RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS OF THE 28th ECVIM-CA CONGRESS

Forty‐two dogs with varying BCS were used. The percent body fat was determined by the deuterium oxide dilution method. The following three lengths were measured using a ruler: A from the episternum to the ischial tuberosity; B from the cranial angle of the scapula to the base of the tail; C from the cranial angle of the scapula to the sacral tuber of the ilium. Body fat percentage of 20% was adopted as ideal body fat percentage. A 5‐point BCS scale was defined by the ideal body weight (IBW ) and current body weight (BW) as follows: BCS of 5, BW > IBW×1.21; BCS of 4, BW= IBW ×1.11 to 1.20; BCS of 3, BW = IBW ×0.91 to 1.10; BCS of 2, BW = IBW ×0.90 to 0.81; and BCS of 1, BW < IBW ×0.80. The correlation between body length and IBW was examined by Pearson's correlation coefficient test.