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Background: Canine obesity is the cause of several health issues, and may predispose other diseases, such as orthopaedic disorders, endocrinopathies, metabolic abnormalities and cardiorespiratory disease which can lead to a decreased quality of life and reduced lifespan. Dog are considered overweight when their body weight is ≥15% above their ideal body weight, and as obese when their body weight exceeds 30% of optimal. Prevalence of canine obesity is estimated to be around 5%-20%, and up to 30%-40% when all overweight dogs are considered. Treatment is based on weight loss programmes, focused on caloric restriction associated with exercise. However, success rate of treatment is low., Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the reasons for weight loss failure of obese dogs during treatment with low-calorie diets., Methods: Records of obese dogs undergoing weight loss programmes between May 2014 and May 2017, assessed by a team specialized in veterinary nutrition, were retrospectively evaluated. Dogs were classified according to weekly weight loss rate (WWLR) (<1%, between 1% and 2%, and more than 2%) and owner compliance with a dietary prescription and physical activity recommendations., Results: The mean WWLR was not satisfactory (<1%) in 64.4% (n = 47/73) of dogs. Regarding owner compliance with the dietary prescription, 44.7% (n = 21/47) of owners did not follow diet prescriptions and physical activity recommendations for their dogs. There was a significant association (p = .01) between compliance of owners and satisfactory weight loss rate; however, there was no association between weight loss success, diet composition sex, reproductive status, age of the dogs and their physical activity (p ≥ .05)., Conclusions: Non-compliance represents a great challenge in the treatment of canine obesity, and may be of more importance than other aspects., (© 2019 The Authors. Veterinary Medicine and Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Learning disability is a common feature of patients affected by maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). However, the pathomechanisms underlying learning deficit in this disorder are poorly known. In the present study, we investigated the effect of acute administration of the alpha-keto acids accumulating in MSUD into the hippocampus on the behavior of rats in the open field and in the inhibitory avoidance tasks. Adult male Wistar rats received intrahippocampal injections of alpha-ketoisocaproic acid (KIC, 8 micromol), alpha-ketoisovaleric acid (KIV, 5 micromol), alpha-keto-beta-methylvaleric acid (KMV, 5 micromol), or NaCl (8 micromol) (controls) immediately after or 10 min before training. Testing session was performed 24 h later. Posttraining administration of the keto acids had no effect on learning in the open-field task. In contrast, pretraining administration of KIV and KMV impaired habituation in the open field. Similarly, pretraining administration of KIC, KIV, and KMV affected rat performance in the inhibitory avoidance task, suggesting disruption of acquisition. The results indicate that the alpha-keto acids accumulating in MSUD induce learning deficits in aversive and nonaversive tasks. We therefore suggest that these findings may be related to the psychomotor delay/mental retardation observed in MSUD, and may indicate the contribution of increased brain concentrations of these organic acids to the pathophysiology of the neurological dysfunction of MSUD patients.