Weight watcher clinics: counting calories

Transcription

1 Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession Weight watcher clinics: counting calories Author : Sue Veal Categories : RVNs Date : November 1, 2014 Sue Veal RVN, discusses common causes of overweight cats and dogs, as well as advice for VNs on how to set up a diet plan and get clients to understand and continue with this feeding regime FACED with the pooch that resembles a coffee table and the cat that can t get through a dog flap, let alone a cat flap, prescription weight loss diets are a godsend. They are the best route to success for animals with a significant amount of weight to lose. Prescription diets are easy to use and come with handy guidelines and motivational backup material for clients. You can have peace of mind that, although calorie intake is much reduced, the animal is still getting enough nutrients. This is a top selling point to clients. But what about those cats and dogs that only need to lose a little weight? Those that, six months post-neutering, are starting to lose their waistlines? We always alert our clients to the possibility of weight gain post-neutering due to altered metabolism, but, often, in spite of this, it creeps up on them. For these animals, it is often only necessary to fine-tune their present diet to make a difference. Working out a rough intake figure A useful tool for weight control is to include a ballpark figure for a pet s daily calorie intake in the diet plan. We are all more calorie conscious these days and many people will be aware the daily recommended intake for an average woman is 2,000 calories a day and for an average man, 2,500 calories after all, this information appears on practically every food label. 1/8

2 I know I have stood in my favourite coffee shop, eyed up the coffee and walnut cake, noticed it has been thoughtfully labelled 400 calories a slice and thought oh, a quarter of my daily calorie intake... perhaps not. So, how about using this information to motivate our clients? Involve the client when performing a body condition score on his or her animal, feeling for ribs as well as looking at tummy tuck and waist. If he or she can t accept there is a need for weight loss, you re on a non-starter. Together with the client, agree a target weight for his or her pet and with this figure you can work out the animal s daily calorie allowance. It is very important to stress this is an approximate figure and the energy requirement for each individual varies greatly; however, it is very useful to use this as a guideline. Calorie content So, now having a rough idea of the desirable number of calories per day, the next question you will be asked is how many calories are in my pet s food? Unlike human food, calorie content is not usually included in the packaging information of pet food. This information can, however, be found on the internet and in manufacturers brochures. I have built up a resource of information about commonly used brands and have it to hand during consultations. The ability to calculate the calorie content yourself is a valuable tool, easy to learn and will impress clients (see course references at end of article). As a rough guide, a 400g tin of supermarket wet food will be worth approximately 350 kilocalories and a standard 100g supermarket pouch of cat food is worth about 80 kilocalories. All standard nonprescription dry foods, whether for a dog or cat, are worth about 320 kilocalories to 380 kilocalories per 100g. Light versions will generally be slightly less calorific. Causes of too many calories So, what are the most common causes of too many calories? Overfeeding of dry food Dry food is very much more concentrated than wet food, containing only 10 per cent water compared with 60 per cent to 70 per cent in wet food. Only a handful, therefore, can look a miserly portion, but can represent a lot of calories. The remedy weigh out the daily ration of dry food. It is important to weigh quantities with reasonably accurate scales and do remember to offer to convert grams to ounces, as not everyone will be familiar with the metric system (1 ounce = 28.35g). Another way to reduce calories is to replace some/all of the dry food with wet food. 2/8

3 Treats The remedy in the case of feeding treats in the form of human food and pet treats is information. and Our practice has compiled ) often an eye-opener for handy clients.guides to the calorie content of pet treats for cats and dogs ( I came across a bullmastiff that was addicted to oranges (60 kilocalories each) and bananas (100 kilocalories each), and ate them ad lib. It s a common misconception that fruit, being healthy, is calorie neutral. Lack of exercise Less exercise can be due to lameness, weather or other circumstances. The remedy input and output; it is surprising how often clients fail to make the connection between the two. The unpalatable truth is less exercise must mean less food, otherwise goodbye waistline. It is vital we offer plenty of support to the client following the weight watcher consultation especially in the early days. I find a telephone call to the client one week after the initial consultation is valuable to make sure the agreed plan is working out so far. Follow up weighins for dogs four weeks after starting the diet and six weeks for cats is soon enough. Simple waist and chest measurements with a tape measure by the client at home in between weigh-ins is a handy way of monitoring progress. In conclusion, providing a bit of extra information in the form of a calorie target to clients who are helping their pets to slim can be motivational and help them make better choices when feeding them. Don t forget the power of praise and rewards too after all, who can resist a gold star? Further reading Cooper B, Mullineaux E and Turner L (2011). BSAVA Textbook of Veterinary Nursing (5th edn), BSAVA, Gloucester: Hand M S, Thatcher C D, Remillard R L and Roudebush P (1998). Small Animal Clinical Nutrition (4th edn), Mark Morris Associates, Topeka, Kansas, US: Tim Watson (2010). Determining fact from fiction: diet and canine obesity issues, Veterinary Times 40(26): 30. Courses Hill s Veterinary Nutrition Advisor: visit to register. Royal Canin/Waltham Pet Health Counsellor: contact your local veterinary business manager for 3/8

4 information. Definitions Calorie: the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1g of water by 1 C. In nutrition, it is usual to use kilocalories, where 1 kilocalorie = 1,000 calories. For simplicity, the general text refers to energy content in calories and specific calorie content of food in kilocalories. Resting energy requirement: the amount of energy required for a healthy animal to maintain bodily functions in a stress-free, thermo neutral environment. 1) Calculate the resting energy requirement (RER) for the animal s target weight. RER = 30 [target weight in kilos] ) Multiply this by the daily energy requirement (DER), which varies according to the animal s life stage and many other factors. For dogs that have been neutered and are inclined to weight gain, DER = RER 1.4 Thus, for a dog with a target weight of 20 kilos, the daily calorie allowance is [30 20] + 70 = = 938 kilocalories per day. For cats that have been neutered and are inclined to weight gain, DER = RER 1 Thus, for a cat with a target weight of five kilos, the daily calorie allowance is [30 5] + 70 = = 220 kilocalories per day. 4/8

5 TABLE 1. Guide to cat treats 5/8

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8 TABLE 2. Guide to dog treats 8/8 Powered by TCPDF (