Presented by Dr. Deborah Linder
‘How do I even bring up weight loss to families?’ ‘We’ve dropped the amount twice and the dog still isn’t losing weight, what now!?’ Participants will walk away with strategies to answer weight loss question like these and to engage families in creative conversations to make weight loss more fun and effective. Troubleshooting through case examples in this session will provide ready-to-use and practical tools for veterinarians.
Program Agenda:
- Client communication about obesity including diagnosis, clinical considerations, and consequences of obesity.
o Full nutritional assessment based on WSAVA and AAHA guidelines
o Client communication surrounding diagnosis and engagement in weight loss plans
o Clinical considerations and sequelae from obesity
- A review of resources that are available to pet owners and to veterinarians online, such as evidence-based blogs and websites written by specialists with non-biased information.
o University websites with pet nutrition information (www.petfoodology.org)
o WSAVA Nutrition Toolkit, AAHA Weight Management Guidelines, and Obesity Algorithms available online
- Case examples will provide an opportunity to see how these resources and additional strategies can be applied to patients and in interactions with owners.
o Obtaining complicated diet histories and troubleshooting difficult cases
o Creating nutritional goals and empowering families to improve their pet’s quality of life
Learning Objectives:
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Perform a full nutritional assessment that incorporates the needs of the pet and family.
- Identify resources and tools for providing evidence-based obesity information to clients.
- Engage pet owners more efficiently in conversations about obesity.