Communicating with Pet Owners About Obesity: Roles of the Veterinary Health Care Team.
Obesity continues to be the most prevalent nutritional problem of dogs and cats as well as one of the most frustrating conditions to treat successfully. Educating and assigning roles to all members of the health care team will improve staff engagement and the consistency and effectiveness of nutritional counseling for preventive care and weight loss treatment plans. Excellent communication skills can be used to assess the client's ability to change and implement a weight loss plan at the right time in the right way to achieve better adherence and improve patient health.
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, C-339, 1352 Boyd Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA. Electronic address: churc002@umn.edu.
Julie
J
Churchill
Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, E3 Management, LLC, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469, USA.
Ernie
E
Ward
D000821:Animal Feed; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002415:Cats; D003142:Communication; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D010067:Ownership
Client communication; Human animal bond; Obesity; Stages of change; Transtheoretical model; Veterinary health care team roles; Weight management