2026 Veterinary Clinic Pet Obesity Prevalence Survey

Purpose

The APOP Prevalence Survey is a cross-sectional, clinic-based assessment designed to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among dogs and cats seen in veterinary practice. Participating clinics are asked to assess all consecutive eligible skeletally mature dogs and cats seen during a designated collection day or week within the study period. This approach is intended to reduce selective enrollment within participating clinics and support more consistent prevalence assessment across sites. Survey responses are submitted electronically.

Veterinary assessment

The primary prevalence estimate is based on veterinary-assessed body condition score. Veterinary professionals assess body condition using the 9-point Body Condition Score (BCS) system based on the Laflamme scale: 4–5 ideal, 6–7 overweight, and 8–9 consistent with obesity. Participating clinics receive scoring guidance and instruction materials to support consistent assessment across evaluators and sites. APOP reports prevalence using these established thresholds, including combined excess body condition when applicable.

Owner-reported perception

Before any formal BCS assessment is performed, pet owners are asked to categorize their pet’s weight as thin, ideal or healthy, overweight, or having obesity. These owner-reported responses are analyzed separately from the veterinary-assessed prevalence estimate and are used to assess concordance and discordance between owner impression and clinical assessment. They are not used to estimate prevalence.

Eligible patients

Clinics should include all skeletally mature dogs and cats seen during the collection period, regardless of body condition. Emergency or urgent cases, critical illness, terminal conditions, and visits in which positioning, pain, or acute distress would interfere with accurate body condition assessment should be excluded.

Sampling guidance

To support consistency and reduce bias, participating clinics are asked to include all breeds and body sizes, avoid selectively enrolling only pets perceived to be overweight or to have obesity, and use consistent evaluators whenever possible. Each eligible dog or cat should be recorded once during the collection period.

Data review

Submitted records undergo structured review before analysis, including checks for internal consistency and biologic plausibility. Cleaning procedures include review against expected weight ranges, use of breed-specific reference ranges for purebred dogs when available, and review of photographic submissions when provided. Records that are implausible, incomplete, or internally inconsistent are corrected only when verifiable and otherwise excluded according to predefined criteria.

Analysis and interpretation

Prevalence is calculated from eligible pets with complete veterinary-assessed BCS data. Records missing veterinary-assessed BCS are excluded from prevalence calculations. Records missing secondary variables may be retained for overall prevalence estimates but excluded from selected subgroup analyses. Because the survey is cross-sectional and clinic-based, results describe prevalence at the time of assessment. Findings are interpreted as clinic-based surveillance estimates rather than nationally representative population estimates and in the context of clinic participation patterns, selection bias, and differences between veterinary-assessed and owner-reported measures.