Coral Springs Animal Hospital's Pawfessional Spring 2017 | Page 15

much easier as you can reference
the increasing body condition score
as a segue into healthy diet and
lifestyle for their pet.
Choose your words carefully.
Clients are more than likely to take
the mention of obesity personally
and rightfully so. They know that
their pet’s weight is solely their
responsibility, they know their pet
does not feed itself; so essentially,
when we discuss weight with the
owner’s, we are discussing their
own obesity with them; there is no
one else to blame. Some clients are
okay with a firm talking to which
makes this conversation incredibly
easy, but when you have clients
that may take the conversation
offensively, adjust your wording to
take the edge off. I have often used
the phrase, “We all love Fluffy and
most people like to show their love
through food, but now we can see
that Fluffy’s weight is really starting
to increase. We need to start
showing our love in different ways.”
Provide them with exact diets and
caloric requirements, then illustrate
a schedule for feeding whether this
is with a new diet or by decreasing
their current caloric intake. One
source that is great for determining
resting energy requirement is RER in
kcal/day= 70 x (ideal BW in kg) 0.75
Another source for weight loss
calculations and management is the
2014 AAHA Weight Management
Guidelines for Dogs and Cats
(https://www.aaha.org/public_documents/
professional/guidelines/
weight_management_guidelines.pdf)
Calories: It’s all about what’s going
into the body. High insoluble fiber,
low fat and carbohydrate diets are
the way to go. These diets will make
the patient feel like they are eating a
lot but are actually consuming fewer
calories. The caveat is sometimes
families will use this fact to justify
more snacks. Snacking is the
downfall to potentially successful
diets. Initially, I would recommend
decreasing the amount of snacks