Background
Adult body weight is influenced by environmental and genetic factors and vary between dogs both within and between breeds. In people, as well as in dogs, overweight is an increasing problem, playing an important role in development and outcome of other diseases as well as being an important factor for welfare. Human studies have shown that overweight and obesity in early life tend to persist later in life.
The majority of dogs in Sweden are registered in the SKC database. In addition to demographic information on individual dogs, the database also contains results from screening for hip- and elbow dysplasia, developmental joint diseases that mostly affect large-breed dogs. When screening for hip dysplasia, body weight data is mandatory and the database thereby contains details on body weight on dogs of different breeds in early adulthood.
Research project
The overall goal of my licentiate project is to study body weight in dogs, its related factors and potential association between body weight and developmental joint diseases.
Project 1
Evaluation of factors associated with body weight in a large population of Swedish dogs of different breeds including change of body weight over time.
Project 2
Assessment of association between body weight, hip- and elbow dysplasia in Swedish dogs of different breeds.
