Professor Cornell St Pete Beach, Florida, United States
Presentation Description / Summary: Weight management struggles in clinical practice are paramount to the health of the sick and the healthy dogs and cats. Much emphasis has been put on the cytokine milieu and adipokine response in the obese patient where we are starting to define the idea of healthy obese and unhealthy obese with potential markers particularly in the average dog or cat presenting for obesity management. These laboratory parameters may be useful in discussions with owners to encourage vigilance in the management. Newer pharmacologic interventions, particularly in the cat, may prove useful in improving insulin resistance and adiponectin secretion which require thorough investigation. Every dog and cat's diet history allows for fine tuning of recommendations and in difficult cases nutrient sufficiency can become a struggle leading to different management strategies from commercial to home cooking recommendations. Lastly, the difficulty with feline obesity management will be discussed which often require different lifestyle strategies by owners to improve compliance and success.
Learning Objectives:
To better understand the complexity of natural occurring obesity and how the inflammation of obesity influences chronic disease
To better establish starting points for obesity management and weight loss clinically through examination of patient dietary history.
Provide a backbone for diagnostic testing that suggests patients at high risk using the paradigm of healthy obese and unhealthy obese similar to human paradigms.
Understand the difficulties regarding weight loss in cats versus dogs due to lifestyles and species differences for owners who struggle with weight loss recommendations.
