Coral Springs Animal Hospital's Pawfessional Spring 2017 | Page 13

By: Kathleen Temple, DVM - Coral Springs Animal Hospital Emergency Clinician
Obesity
in
companion
animals
is
becoming as
much of a
problem as it is
in their human
counterparts.
Some
owners
become quickly offended when
obesity, weight loss (or gain) or any
combination of the sort is
mentioned, which leads to most
veterinarians either skirting around
the issue or avoiding it all together.
In an emergency setting, obesity
has led to needing a cut-down for
venous access, inability to perform
an efficient and useful FAST scans,
and difficulty handling the patient
as needed. When surgery is
performed whether on a routine or
emergent basis, excess fat leads to
longer anesthetic times, prolonged
recovery and additional and
unnecessary bleeding. It can also
lead to difficulty handling the tissue
and instruments because of the oil
from the fat.
The danger of obesity and weight
gain must be discussed with our
owners. The veterinary community
needs to make it part of the routine
visit conversation so that families are
given the tools to prevent obesity
rather than waiting to discuss it once
it has already happened.
Use the “hand method” to show
owners what obesity feels like. Have
them make a fist, then close their
eyes and run their fingers over their
fisted knuckles- this is too skinny. If a
patient’s rib cage feels like this, then