Body Condition Score

Body condition score is a tool used to help understand the ideal body shape of your Pug.

Looking from above, how easily can you see the curve of their waist behind their ribs?
What abdominal tuck can you see?
Can you feel their ribs easily, with a light touch, without too much fat covering them?

The image below, developed and endorsed by the University of Cambridge, shows the body condition scores in Pugs; rated from BCS 3 to BCS 9. BCS 3 being classified as ‘too thin’, whilst BCS 9 being classified as ‘obese’. Pugs with BCS 7, 8 or 9 are at an increased risk of breathing difficulties.

There is a brief note relating to body condition scoring in Pugs; the University of Cambridge state ‘This breed is sometimes tricky to classify according to the standard chart’. Specifically, skin wrinkles around the neck can hide fat deposits or seem like fat when they are not. Palpate carefully to work out how much subcutaneous fat there is. The breed also tends to lay down fat at the front of their ribcage. Palpate there to test whether you can feel this.