2026 Pet Obesity Communication Guidelines Words that put
pets first.

Define the terms on first use in records and handouts, and keep direct quotations and published titles exactly as written.

Teach-back puts the burden on the explanation, not the pet owner.

Give a little information at a time, pause for questions, and end with a written summary of the first step, the recheck date, and who to contact.

• Clinical and teaching images need a clear purpose: show the anatomy needed and explain the crop. Protect privacy and get permission for the intended use.
• Do not alter body shape, and do not turn a clinical close-up into a public post.
• A photograph cannot establish a body-condition score, muscle condition, or obesity stage. Use validated assessment resources for that.
• For before-and-after stories: get permission, match pose, distance, coat, lighting, and setting, give dates, report what was measured, and explain any other care given at the same time. One result does not show what others can expect.
• Label whether an image is a real patient, staged, from a library, or AI-generated, and add brief alt text.

The euphemism is often ours. In APOP’s 2024 Pet Obesity and Nutrition Opinion Survey, veterinary professionals reported using terms such as “overweight,” “obese,” “fat,” “chunky,” and “chubby,” while pet owners recalled hearing their veterinary professional use euphemisms such as “chonky,” “fluffy,” and “well-fed.” Those words can feel kind in the room and blur the clinical significance by the time the household gets home. Acknowledge the affection, then give the finding and the next step.

Affection and concern coexist. Do not assume knowledge, motivation, or expectations from the species or from a nickname; ask what they have noticed and understood. If a professional account you run attracts comments promoting extreme food restriction or unverified treatments, address them.

If cost is the obstacle, ask what concerns they have about cost or access before recommending, and explain the choices and recheck costs before deciding. If activity is the obstacle, ask what is safe and comfortable for the pet and manageable for the household rather than assuming longer walks.

A correction lands better as a question: “Would you consider changing ‘obese dog’ to ‘dog with obesity’?” or “This source does not establish illness linked to excess body fat. Could we describe the body-condition finding using the study’s method and cutoffs?”

Body condition is a hands-on check of how much body fat your pet is carrying, scored on a 9-point scale by sight and touch. Weight alone cannot tell whether a particular number is right for your individual pet, and two pets of the same weight can have very different amounts of body fat and muscle. Muscle condition is checked separately, because muscle loss can happen at any body condition.

You can ask to see the chart and be shown how the body-condition score is assigned. Owners who are shown how to check body condition assess their own pet more accurately.

• Everything your pet eats in a normal day: meals, treats, chews, table food, food used for medication, and who gives it.
• What activity looks like now, and what is realistic for your household.
• Any changes you have noticed: stairs, jumping, grooming, breathing, sleep, or mood.
• What has been tried before, what worked, and what did not.
• Anything that makes a plan hard: cost, time, other people in the house, other pets, your own health or mobility.

A three-day written food diary, including who gave what, is one of the most useful things you can hand your veterinary team.

You are allowed to say so. Public material about pet weight sometimes uses ridicule, blame, or before-and-after pictures that promise results nobody can guarantee. The guidelines ask writers and clinics to show whole pets in ordinary settings, explain contributing factors without blaming households, and avoid guaranteeing an outcome. If something you read does not do that, you can ask the publisher or clinic to reconsider it, and you can ask your own team for the version of the information that fits your pet.

• What was found, in plain words, and what it means for your pet’s comfort, movement, or health.
• One first action, with a start date and the person who will do it.
• What might make it difficult, and what to do instead.
• A recheck date and what will be checked, including body condition and muscle condition.
• Who to contact if something changes sooner.

Rapid weight loss is not the goal, and in cats it can raise the risk of hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver condition. Changes should be gradual and supervised by your veterinary team.

Only report an improvement in a headline when that change was documented in the study.

Name each expert’s qualifications, role, organization, and relevant business relationships, and link to the original study where you can. Example wording published in guidance documents, including this one, is illustrative: it is not a real quotation, a real patient result, or a tested script.

• Prefer the whole pet in an ordinary setting. Cropped body parts chosen to exaggerate or shock are the pattern to avoid.
• Vary breeds, coats, ages, body conditions, abilities, regions, and family structures rather than running one stereotyped image as though it were typical.
• Include the pet owner when the relationship or household matters, but never use a person’s body size to suggest why their pet has obesity.
• Do not assign a body-condition score or a disease stage from a public photograph; an image cannot establish either.
• Label whether an image shows a real patient, is staged, comes from a library, or is AI-generated, and check permissions and license terms.
• Add brief alt text describing what matters to the story.

