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LOAD

Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD)

Owner-completed 13-item clinical metrology instrument for canine osteoarthritis, scoring activity, mobility, lameness, stiffness, and impact on quality of life.

Overview

Developer
Walton, Cowderoy, Lascelles, Innes — University of Liverpool
Year published
2013
Species
Canine
Domain
Chronic pain (osteoarthritis)

Structure and administration

13 items, 5-point Likert (0-4), total range 0-52

Owner-completed, 4-6 minutes

Psychometric properties

Cronbach α
0.88
Test-retest ICC
0.91
MCID
4

Cut-off and interpretation

Cut-off threshold
13

Source: Walton et al. 2013 supports a four-band severity classification (minimal 0-12, mild 13-25, moderate 26-38, severe 39-52); MCID of 4 points confirmed in Innes, Morton, Lascelles 2023.

Citation and validation

Walton MB, Cowderoy E, Lascelles BDX, Innes JF. Evaluation of construct and criterion validity for the 'Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs' (LOAD) clinical metrology instrument and comparison to two other instruments. PLOS ONE 2013;8:e58125.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058125

Revisions

  • v1.0 (Hercock et al. 2009) — original development as a disease-specific osteoarthritis instrument for dogs.
  • Validation (Walton, Cowderoy, Lascelles, Innes 2013) — construct and criterion validity established against accelerometry and HCPI; Cronbach α 0.88, test-retest ICC 0.91.
  • MCID confirmation (Innes, Morton, Lascelles 2023) — a 4-point change reliably reflects a meaningful clinical difference.

Target population

Adult dogs with diagnosed or suspected osteoarthritis. Specifically validated against orthopaedic gold-standard assessments and accelerometer activity data; not validated outside osteoarthritis-related chronic pain.

Available languages

English (UK)

Licence

Distributed by Elanco Animal Health. Free for clinical use; written permission required before public deployment.

Scoring algorithm version

sightline-load-v1.0.0

Strengths

  • Disease-specific to canine osteoarthritis, complementing the broader HCPI by focusing on activity-related discomfort.
  • Strong psychometrics: Cronbach α 0.88, test-retest ICC 0.91 across the originally validated cohort.
  • Published 4-point minimum clinically important difference makes longitudinal interpretation rigorous.
  • Four severity bands (minimal, mild, moderate, severe) help owners and clinicians read both the score and its trajectory.

Limitations

  • Validated only in dogs; no feline equivalent (cats use FMPI-SF or MI-CAT(C) in Sightline).
  • Total score only — no subscale breakdown, so localising the source of pain still needs clinical examination.
  • Distribution is by Elanco; commercial deployment requires a written licence even where individual use is free.
  • Some items (cold-weather effect, post-exercise lameness) depend on owner observation across days, so single-point-in-time completion can be noisier than for HCPI.

Why Sightline uses it

LOAD is the dog osteoarthritis instrument with the most consistent independent re-validation and the only one with a published MCID, which makes longitudinal tracking honest. Pairing LOAD (disease-specific) with HCPI (broader chronic pain) gives Sightline a two-instrument view that is sensitive to mild OA changes without losing the wider context that owners and clinicians rely on. The 4-6 minute completion time keeps fortnightly tracking realistic for most owners.