The “Just Feed Less” Myth for Weight Management
1.0 CE Credit Hour / Veterinarians & Technicians
Overview:
Currently 65% of our pets are overweight or obese. Obesity is a disease state that is associated with multiple disease conditions that can decrease quality of life, inflict emotional and financial burdens on pet owners, and ultimately shorten life span. Multiple factors have been identified that impact success or failure of weight management programs in the veterinary practice including spay/neuter status, appropriate diet selection, client support and follow up. Often veterinarians are recommending to “Just feed less” to their clients which can result in pet owners inappropriately reducing foods not intended for weight management, potentially causing deficient nutrient intakes, hungry pets, and ultimately failure to successfully manage the pet’s weight and body condition. Proactively identifying at risk pets for overweight/obesity, feeding appropriate diets and amounts, monitoring our patients carefully and providing client support can help turn around this epidemic of obesity.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Understand that obesity is a disease state that is a serious concern in our patient population and the impact it has on pets and pet owners. This is an important problem and as veterinarians we need to take steps to proactively reduce the incidence of overweight/obesity in our pets.
- Recommending “Just Feed Less” to pet owners is too simplistic and often inappropriate. This practice may result in hungry pets, nutrient deficiencies, and ultimately, failure to control body weight and body condition.
- Veterinarians should examine diet type, amount fed, treats/other foods, and choose diets that set up pets/pet parents for success in weight management at every life stage including at the time of spay/neuter
Laura Gaylord, DVM, DACVN
Dr. Gaylord is a Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist®, completing residency and graduating DVM from NC State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.
She has 24+ years of experience as a General Practice/Nutrition Veterinarian in North Carolina and currently works as Veterinary Nutritionist for her company Whole Pet Provisions, PLLC, offering nutrition consultations to pet owners, veterinarians and veterinary specialists. She also serves as an independent consultant to pet food and pet supplement companies.
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, is the chief veterinary officer for dvm360®—an MJH Life Sciences® company —who oversees content strategy and development and is the brand voice and personality for dvm360®’s multimedia channels. As a charismatic leader, he brings wit, humor, and authenticity to animal health care as the host of a new web-based talk show, dvm360 Live!™, The Vet Blast Podcast, continuing education webinars, and live media broadcasts.
Christman also has been in private practice and shelter medicine for 18 years and is currently a member and treasurer of the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association. He received his DVM degree from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames, Iowa, and his MBA from Aspen University in Denver, Colorado.
Christman is a national thought leader, speaker, and author on practice management, social media, and rehabilitation, and coauthored, “Honey, Have You Squeezed the Dachshund? A Pet Owner’s Guide for Owners Who Are Terrified of IVDD”—a book on dogs with disabilities. He has been featured in multiple publications and appeared on various multimedia shows throughout the United States, sharing his expertise and passion on all things veterinary medicine.
As an avid social media influencer for animal health care, he has over 800,000 followers on TikTok and 53,000 followers on Instagram. He loves to engage with fellow pet parents and veterinary professionals across social media. Christman is an advocate of Pride VMC and Pawsibilities. He is also the proud dog dad to 4 dachshunds and believes no one should be deprived of the incredible human-animal bond.
This program has been approved for 1.0 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE® approval.
This course has been sponsored by Virbac.
This activity is funded by Virbac
