Is your dog overweight? 81% of owners say no. Vets say otherwise

Two figures worth putting side by side.

Vets estimate around 46% of UK dogs are overweight or obese. PDSA's own weigh-in put it at 45% across all pets. Some published studies go as high as 65%.

Meanwhile, 81% of owners say their pet is an ideal weight.

Both cannot be true. Which means roughly half the people reading this have a dog carrying more weight than they think, and are confident that they do not. That is not carelessness — it is that a slightly heavy dog looks completely normal once you see it every day.

The thirty-second test

Forget the scales. Weight alone tells you very little, because a Labrador and a Labrador are not the same size. What vets use is body condition, and you can check it at home.

1. The ribs. Run your hands flat along their side with light pressure — the pressure you would use on your own closed eyelid. You should feel each rib easily, under a thin covering. Not see them, feel them.

• Ribs visible without touching: underweight
• Ribs easily felt under a thin layer: about right
• You have to press to find them: overweight
• You cannot find them at all: obese

2. From above. Stand over them and look down. There should be a visible waist behind the ribs, narrowing before the hips. Straight sides, or bulging outward, means too much.

3. From the side. The belly should tuck up from the ribcage towards the back legs. A belly running level, or hanging, is a fail.

Vets score this 1 to 9, where 4 to 5 is ideal and 6 or more is overweight. Around 82% of owners have never heard of it, which is precisely why the perception gap exists.

Why it matters more than it sounds

This is not about appearance. Excess weight is associated with arthritis and joint pain, diabetes, heart and breathing problems, greater anaesthetic risk, and a measurably shorter life.

The joint one compounds nastily: a heavy dog is sorer, a sorer dog moves less, and a dog that moves less gains more. By the time it is obvious, you are unpicking two problems rather than one.

How it happens, which is never one big thing

• Treats. A single dental stick can be a tenth of a small dog's daily calories. Three people in a house each giving “just one” is a different diet entirely.
• Eyeballing portions. Almost everyone over-scoops. A cup is not a measurement.
• Feeding to the bag. Packet guidelines are generous and assume an active adult dog. They are a starting point, not an instruction.
• Neutering. Genuinely reduces calorie requirements, often by a noticeable margin, and portions frequently do not change to match.
• Age. A seven-year-old dog needs less than it did at two, and usually gets the same.
• Human food. A small piece of cheese to you is a substantial snack to a spaniel.

What actually works

• Weigh the food on kitchen scales. The single most effective change, and it costs nothing. People are consistently astonished at the difference between a weighed portion and a scooped one.
• Count treats within the daily allowance, not on top of it. Take the equivalent out of their meals.
• Use their own kibble as training treats. Free, and it comes out of the same total.
• One person in charge of feeding, or a chart on the fridge. Double-feeding is extremely common in busy households.
• Slow the eating down. A puzzle feeder turns ninety seconds into fifteen minutes, which helps with satiety and gives them something to do. It does not reduce calories on its own — the weighing does that — but it makes a smaller portion feel like a bigger event.
• Swap some walk for sniffing. Mentally tiring, physically gentle, and kinder to sore joints than more mileage. See signs your dog is bored.

One thing not to do

Do not use a gravity feeder that keeps the bowl permanently topped up for a dog that needs to lose weight. It cannot ration by design. We sell one and it is the wrong product for this — our guide to automatic feeders explains why. Portion, do not provide.

When to involve the vet

Always, before a serious diet. A vet will body condition score them properly, tell you a target weight and a realistic timescale, and check nothing medical is driving it — thyroid problems and some medications cause weight gain, and no amount of portion control fixes those.

Go too fast and you cause different problems, particularly in cats, where rapid weight loss is genuinely dangerous. Slow and boring is the whole method.