The Body Condition Score chart published by WSAVA rates dogs on a 9-point scale, with the visual layout split into three labelled bands: UNDER IDEAL (scores 1–3), IDEAL (scores 4–5), and OVER IDEAL (scores 6–9). In practice this means a dog scoring 1–3 is underweight, 4–5 is at ideal condition, and 6–9 is overweight to obese.
The scoring is a hands-on, visual judgement combining how the ribs, waist, and abdominal tuck present. At the ideal scores 4–5 the ribs are easily felt with only minimal fat and the waist and abdominal tuck are clearly seen from above and the side. As the score climbs into the overweight range, fat cover thickens so the ribs become progressively harder to feel and the waist and abdominal tuck disappear; at the extreme (score 9) there are Massive fat deposits over thorax, spine and base of tail.
Pet-food relevance: BCS is the practical output metric for feeding plans — the trigger to adjust daily calories, ration, or diet choice. This topic is written in paraphrase mode (WSAVA charts are copyrighted); exact band labels, scale numbers, and the key rib/waist descriptors per band are anchored verbatim. See also companion_practical_wsava_bcs_cat and the WSAVA nutrition-assessment coverage.
Source: pdf-raw/wsava/bcs_dog.txt (extracted from WSAVA chart, landed 2026-08-09).
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file — paraphrase mode)
Body Condition ScoreUNDER IDEALIDEALOVER IDEALRibs easily palpable, withRibs palpable without excess fatRibs palpable with slight excessRibs not palpable under very heavyMassive fat deposits over thorax,