Body Condition Score

I spend a lot of my day performing exams on the animals in the shelter. Like I have mentioned before, there is a lot that goes in to even just a wellness exam. One of these include giving a body condition score ranging from 1-9. The lower the number, the skinnier; the larger the number, the fatter. A 1 would be extremely thin/malnourished and a 9 would be grossly obese. 5 would be a perfect score. At the shelter, we have a chart to look at for clarification.

The same sheet we use in the lab.

Your opinion of one animal's BCS (for short) may be different than another person's. It should usually fall in the same range, though. There are few different markers when determining the BCS of an animal. It is always important to look at an animal from a short distance first to see if their ribs are easily seen. After you have evaluated them visually, you should go on to feel their body. I usually run my hands down each side of the animal and see how easy (or difficult) it is to feel the ribs. Then I like to feel the hip bones and see how far they are sticking out and how much fat is covering them. It's also important to look at their waist right in front of their hips and see if there is too much or too little definition. Another thing to note is if their spine is protruding out and how much fat is covering it. If you can see the ribs without much difficulty from afar and can readily feel each rib, their score will mostly likely fall below a 5 depending on the severity. If there aren't any ribs seen from a distance and you cannot easily feel the ribs through their fat then they are most likely going to be above a 5. Heavy and obese animals may have an abdominal fat pad that is very obvious. 

An underweight animal is just as unhealthy as an overweight animal. It may seem like skinny animals are worse off than the obese ones, but they really have their own evils that are equally as harmful. For example, a severely overweight animal will most likely have difficultly grooming themself which leads to a dirty/uncomfortable urogenital area and dandruff. There are sometimes cats that we get at the shelter who need us to manually clean their urogenital area because they physically cannot do it themselves due to their obesity. An underweight cat/dog poses just as many risks. An underweight animal is probably malnourished meaning they are not getting the correct or enough of the right nutrients their body needs to function properly. This could mean that there is a vitamin/mineral deficiency or imbalance. A deficiency could lead to potential structural issues (like bone strength, etc...) and other health issues. 

Both ends of the stick can be equally as harmful. That is why it is important for us as pre-vet students to learn how to spot an animal at an unhealthy weight and also the importance of maintaining a good weight. After seeing and experiencing first hand the hardships malnourished and obese animals face I will always be sure to talk to my future clients about the importance of a well-rounded, healthy diet along with exercise for their pets!