Pet food company tails.com has launched Data Labs, through which it will share its animal health data with veterinary surgeons to help improve the lives of dogs and their owners.

The company has been gathering information on the health, wellbeing and life expectancy of hundreds of thousands of dogs since 2014.

Sean McCormack (pictured right), 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 that we view dog nutrition and dog health going forwards.”

According to the company, the database has already revealed that:

  • in certain breeds, a significant proportion of owners are unaware that their dog is overweight;
  • being overweight or obese can take months, or in some cases, years off the lives of dogs;
  • there is evidence to suggest that there are improvements in life expectancy when overweight dogs return to an ideal body weight;
  • neutering dogs is associated with a longer life expectancy across 15 of the studied dog breeds.

Lorna Brightmore, Lead Data Scientist at tails.com, said: "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.”

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 body weight, body condition, gender and neutering on the longevity and health of dogs, with further scientific papers planned for publication in the coming months and years.

For more information, visit www.tails.com/gb/data-labs/.

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vets.