How to approach pet obesity?

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Fiona Leathers — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:49:16 GMT

[quote user="laura bradley"]

hi i am used to r/d now we have changed to rcw and am struggling with working out overweight the animal is in a percentage couldsomeone please help me !

[/quote]

I try to do it in % too and how I work (this is not scientific but suits me)

Figure out what weight the dog is now & what it should be

SO - 50kg should be 30kg therefore 20kg over weight. Work out the percentage of 20kg to 30kg - two thirds so 66% (20 divided by 30 multiplied by 100)

or 15kg should be 12kg therefore 3kg overweight therefore 3/12 is 25% overweight

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Alison Daff — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:26:50 GMT

Hi Laura

Do you have the Weigh In Club materials? (with the score charts etc) these should help

Ali

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

laura bradley — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:12:34 GMT

hi i am used to r/d now we have changed to rcw and am struggling with working out overweight the animal is in a percentage couldsomeone please help me !

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Vicky RVN — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:40:21 GMT

I have a staffie that a lot of people have described as athletic! Cos they are so used to seeing fat staffies around! He was a stray, was a bit skinny when i got him at 14.5kg, he seems to have stopped growing now (is about a year and a half old) and is 18kg, i think he looks perfect! He's all muscle!

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

vickyj — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:25:25 GMT

Oooh yeah, I've had this too - a client I saw at a practice I where worked had this beautiful 18mth old black labbie, in training for Guide Dogs - he was in the most perfect condition you could ever hope for and really bright, with a gorgeous coat, well trained with obviously a highly dedicated, knowledgeable guardian. She said that she gets people coming up to her ALL the time, telling her the lab is underweight, should be "stockier" and they're gonna report her, etc...because they think as it's a lab, it should be rotund. Unbelievable!

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:58:04 GMT

yes I agree. But insurance company was adamant would not pay for second op. Also have an example of an insurance company not wanting to pay for dental because it was written in the animals records 2 years previous adv re home cleaning of teeth and they reasoned the owners had let the teeth get that bad (anaesthetic and dental was actually as a result of a broken canine). Owner won on that occ.

The lesson I learned from this is that insurance companies will do everything they can to wriggle out of paying a bill.

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Emma Jarratt — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:37:49 GMT

I don't actually think thats fair though - the second cruciate may well have gone regardless of any weight loss.

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:01:05 GMT

dont know if this will help you or not - have mentioned it in the past to owners of chunky animals. I have come across an insured labrador that had a cruciate repair and was roughly 30lbs overweight. As often happens when there has been no attempt at weight loss soon after the first repair the cruciate went in the other leg. The insurance company would not foot the bill for the second cruciate on the grounds that it was caused by the dogs excess weight. - there was a note in the dogs history warning the owners that if the dog didnt lose weight there was a high probbility that the cruciate in the other leg would go.

strangely it started a diet soon after! - used to have some good success with weight clinics - in fact it is one of the areas I will miss. Not so much success with own bloody cat! we get the weight off and then he will find a bin or a visitor to take pity on him

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:22:08 GMT

No Nick it went off to a foster home for rehoming.

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Doolally — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:21:09 GMT

I'd quote the above post if I knew how!!

Peoples perceptions are incredibly skewed. We've got a client with a slim perfect pointer, and he's had complaints to the RSPCA that the dog is too skinny!!

I have a slim JRT and people constantly ask what breed he is and he's not a typical roly poly JRT and his legs look long because he has no belly.

People are too used to fat being 'normal' for animals and people

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Haley Thomas — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:24:28 GMT

For my ANA portfolio we have to conduct a client survey. I chose to write one on Health and Nutrition.

For one of the questions, I used the hills dogs where you are looking down on them, skinny, ideal and overweight. The question was which pic best describes your pet. Although it was completely anoymous, if the client handed it back to me I would look see what they put - the amount of owners with clearly overweight dogs who actually ticked the ideal pic was unreal!!!!

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Nick Shackleton — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:50:44 GMT

hey caro talking of strays did that stray find his/her owners???????

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:39:08 GMT

Last night had a stray in the amb did a police call after someone said they had found a 9mthish old SBT that was starved, ill and in a very bad way.

An hour or so later the collection driver hurtles in on the end of a lead with a fully adult typically no brain cell SBT bulky and defiantly NOT starving.

Asked about the people that found it she said they were "well built" and genuinly thought it was a half starved puppy. In fact they did not believe her when she said it was a fat healthy adult.

Said "starving dog" did not eat a full tin of chappie for a late snack it was too busy being a no brainer SBT.

As has been pointed out by l guess experts the problem is perception of fat, like kids it is never theirs always someone elses that is a problem.

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Mac Feather — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:35:15 GMT

i can empathise with that S-J. one vet i worked with used to give advice such as feed ur pet turnips n pasta and it will lose weight. then they would come back and see me and complain the dog stank to high heaven and ask how much pasta/turnip the dog should get. and see trying to get the owners to accept that a bag of reduction diet was the answer after a vet had said pasta n turnip???????? used to drive me crazy!

