How It Began

APOP was founded in 2005 by veterinarian Dr. Ernie Ward. Dr. Ward has been integral to many national and global pet health initiatives, including establishing the first veterinary senior pet health guidelines in 1999, developing long-term drug monitoring protocols for veterinarians in 2000, publishing a collection of over 200 popular pet education handouts in 2002, creating the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) in 2005, and the pet longevity initiative, Project 25, in 2015. 

Dr. Ward founded the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention after documenting a steady increase in the number of pet obesity cases. Practicing in a coastal retirement community, he observed that the pet parents he was helping were also confronting many health challenges. Dr. Ward was a Certified Person Trainer and USA Triathlon Coach and united his passion for enhancing human and pet health into APOP in 2005.

Dr. Ernie Ward gathered a small group of passionate veterinarians interested in better understanding the complicated science of pet obesity. In 2006, the group conducted a small pilot survey. The initial results revealed over half of the pets evaluated by practicing veterinary professionals were overweight and had obesity. This closely matched adult human overweight data, and the group decided to conduct a more thorough survey in 2007. 

The National Pet Obesity Awareness Day in-clinic prevalence survey is now widely accepted and used extensively within the pet and veterinary industry. APOP surveys have grown to include pet parent attitudes and trends regarding pet food, weight loss, exercise, and pet obesity.

To accomplish our mission of preventing and treating pet obesity, APOP partners with both human health and veterinary organizations. APOP supports research into parallel weight loss programs (both pet and pet owner simultaneously undergo a weight loss or exercise program), promotes therapeutic weight loss diet discussions, and performs hundreds of media interviews and articles, including on CNN, NBC Nightly News, Today Show, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Guardian, and many more.