It’s a dog’s life when man’s best friend becomes his fattest

06 August 2014

A study published this morning in Nature offers further insight into how dogs became domesticated. The comparative analysis of human, canine and wolf genomes suggests that humans and dogs have evolved in parallel as a response to the increasingly starchy diets on offer after the agricultural revolution. Such a wholesale change in diet has not necessarily been benign for either species. As our waistlines have expanded, so have those of our pet animals. In fact, the rising incidence of obesity in humans and dogs seems to be linked; people at high risk of obesity are more likely to own and care for an overweight canine companion.