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

S-J — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:22:16 GMT

one of th other really anoying things is when the vet dosent back you up or doesnt even mention to the owner that the 50kg lab is overweight so when you happen to see it and attempt to give some advice they dont want to know cos the " vet says hes ok" ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:00:24 GMT

[quote user="hissycat"]

Wondering if it would help to tell them that insurance companies were/are thinking of excluding obesity related disease? might help them realise what a serious and debilitating condition it is?

[/quote]

Good point Hissycat

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

hissycat — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:28:58 GMT

Wondering if it would help to tell them that insurance companies were/are thinking of excluding obesity related disease? might help them realise what a serious and debilitating condition it is?

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

starbucks — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:34:53 GMT

I run the weight management clinics at our practice and most of the time clients are very responsive and realise we are trying to help them and their pets have a better quality of life, like my favourite weight loss patient that was in today "poppy" the retriever, was 46kg, now a healthy 33kg thanks to R/d!

But one client really pigged me off, they have a 9kg yorkie that is like a little barrell! After discussing at length r/d with them, they agreed to try it. 2 weeks later they came back with the food and the dog saying it hadnt worked and the dog had been constantly sick for days and they refused to carry on. After another lengthy discussion, it came about that the poor dog had only regurgitated its r/d once after wolfing the food down, not constantly been sick! The most important thing to the owner was now that she had to clean her carpet and this was not good enough!! The owners where adamant the dog hadnt lost weight, so just to make my self feel better, i put the dog on the scales to reveal it had actually lost 0.3kg! Ha!!

I think some clients think that i am a sales rep for R/d, and have even been asked once if i work on commision! If only, id be minted by now!! I wish they could just see the welfare of the animal is all i am bothered about!

I have found the Hills calculators to be very useful, clients look impressed when i tell them all those facts from it!!

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:37:44 GMT

[quote user="Caro Laithwaite"]

Just give them the details of the local pet crem. It tends to focus the mind. (no l am not joking)

[/quote]

lololololololol

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Louise B — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:43:04 GMT

[quote user="Caro Laithwaite"]

Just give them the details of the local pet crem. It tends to focus the mind. (no l am not joking)

[/quote]

ROFLAO.....

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:01:56 GMT

Just give them the details of the local pet crem. It tends to focus the mind. (no l am not joking)

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Emma Jarratt — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:30:57 GMT

Sometimes I find you have to be blunt enough to say words like 'welfare issue' to owners - that there animal is suffering NOW because of the weight it is, never mind increased risk of diabetes/heart disease/arthritis in the future. Point out that the animal cannot have a normal quality of life now because of it's size - it's not fat because it's a lazy cat, it is simply unable to live a normal active lifestyle because it is morbidly obese. You are giving them professional advice, that if ignored contravenes their responsibilities under the Animal Welfare Act, and they are liable to prosecution. For the example of the client that took the info and never made the appointment - I have in situations like this rang them a week or so later to follow it up, did they like the sample etc. If they didn't like r/d or whatever, there's about five other brands of weight loss prescription food to try for starters. They can't walk the dog - if they're elderly I've contacted charities to find volunteer dog walkers for example. If they completely refuse to listen, discuss legal responsibilities. I would be prepared to refer cases to the RSPCA, but haven't had to yet.

A statistic I use that I heard on some cpd is also, that if a dog is 20% or more overweight, it will live on average 2 years less than if it was a healthy weight. Your pet will die sooner because he is fat. That one usually stops the owner chuckling about the pet being a bit podgy.

Before I get flamed for being so blunt - I do say these things in a nice supportive way, although I don't feel bad if a client does get upset about it, I sympathise, they didn't realise etc, but, now they do realise, and I am going to help them to make things better.

Feeling on a bit of a crusade today, as I saw our worst weight case yet, a 6yo lab that started off at 63kg (presented for likely euthanasia because he was 'off his legs' - no, just a touch of arthritis and in a fat suit), today 5 months later he's 51kg and very bouncy, not quite all the way there yet but doing incredibly well. Thanks to using very serious words with the owner in a supportive manner, and of course our fabby head VN doing weigh checks as well :-)

I do also regularly say 'come on pudding/podge/chubber' in a friendly joking way (with the right clients!) and owners usually say 'oh i know, i can't do anything about it' to which the answer is usually 'well, actually, together, we can....'

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Anne Whipple RVN — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:03:58 GMT

I dunno, I kind of like that approach ;) Maybe it would embarass them into getting their pet to lose weight.

I did have a morbidly obese springer spaniel come in one day and got to discussing diet with the owners, who promptly said, "Well maybe it has to do with the fact that our son makes Fido a sandwich every time he has one." Really? Do you think that might have a LITTLE bit to do with it? Sadly the husband of that family would not listen even a little bit about the consequences. Grr. Very frustrating.

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:36:57 GMT

Dont do what a vet I worked with done.......... shout over a full reception area to the owner of an obese dog....... ooooooooohhhhhhhh he's a fat little piggy isn't he

Re: How to approach pet obesity?

Mac Feather — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:32:20 GMT

i also love the owners that are psychic and know that their pets wont eat the weight loss diet before they even see the bag let alone try it. i also find it amusing when u tell them its got a money back guarantee so theres no financial risk to them and u see them frantically trying to think up an excuse why they shouldnt try it.