PMID- 30044843
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20190117
LR  - 20190117
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 7
DP  - 2018
TI  - An international multi-centre cohort study of weight loss in overweight cats: 
      Differences in outcome in different geographical locations.
PG  - e0200414
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0200414 [doi]
LID - e0200414
AB  - INTRODUCTION: Feline obesity is a worldwide concern which has recently been 
      formally classified as a disease by the veterinary community. Management involves 
      invoking controlled weight loss by feeding a purpose-formulated food in 
      restricted quantities and altering physical activity. Most weight loss studies 
      conducted in cats have been undertaken in research cat colonies from single 
      geographic locations. The aim of this multi-centre cohort study was to determine 
      the efficacy of a short-term dietary weight loss intervention in overweight pet 
      cats across a range of geographical locations globally. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 
      3-month (median 13 weeks, inter-quartile range [IQR] 12-15 weeks) weight loss 
      programme was conducted at 188 veterinary practices in 22 countries, and 
      involving 730 cats, 413 of which completed the programme and had complete data 
      available. All were fed commercially available dry or wet weight loss diets, and 
      median energy intake was 53 kcal/kg BW0.711/day. The Royal Canin Ethics Committee 
      approved the study, and owners gave informed consent. Owners completed 
      behavioural questionnaires assessing begging, physical activity and quality of 
      life (QOL). Linear mixed models were used to assess the respective influence of 
      time, age, and initial body condition score (BCS) on weight loss and behavioural 
      observations. RESULTS: At baseline, median age was 72 months (range 12-200 
      months) and median BCS was 8 (range 7-9). In all, 402/413 cats (97%) lost weight 
      (mean 10.6+/-6.3%) during the programme at a rate of 0.8 +/-0.50%/week. Based upon 
      owner questionnaires, activity and QOL improved (both P<0.001), while begging 
      behaviour decreased (P<0.001) during weight loss. The main factor influencing 
      percentage weight loss was geographical location (P<0.001), with cats in North 
      America losing less weight (median 7.2%, IQR: 4.4-10.4%) than those in both 
      Europe (10.7%, 6-8-15.4%) and South America (10.0%, 6.2-15.4%). Differences in 
      weight loss were also observed amongst countries (P<0.001), with cats in 
      Argentina, Germany, and Italy losing more weight than cats in the USA, and cats 
      in Germany also losing more weight than cats in Portugal. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: 
      Most of the overweight cats enrolled in this international multi-centre study 
      successfully lost weight. The reason for the differences in percentage weight 
      loss amongst geographical locations requires further study.
FAU - Flanagan, John
AU  - Flanagan J
AD  - Royal Canin Research Center, Aimargues, France.
FAU - Bissot, Thomas
AU  - Bissot T
AD  - Royal Canin Research Center, Aimargues, France.
FAU - Hours, Marie-Anne
AU  - Hours MA
AD  - Royal Canin Research Center, Aimargues, France.
FAU - Moreno, Bernabe
AU  - Moreno B
AD  - Royal Canin Research Center, Aimargues, France.
FAU - German, Alexander J
AU  - German AJ
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3017-7988
AD  - Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Neston, 
      Cheshire, United Kingdom.
AD  - Institute of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Neston, Cheshire, 
      United Kingdom.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Multicenter Study
PT  - Observational Study, Veterinary
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20180725
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Behavior, Animal
MH  - Cat Diseases/*diet therapy
MH  - Cats
MH  - *Diet, Reducing
MH  - Feeding Behavior
MH  - Female
MH  - Internationality
MH  - Male
MH  - Motor Activity
MH  - Overweight/diet therapy/*veterinary
MH  - Prospective Studies
MH  - Quality of Life
MH  - Treatment Outcome
MH  - *Weight Loss
PMC - PMC6059437
COIS- The diets used in this study are all produced by Royal Canin. JF and MAH are 
      employees Royal Canin. At the time the study was conducted, TB and BM were also 
      employees of Royal Canin. AJG is an employee of the University of Liverpool, but 
      his post is financially supported by Royal Canin. AJG has also received financial 
      remuneration for providing educational material, speaking at conferences, and 
      consultancy work from this company; all such remuneration has been for projects 
      unrelated to the work reported in this manuscript. Remuneration was not received 
      for drafting, reviewing and approving the manuscript for publication. None of 
      these declarations alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing 
      data and materials. Please see accessibility of study data section below for 
      details about data accessibility.
EDAT- 2018/07/26 06:00
MHDA- 2019/01/18 06:00
PMCR- 2018/07/25
CRDT- 2018/07/26 06:00
PHST- 2018/01/24 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/06/26 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/07/26 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2018/07/26 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/01/18 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/07/25 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-18-02494 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0200414 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2018 Jul 25;13(7):e0200414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200414. 
      eCollection 2018.