Nutrition of Overweight and Obese Patients

Question 1

What is the most common nutritional disorder of dogs and cats in advanced countries?

Answer 1

obesity.

Question 2

Why should veterinarians be concerned about the excessive body fat on their patients?

Answer 2

it makes them difficult to examine, can predispose them to respiratory problems, musculoskeletal disorders, heatstroke, and complications during anesthesia.

Question 3

T/F: adipose tissue has endocrine function.

Answer 3

True.

Adipocytes can release a variety of chemical mediators known as adipokines.

Question 4

T/F: In all cases, animals become obese by ingesting more calories than required over a prolonged period of time.

Answer 4

True.

Question 5

What are some predisposing factors to obesity?

Answer 5

dietary factors (like high caloric density foods, table scraps, etc.), neutering, inactivity, aging, endocrine diseases, drugs, competition, and genetics.

Question 6

How does neutering predispose a dog to obesity?

Answer 6

By reducing the metabolic rate by 25%. This is due to the loss of estrogens and androgens (which can also lead to an increase in appetite).

Question 7

What should you do prior to starting a weight loss program?

Answer 7

ensure that the animal is healthy by doing a physical exam, running bloodwork if necessary

Question 8

What does a weight reduction program depend on in order to be successful?

Answer 8

owner compliance, must be user friendly, increased exercise for the dog, continual monitoring of the pet by the O and veterinarian, and a client education program to keep animal at target weight.

Question 9

Since there is no exact science in determining the “optimal weight” for dogs and cats, how should you go about determining what the ideal weight should be??

Answer 9

history of the animal, breed societies, body condition scoring, morphometric measures, and research techniques.

Question 10

What do morphometric measures tell you?

Answer 10

the % body fat of a patient.

Question 11

What is the optimal rate for weight loss?

Answer 11

2% a week. Allows the owner to see a difference, but is not too fast where metabolic rate is being decreased and where lean body weight is being lost.

Question 12

T/F: when trying to get an animal to lose weight, you can simply decrease the amount of food the animal is usually fed.

Answer 12

False! Doing this will result in a decreased intake in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Question 13

Weight reducing diets should be high in ____ and ____, and low in ____.

Answer 13

fiber, protein, and fat, respectively.

Question 14

What is the recommended range in fiber content in weight reducing diets for dogs? For cats?

Answer 14

Dogs: 12-25%, Cats: 10-20%

Question 15

Why is soluble fiber mainly used in commercial diets?

Answer 15

because it is least likely to interfere with mineral absorption.

Question 16

Diets providing over ___% of energy from protein have the best weight loss results.

Answer 16

30%

Question 17

Carbohydrates used in weight loss diets need to meet what requirements?

Answer 17

need to have a low glycemic index, be no greater than 40% dry matter in dogs and 20% in cats.

Question 18

How frequently should an animal on a weight loss diet be rechecked?

Answer 18

every 2 weeks, as this is an adequate time to detect measurable changes in weight.

Question 19

What drug can be used to aid in weight loss? How does it work?

Answer 19

Slentrol it blocks the assembly and release of lipoprotein into the blood stream. There is reduced fat absorption and animals feel more full.