tails.com launches Data Labs to aid canine health and well-being

tails.com has announced the launch of Data Labs, its long-term project that aims to share its unique database and insights to improve the lives of dogs and their owners.

The nutritionally tailored pet food service has, since 2014, been gathering information on the health, well-being and life expectancy of “hundreds of thousands of dogs”.

Data Labs, it says, is designed to make good use of this insight, and to help tails.com work with vets and industry professionals to enhance the research on dog health and nutrition, and enhance their lives.

‘Scratching the surface’

Sean McCormack, head vet at tails.com, said: “As a vet in practice, you gain an understanding of general animal issues and trends, but what this data can do is look over hundreds of thousands of dogs, unpick all of the nutritional, breed and age-related data we’ve collected over time, and then provide an insight-rich window into the best possible way to care for our dogs.

“We’re really just scratching the surface in terms of what we have at our disposal. There’s real potential for Data Labs to fundamentally change the way we view dog nutrition and dog health going forwards.”

Insights

Examples of some of the insights from the database include:

• In certain breeds, a significant proportion of owners are unaware their dog is overweight.
• Being overweight or obese can take months – and in some cases, years – off the lives of dogs.
• Evidence to suggest improvements in life expectancy when overweight dogs return to an ideal bodyweight.
• Neutering our dogs is associated with a longer life expectancy across 15 of the studied dog breeds.

‘Huge potential’

Lorna Brightmore, lead data scientist at tails.com, said: “We are renowned for being a nation of dog lovers and the data we have has huge potential to unlock insights that have a direct impact on the well-being of our pets.

“Even at this early stage, we are finding strong associations between a number of health factors and longevity, and our conclusions will only become stronger over time.”

Scientific papers

The first major milestone of Data Labs will be the publication of tails.com’s first peer-reviewed scientific paper. The paper will detail the effects of bodyweight, body condition, gender, and neutering on the longevity and health of dogs, with further scientific papers planned for publication in the coming months.

For more information, visit the Data Labs page on the tails.com website.