The joint condition osteoarthritis was present in 6.1% of dogs and 1.1% of cats examined at a Banfield Pet Hospital in 2018, the company reported in its annual State of Pet Health Report.
While the percentage of osteoarthritis patients rests in the single digits, the progressive and painful degenerative disease is on the rise and coincides with high rates of pet obesity across the United States.
“As veterinary professionals and pet lovers ourselves, all of us at Banfield understand diagnosing and treating a complicated and sometimes overlooked disease like osteoarthritis is a joint effort — and that pets can benefit from better management of both pain and excess weight,” said Molly McAllister, DVM, MPH, chief medical officer at Banfield Pet Hospital.
Banfield evaluated medical data from more than 2.5 million canine and 500,000 feline patients to discover that:
- Osteoarthritis diagnoses have risen by 66% in dogs and 150% in cats over the past 10 years.
- Among osteoarthritis patients, 52% of dogs and 41% of cats were overweight or obese.
- More than 20% of dogs and 4% of cats at least 10 years old were affected by osteoarthritis.
More information from the 2019 State of Pet Health Report is available at http://bit.ly/2WYOQx6.