Patent ID: 7418291

Claim:
A body fat measuring device for measuring body fat of an animal, comprising: an individual information input unit; a bioelectric impedance input unit; a morphological measurement value input unit; an impedance-based calculation unit; a morphological measurement value-based calculation unit; and a calculation switching unit, wherein said individual information input unit enters individual information of the animal, said bioelectric impedance input unit measures and enters a bioelectric impedance of the animal, said morphological measurement value input unit enters morphological measurement values for the girth of the body of the animal and the length of the body of the animal, said impedance-based calculation unit calculates a body fat rate based on the bioelectric impedance, said morphological measurement value-based calculation unit calculates a body fat rate based on the morphological measurement values for the girth of the body of the animal and the length of the body of the animal, and said calculation switching unit checks to determine whether the resulting bioelectric impedance has been correctly measured or not and then automatically switches between said impedance-based calculation unit and said morphological measurement value-based calculation unit depending on the result of the determination, wherein the calculation switching unit switches between said impedance-based calculation unit and said morphological measurement value-based calculation unit in order of the precision of each calculation unit in body fat rate calculation; the device further comprising a base, a platform, disposed on the base, for positioning the animal on its belly while the four limbs of the animal float in the air, and a front limb auxiliary support and a rear limb auxiliary support both of which are for drawing from the platform to contact the roots of the front and rear limbs of the animal for supporting the trunk portion of the animal, said bioelectric impedance input unit includes a set of trunk portion electrodes provided at one end portion of the front limb auxiliary support and one end portion of the rear limb auxiliary support for making contact with the trunk portion of the animal, and a set of sole electrodes provided on the base for making contact with the soles of the four limbs of the animal, and the device further comprises a switching unit which acts to automatically switch between the set of trunk portion electrodes and the set of sole electrodes.