Five questions before you publish an image: Does it preserve the dignity of the pet and owner? Does it imply laziness, neglect, or a causal link that has not been shown? Is body condition relevant to the message, or is size being used for impact? Does the setting add useful context? Could another image do the same job with less risk of ridicule?

Get permission to publish. Match pose, distance, coat, lighting, and setting as closely as possible, and give dates. Report what was checked, including weight, body condition, muscle condition, and function where available. Explain any other care given at the same time, and separate measured changes from what the owner reported. One result does not prove what others can expect, or what caused the change.

An APOP commentary reported that selected feline TikTok hashtags had accumulated over 4.1 billion views in January 2024, against about 0.2 billion for selected canine hashtags. Those were informal, historical platform counts: not unique viewers, not an attitude survey, and not a current estimate. A qualitative study of canine YouTube material and forums found that affection and concern coexist, which is why a nickname tells you very little about what an owner knows or wants.

Choose a goal that matters to the people you are writing for: comfort, mobility, quality of life, or healthy time together. Mention longer life only when the evidence fits the species and the setting. Veterinary client research supports discussing preferences, benefits, choices, and costs rather than assuming everyone wants the same thing, and human campaign studies caution against using body size or stigma to motivate: messages about health and daily habits were received more favorably than weight-focused messages that stigmatized people.

The revisions remove unsupported guarantees, explain the evidence and the sponsorship, and give a next step. They are writing examples, not proof that these exact words make people act.

• Whole pet, ordinary setting, doing something the message is about. No cropped body parts for shock.
• Vary breeds, coats, ages, body conditions, abilities, regions, and family structures.
• Never use a person’s body size to suggest why their pet has obesity.
• Do not assign a body-condition score or disease stage from a stock or generated image.
• State whether an image is a real patient, staged, from a library, a composite, or AI-generated. Check license terms and permissions.
• Add alt text that describes what matters to the message.

Name the source of any personal account and the business relationship behind it. Do not imply that one food, supplement, device, or program suits every patient, and do not encourage people to diagnose their own pet or cut calories without veterinary guidance. Review comments on your accounts and address those promoting extreme restriction or unverified treatments.

A body-condition score estimates body fat. On its own it says nothing about whether that body fat is affecting health or function. So a study that measured body condition can report how many animals were in the overweight or obesity range. It cannot report preclinical or clinical obesity prevalence unless it also assessed health effects and asked whether those effects were linked to the excess body fat.

Finding another diagnosis in the same record does not close that gap. Osteoarthritis recorded alongside a body-condition score of 9/9 shows two findings, not a link between them. Something in your data has to support the link, animal by animal.

Report the group studied, the years, the sample and how records were selected, who assigned the body-condition scores, which scores or diagnoses counted as overweight or obesity, and how uncertain the estimate is. Say whether the result describes one period or a change over time that can be fairly compared.

Use pet-first wording for study groups, including in abstracts, tables, and figures; a label such as “Overweight range (BCS 6–7/9)” keeps a table short. Preserve published titles, direct quotations, and the original labels used in assessment tools. Report the BCS system, scale, cutoffs, and how missing or repeated records were handled. Follow the journal’s other requirements.

State whether an image shows a real patient, is staged, comes from a library, is a composite, or was AI-generated. An illustration cannot establish a measured body-condition score, muscle condition, or obesity stage; keep measurement and illustration separate and cite validated assessment resources. Add alt text for accessibility.

Whole pet in an ordinary setting for public material; clinical detail only with a stated purpose and an accurate caption. Vary breeds, coats, ages, body conditions, abilities, regions, and family structures. Never use a person’s body size to explain a pet’s condition. Require a label stating whether an image is a real patient, staged, from a library, a composite, or AI-generated, plus permissions, license terms, and alt text. No body-condition score or disease stage assigned from a photograph.

Material people cannot read is material they cannot use. Provide alt text on images, keep contrast and type size usable, offer plain-language versions of clinical material, and be ready to supply an alternative format when someone asks. Say which version of a standard you adopted and when, so anyone quoting you can cite it precisely.

A communication standard becomes useful when the people expected to use it can point out what is unclear, culturally inappropriate, inaccessible, or difficult to apply. Publish corrections with dates, keep them visible, and tell people where to send them. Comments on this guide: info@petobesityprevention.org⁠.