Dog obesity is increasingly common, study finds

Labrador dogs are prone to being on the chubby side, but University of Cambridge scientists have discovered the breed carries a genetic variation that might help explain why.

A new study from the researchers has also highlighted the fact that dogs are increasingly becoming obese, much in keeping with their owners, with up to 60 per cent of dogs now overweight in some countries.

The researchers put this down to reduced exercise and ready access to high calorie food, something that sounds decidedly familiar.

And as with humans, dogs who carry too much weight are at risk of reduced lifespan, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Labradors are particularly prone to obesity. Given that they are among the most popular breeds in Ireland, the UK and US, scientists suspected there may be a genetic factor at work.

Thus the team, led by researchers from the Wellcom Trust/Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science at Cambridge, decided to search for obesity genes in the labrador.

The scientists studied 310 labradors, searching for variants of three possible obesity-related genes.

They found one, called POMC, that was strongly associated with weight, obesity and appetite in labradors.

It is also known to regulate how the brain recognises hunger and the feeling of being full.

Almost one in four of the dogs carried one or more copies of the variant and they tended to be almost 2kg heavier on average compared with the rest, the team found, publishing their results in the journal Cell Metabolism.

While the POMC gene helps explain higher rates of obesity in labradors, humans also have this gene.

Genetic variants

Common genetic variants affecting the POMC gene are associated with human body weight, and the human variants are similar to some found in dogs, said co-director of the institute Prof Stephen O’Rahilly, who is originally from Dublin.

“So further research in these obese labradors may not only help the wellbeing of companion animals but also have important lessons for human health,” he said.