The aim of this study was to determine whether obesity occurs more often in certain breeds, with a secondary objective of relating the increased prevalence of obesity in certain breeds to the official standards of that breed. To this end, 268 cats of 22 different breeds were investigated by determining their body condition score (BCS) on a nine-point scale by inspection and palpation, at two different cat shows.
Overall, 45.5% of the show cats had a BCS > 5, and 4.5% of the show cats had a BCS > 7. There were significant differences between breeds, which could be related to the breed standards. Most overweight and obese cats were in the neutered group. It warrants discussions with breeders and cat show judges to come to different interpretations of the standards in order to prevent overweight conditions in certain breeds from being the standard of beauty. Neutering predisposes for obesity and requires early nutritional intervention to prevent obese conditions.
Source: R.J. Corbee, 2014. Obesity in show cats. JAPAN online, February 2014. doi: 10.1111/jpn.12176.
