Tubby Labradors May Be at the Mercy of Their Genes, Not Just Too Many Treats
One in four Labrador retrievers carries a gene that tricks their brain into thinking they’re starving
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If your Labrador retriever seems hungry all the time, it may be because they are.
These dogs are notorious among veterinarians for their tendency to pack on the pounds. And in previous research, scientists found that one quarter of Labradors—as well as two thirds of a less common breed of dogs called flat-coated retrievers—carry a genetic mutation that is associated with obesity in other animals. And in new experiments, researchers found that dogs with this mutation both feel hungrier between meals and burn less energy than their counterparts do.
“What we see in the dogs is that they’re getting this molecular starvation signal,” says Eleanor Raffan, a veterinarian and geneticist at the University of Cambridge and a co-author of the new paper, which was published on March 6 in Science Advances. “As a result, they try to eat more and dial down their energy expenditure.”
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In the new study, Raffan and her colleagues wanted to understand how the mutation, which affects a gene called pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), impacts the lives of dogs who carry it. So they recruited dozens of U.K.-based dog owners who were willing to take part in a series of experiments .
The first experiment, nicknamed the “sausage in a box” test, brought Labs into the lab about three hours after the dogs had eaten breakfast. Researchers showed each dog a sausage, then closed it in a plastic box with holes so the dog could smell but not eat the treat. Then they watched how the dogs interacted…
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