Communicating with Pet Owners About Obesity: Roles of the Veterinary Health Care Team

Julie Churchill, Ernie Ward

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)899-911
Number of pages13
JournalVeterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice
Volume46
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2016

Keywords

  • Client communication
  • Human animal bond
  • Obesity
  • Stages of change
  • Transtheoretical model
  • Veterinary health care team roles
  • Weight management

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