The pet obesity toolkit

This dvm360 toolkit focuses on pet obesity tools and resources for your veterinary practice. The special package of articles, tips, handouts and videos is designed to make it easy for your team to educate pet owners about the importance of maintaining their pets' healthy weight.

Articles and tips

> Monitoring weight loss in pets: A shared responsibility

> A three-pronged approach for weight maintenance from Dr. Ernie Ward

Your pet obesity tools

The big gulp

Asking a client about food isn't enough-you never know how they might be feeding their pet. Amy Farcas, DVM, MS, DAVCN offers her tips to get to the root of weight loss issues here.

Ready-to-use posts and tweets

Educate your clients via social media! Check out these prewritten posts and tweets on nutrition and weight loss, plus a variety of important topics like annual exams, behavior, dermatology and much more.

Sample script

Not every client is ready to discuss his or her pet's weight. Get ideas to steer the conversation effectively with this sample script-and make sure your whole team is on the same page when it comes to addressing problems with pets' weight.

Video

> Don't be judgy when it comes to pudgy. Watch as Dr. Ernie Ward demonstrates an articulate way (and an offensive way) to broach this potentially sensitive topic in our video series "Say this, not that!"

> Simply telling patients to exercise their fat cats isn't enough-get these behavioral solutions for treating feline obesity from Jacqueline C. Neilson, DVM, DACVB.

> Want to know what's new in nutrition? Veterinary nutrition expert Dr. Tony Buffington's got you covered.

Ready-to-use client handouts

> How many calories is a mouse?

> 4 weight loss tips for cats

> How to get your dog in shape

> How can I tell if my pet is overweight?

Take action

Pet obesity numbers are proving to be sedentary. Here's how YOU can mind the "fat gap."

Talk back

Does your team do a great job with your patients' weight loss program? We'd love to share your winning strategies with your colleagues. Did you try one of these tools? We'd love to know what your experience was like. Any other feedback? Let us know.