DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A BODY CONDITION SCORE SYSTEM FOR DOGS

One of the major problems in obesity management has been the lack of a practical method for accurately assessing obesity. The body condition score (BCS) system described in this paper is simple in design, requi ring only an intellectual addition to a routine physical examination. It has been shown to be repeatable both within scorers and between sco rers, and may be useful as a tool in obesity management. This paper de tails a nine point BCS system for dogs, including its validation and s ome clinical applications of this tool.