In this article
- Check Your Pet’s Ribcage for Healthy Weigh
- Abdomen Shape and a Visible Waistline
- What Your Pet’s Hips Reveal About Weight
- Your Pet’s Spine and Muscle Loss
- When Weight Loss Signals Chronic Illness
- Resources
Senior Pet Care: A Comprehensive Guide to Supporting Your Aging CompanionBody Condition Scoring & Assessing the Weight of Your Pet
Body Condition Scoring & Assessing the Weight of Your Pet
Pet obesity is a major health concern. Use Body Condition Scoring (BCS) to assess your pet's ideal weight, preventing diseases like arthritis and diabetes. Learn to check ribs, abdomen, and hips for a healthy pet.
Obesity in pets has climbed the charts and become the most common disease in pets. Obesity can predispose pets to many other chronic diseases, including early-onset arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Obese animals are also at a higher risk for anesthetic complications and tend to have a shorter lifespan. On the opposite end of the spectrum, pets with chronic illnesses can have a significant loss of body weight. Body condition scoring (BCS) is a way to assess the degree of fat deposition without use of a scale. It is a helpful tool for veterinary professionals and owners to use when assessing whether an animal is in an appropriate body condition. These systems use standard anatomical points on the body of an animal to determine their score.
BCS systems typically use a range of either 1-5 or 1-9, with 1 being emaciated and the highest number being morbidly obese.
Ideal body conditions for pets are typically 4-5/9 or 2.5-3/5.
Below are some key anatomical points and charts that can be used to assess your pet’s BCS:
Check Your Pet’s Ribcage for Healthy Weigh
The goal is to be able to feel ribs but not see them.
Ideal: The ribs cannot be seen from a distance but can be felt when palpating the ribcage. If you press your fingertips into your pet’s ribcage, you should be able to feel ribs with minor amounts of pressure. Picture the inside of your knuckles when you hold your palm flat. There is muscle covering the bones, which you can feel underneath with slight pressure.
Overweight: There is a substantial amount of fat covering the ribcage. To try to feel the ribcage with your fingertips, you really have to dig in. This is too much fat cover and indicative of a high BCS.
Underweight: if the ribcage sticks out and can easily be seen from a distance, the animal is typically underweight. Picture the knuckles on the back of your hand when making a fist and run your fingers over them with your other hand; they are bony and protrude.
Abdomen Shape and a Visible Waistline
The goal is for the pet to have a healthy “waist.”
Ideal: a pet in an ideal BCS has a noticeable waist. This can be assessed from side and top-down profiles. From the side, the abdomen should “tuck” upward towards the spine after the last rib. From the top, the waist should tuck inwards on both sides behind the ribcage.
Overweight: Either the narrowing of the waist is very minimal or there is none at all. Their midsection will have a “tubular” appearance, with no narrowing of waistline visible from the side or top profile after the ribcage. In cats, they will often have a pronounced primordial pouch, or “pooch” that sticks out from their abdomen, although some cats of a healthy weight have a less pronounced primordial pouch.
Underweight: the “tuck” from the waist and the side is dramatic and the abdomen of these animals has a “hollow” appearance.
What Your Pet’s Hips Reveal About Weight
Ideal: the bones of the hips are not noticeable when looking at the animal. When palpating the hipbones, they can be easily found with your hands but are not visible.
Overweight: excessive fat covering is present in the hip area. It is hard to feel the hipbones when you palpate with your hands. Some dogs will deposit extra fat near their tailhead, which can create a “bubble” and/or a dimple at the base of the tail.
Underweight: the bones of the hips are not visible from a distance. Even in lean breeds, hip bones should have adequate muscle coverage.
Your Pet’s Spine and Muscle Loss
Ideal: The spine is not observable from a distance and has good muscle cover. You can palpate along the topline and easily be able to find the dorsal processes of the spine.
Overweight: The spine has too much fat cover, has a flatter top, and it is difficult or impossible to find the bones of the spine.
Underweight: The spine is easily observable from a distance. You can count the dorsal spinous processes and maybe even see the transverse processes. There is poor muscle mass and coverage along the spine.
When Weight Loss Signals Chronic Illness
There are some conditions that can cause muscle atrophy, which can alter your pet’s appearance in seemingly similar ways. These can also be signs of chronic illness in animals, so if you find your pet is losing muscle mass, you should contact your veterinarian.
There is also some breed variation for an “ideal” body condition. Greyhounds, for example, are naturally leaner than English bulldogs at an ideal weight. Pets with a very thick and fluffy coat can hide bony or fat features, so it is important to give a hands-on assessment to evaluate their body condition. If you are unsure if your pet is in a healthy body condition, ask your veterinarian at your next visit what body condition score they would assign your pet.
It is good to know your pet’s baseline BCS to see if they need to gain or lose weight or know what their normal is. If you notice a change in BCS over time, it could be an indication that something is off, or a lifestyle adjustment needs to be made. An educated owner is an empowered one, so try assessing your pet’s BCS score for yourself!
by Cara Gordon, DVM
Resources
Learn More on CodaPet
Monitoring your pet’s weight is more than a numbers game — it’s about protecting their quality of life as they age. If you’re concerned that weight loss or gain could be a sign of something more serious, A Complete Guide to Pet Euthanasia offers compassionate insight into how chronic illness and age-related decline can affect your pet’s body condition.
Not sure if your pet’s changing body is cause for concern?
Our guide on How Do I Know When It’s Time can help you navigate the emotional and medical aspects of end-of-life decisions — including what to look for beyond just weight.
Additional References
- Quality of Life Scale: Helps assess mobility, appetite, and body condition.
- Senior Pet Care: Includes tips for managing healthy weight in aging pets.
- Association for Pet Obesity Prevention: Obesity is a serious health threat affecting millions of pets worldwide
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