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Survey of dietary patterns and health in community dwelling canines
Author(s) -
Heuberger R. A.,
Glassman K. D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0396.2009.00921_5.x
Subject(s) - underweight , medicine , overweight , club , population , demographics , epidemiology , demography , gerontology , obesity , environmental health , sociology , anatomy
The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of performing an epidemiological analysis of dietary patterns and health of canines living in community households. The study was funded by the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Health Foundation and was sponsored by Central Michigan University. Central Michigan University Institutional Review granted approval for human and animal subject participation. The American Kennel Club approved the project. The study included 50 humans and their canine companions that were recruited through word of mouth and advertisement. Participation in the study was voluntary and compensated with monetary incentives. Questionnaires were administered to the 50 participants and included questions regarding demographics, activity, diet recall, food frequency and general health. Three‐day food recalls were validated against food frequency data and were coded to ID with no identifiers. Data were entered using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using spss v.14.0. The results of the study revealed 24% of canines enrolled were diagnosed as obese by their vet, which was consistent with self‐reported weight status, where 11 subjects reported an overweight dog (22%). Of the 50 respondents, 38 stated their companion animal was at an ideal weight (76%) and one stated their companion animal was slightly underweight (2%). The majority of companion animals were standard to large size (32%). While small dogs represented 26% ( n = 13), toy breeds represented 10% of the subject population ( n = 5). The average age of the dogs sampled was 5 years. The four most common breeds were mutt ( n = 15), Lab ( n = 4), Terrier ( n = 4), and Yorkie ( n = 4). While only 11 companion animals were classified as overweight, 28 (56%) pets were diagnosed with a health condition and 25 were on some type of medication (50%) excluding heartworm and flea/tick preventatives. The majority of subjects fed their canines treats daily (94%) with an average of five treats per day. Fourteen per cent of respondents fed their dogs a specialized diet that was commercially available and only one respondent fed a prescription formulation. The majority of respondents fed a ‘premium’ commercially available dog food in dry form. Further research and additional analysis will be required to elucidate relationships between health status and dietary patterns in canines through survey methodologies.