Sharing research on weight bias, this article from Zoe Belshaw, Vet MB, MA, PhD, addresses the potential of relating an owner’s weight to their pets. The need to have proactive discussions with pet owners is often difficult and addressing potential bias is worth consideration.
Belshaw shares tips for talking with clients about weight management just in time for World Pet Obesity Week <Link>, noting the number of overweight dogs and cats is steadily increasing.
Source: Clinician’s Brief, September 2025. Link. More than 90 percent of participants held some level of unconscious bias toward lean individuals, but owner weight alone did not significantly impact perceptions of the owner–patient dyad. Results of this study are therefore unclear on how implicit weight biases might impact discussions of patient weight management with owners.
Study participants rated owners of overweight dogs as significantly less effective caretakers than owners of lean dogs, but owners of overweight cats were rated as significantly more caring than owners of lean cats . . .”
Related: How hidden biases, inner voices shape choices leaders make every day, Psychology Today, September 17, 2025. Link.