Weight clinics

Re: Weight clinics

Alison Daff — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:31:17 GMT

As per Helens post ( she is a colleague!) If you do need any further information or contacts within RC you can always PM me too

Re: Weight clinics

Gemma Burden RVN — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:02:22 GMT

Hi Sophie, I have been running weight clinics for years and always loved them, they are definetly the most satisfying clinic in my opinion, so well worth having a go at.

Personally I have found the structure that works best for me is to see the client and their pet for a reasonably long initial appointment to go over their current diet, feeding and exercise regime, and also take waist and chest measurements and "before" photos. I used to use the client booklets produced by Hills in this appointment to give the client so that they had everything in writing, and to remind me of everything I needed to discuss (I would always forget to ask something otherwise), but since they have changed these in the past few years (and they are now nowhere near as good and lack a lot of the information) I decided to produce by own client guides, as well as a sheet that I fill in during the first appointment so that I find out everything that I might ever need to know to initially plan the diet, and make any adjustments if necessary. It was hard work, but worth it as I find the clients like something that hasn't been made my a food manufacturer, and also made me think about my recommendations and research other ideas that I could used to help my clients. Whilst it is time consuming, it really is worth taking a lot of details to start with so that you can make a diet that the client will actually be able to follow. I actually find out as much as possible about the owner as well (if they are out all day, any health problems etc), as there is no point advising them on their dogs exercise if they physically never going to be able to do it, when I could be discussing using a dog walker etc instead.

When I see them back for the follow up appointments does depend on how well I feel the diet is likely to go. If the client is going to do everything I have told them and I feel confident that they will come to me if they have any problems, then I will usually see them at monthly intervals (three weeks later for the first weight check). However, if they are less likely to follow the diet then I will often, at least initially, see them back a bit sooner so that if the diet is failing for whatever reason, both myself and the owner is aware of this before there has been the chance for things to go too wrong.

One of the things I found most helpful with running my clinics is having had the finer points of the diets explained to me by reps or going to CPD events on weight loss, as these have given me the facts about how it all works so that I can feel really confident when explaining to the client why I am making my recommendations, and also given me loads of tips on how to make the clinics work best.

When I first took over running weight clinics from another nurse I was so worried about getting them wrong, but they are actually something that you very quickly get used to and start to get an instict of what you will need to do for different cases. And its always worth remembering that if you aren't sure what to do, you can always speak to the customer support of the company making the diet you are using for advice. Good luck

Re: Weight clinics

Sophie — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:56:48 GMT

Thanx for your post! Will be taking it all on board. Think i might contact RC to arrange an appointment. x

Re: Weight clinics

Helen Lissenden — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:04:00 GMT

Hi Sophie - I work for RC (on maternity leave at the moment) and prior to that was in practice - loved weight clinics! What you have outlined is exactly right, the first appointment can take ages - I find with weight clinics the hardest thing is getting the owner to commit to the diet, so taking time with to talk through their current regimes and family circumstance (so often the person who over feeds etc never brings the animal to the vets and so the person who you meet with wants to sort out the weight but then has to convince a 3rd party at home!). I used to avoid messing about too much with the exercise regime (though of course this will have an impact on the rate of weight loss), the owner will already have established some sort of exercise pattern which suits them (around work etc) I generally just encouraged consistent/regular exercise, as I was in practice in London - lots of people would do very short walks all week and then take the dog for a killer walk once a week - the poor fat dogs would spend 3 days lying down after to recover!! RC (and I am sure other food manufacturers!) produce lots of support materials for weight clinics (including tape measures/charts to record progress) they can also visit the practice and offer training on setting up/promoting clinics (which counts as CPD) on everything from weight clinics/senior/mobility clinics/dental clinics/puppy parties etc etc - contact your local Veterinary Business Manager and if you dont know them the helpline 0800 717 800 will be able to put you in touch).

Best of luck!!