Impact of Obesity on Cardiopulmonary Disease.

Although there are known detrimental effects of obesity on the heart and lungs, few data exist showing obesity as risk factor for cardiopulmonary disorders in dogs and cats. It is probable that increased abdominal fat is detrimental as it is in humans, and there is evidence of negative effects of increased intrathoracic fat. As well as physical effects of fat, increased inflammatory mediators and neurohormonal effects of obesity likely contribute to cardiopulmonary disorders. Weight loss in overweight individuals improves cardiac parameters and exercise tolerance. Obesity in patients with obstructive airway disorders is recognized to increase disease severity.

Nutrition Education in European Veterinary Schools: Are European Veterinary Graduates Competent in Nutrition?

Knowledge of nutrition is vital for veterinarians to inform owners about care of healthy pets and management of disease. Owners wish to have information from the veterinary health care team (VHT), and graduate veterinarians should be sufficiently educated to provide evidence-based information. Many veterinary practitioners feel that their veterinary school education in small-animal nutrition was insufficient. This survey presents the information on nutrition education in 63 European veterinary schools, including attitudes about teaching of nutrition, importance of nutrition, satisfaction of graduate performance and skills in nutrition, existing and required curriculum hours in nutrition, existing and required teaching staff, and barriers to achieving adequate teaching. The questionnaire was provided online to university deans and faculty members. The majority of schools felt that nutrition was important, but lacked staff numbers or knowledge to teach adequately. Many were also restricted by a crowded curriculum. Potential solutions include hiring a nutritionist, outsourcing nutrition education, and/or using online materials.

Nutritional concepts for the veterinary practitioner.

Although veterinary practitioners know that nutrition can make a difference in the health and recovery from disease or illness in dogs and cats, they may feel poorly equipped to provide unbiased information on nutrition. This article provides information about evaluating and recommending diets and interpreting a pet food label to allow for comparisons among pet foods and discussion about how to do a nutritional assessment. It provides an example of how nutritional assessment and recommendation were successfully introduced into a busy private practice. Finally, some of the myths and misperceptions about nutrition are discussed with information provided from evidence-based research.

Pet food safety: sodium in pet foods.

Healthy dogs and cats appear to be able to adjust to differing amounts of sodium in their diet via the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanisms. There is no strong evidence that increased dietary sodium increases the risk of hypertension in dogs and cats, and the current recommendation for hypertensive animals is to avoid high dietary salt intake without making a specific effort to restrict it. The prevalence of salt sensitivity and its effect on blood pressure has not been determined for cats or dogs. The ideal amount of sodium in the diet of dogs and cats with cardiac deficiency has not been determined, as increasing may detrimentally increase the extracellular fluid volume, but decreasing it may detrimentally increase the activation of the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Increased dietary sodium increases urine output and may decrease the risk of forming calcium oxalate uroliths due to the decrease in relative supersaturation of solutes. However, caution should be used in increasing the sodium intake of patients with renal disease as increased dietary sodium may have a negative effect on the kidneys independent of any effect on blood pressure.