“Suzie,” a 5-year-old, spayed, female mixed-breed dog presents to your clinic. T

Question

“Suzie,” a 5-year-old, spayed, female mixed-breed dog presents to your clinic. The new owners are concerned about her excessive weight gain over a 4-month period. After obtaining a good history, it is learned that there is a toddler in the family and the recent addition of a new baby. The feeding of Suzie has become inconsistent as the new baby is quite a distraction and exercise is limited to short walks around the neighborhood. Suzie spends much of her time indoors following the toddler around and cleaning up the messes from dropped food. On physical examination, Suzie weighs 65 pounds with a BCS of 8/9. All other examination findings including CBC, chemistry, and thyroid hormone levels were unremarkable.

1. Discuss a logical approach to beginning a weight-loss program for Suzie.

2. What factors from Suzie’s history may be affecting and/or increasing her energy intake?

3. Because it is difficult to measure Suzie’s actual energy intake, you will use her RER at her current body weight to start her weight-loss program. Estimate her RER.

4. By what percentage can her intake be reduced safely? How many kcal/day should she then receive on her new weight-loss plan?

5. Should her normal maintenance diet be used in her weight-loss plan? Why or why not?

6. How many pounds per week would be appropriate for Suzie to lose?

7. If an ideal weight for Suzie is 45 pounds, how many weeks can her owner expect it to take for the weight loss to occur?

Explanation / Answer

1. Longer walks and defined exercises, controlled diet.

2. Decreased exercises and increased food intake.

3, 70 (65kg)3/4 = 1603

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse #
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.