BODY CONDITION SCORING

Body condition scoring is a technique which has been developed to assess the amount of fat your dog is carrying. It is easy to be performed at home in 3 easy steps without any scales or special equipment.

You need to look and to touch the ribs, the waist line and the tummy of your dog when he/she is in standing position.

First come along on behind and put your hands on the ribs. Run flat hands on the rib cage on both sides. You should feel the ribs easily without any pressure at all and they should be covered with minimal fat.

The second step is to look at the waist line from above. It should be shaped like an air glass. Then run your hands very gently from the rib cage all the way back through the hip bones. You should feel the obvious waist.

Finally, you need to look and to touch the tummy. Run your hands from the rib cage again from the side back up to the hip bones. You should feel an evident tummy tucked and the inguinal fat should be minimal. When viewed from the side there should be an obvious indent between your dog’s hind legs and tummy.

Body condition scoring is based on a scale running from 1 – 9. Score from 1 – 3 shows that your dog is underweight. Score from 4 – 5 is the ideal. Score from 6 – 9 shows that your dog is overweight.