. Visually observing weight gain is more challenging when you see an individual every day. It's hard to observe those gradual changes that creep up on you. However, when the scale is showing progressively increasing numbers, then that's a great tip-off that we need to modify the diet and/or activity level of pets or potentially discuss further with your local vet. It’s important to get pets of any species on the scale regularly, at least 1 to 2 times a month. 

‍Why is it important to regularly check your pet’s body condition and weight? 

Pretty much all the obesity-related concerns we have as people can be applied to pets, including early-onset osteoarthritis, heart disease, liver disease, endocrine (hormone) disease, skin disease and so on. So being obese isn't good for basically every system in the body. 

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