A new study has revealed that owners of obese dogs which successfully lose weight notice significant improvement in their dogs' quality of life too.

The study, published in The Veterinary Journal and available online here, was conducted by scientists from the Royal Canin Weight Management Clinic at Liverpool University in conjunction with the Pain and Welfare Group at the University of Glasgow and the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition. It looked at fifty obese dogs that had been referred to Royal Canin's clinic.

The results showed that quality of life improved in the dogs that successfully lost weight, demonstrated by increased vitality scores and decreased scores for emotional disturbance and pain.  The improvements in vitality score were greater the more body fat the dogs lost. The research also found that the dogs that failed to complete their weight loss programme had lower vitality and higher emotional disturbance scores than those successfully losing weight.

Dr. Alex German, Royal Canin senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool and lead author of the study, said: "Obesity is a risk for many dogs, affecting not only their health, but also their quality of life. The results indicate that, for obese dogs, weight loss can be important for staying both healthy and happy."

Owners completed a questionnaire to determine the health-related quality of life of their dog prior to weight loss, with a follow-up questionnaire for the owners of the thirty dogs that successfully completed the weight loss programme to reach target weight. The completed questionnaire responses were converted into scores corresponding to a range of factors, including vitality, emotional disturbance and pain.

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