Introduction

WSAVA guidelines state that it is vital for clinicians to make a nutritional assessment and specific recommendation for every pet, every time. Good practice dictates that these should take place as part of the standard physical exam and the results entered in the pet's records.

Objectives

Onswitch hypothesizes that pet owners are not routinely being given access to this nutritional assessment at the majority of UK practices. A programme of ongoing annual research was begun in 2013, and data from the first three years has been analysed in order to test this hypothesis.

Methods

Four calls were made to each of 200 UK practices in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The researcher gave one of four scenarios:

 Cat losing weight

 Cat gaining weight post-neuter

 Dog losing weight

 Dog gaining weight post-neuter

Additionally, nurses from the same practices called attended a Nutrition Roadshow, where they were asked about their weighing and body-scoring habits. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority are weighing pets, but not scoring their body condition.

Results

Just 25% of callers each year were offered an appointment, despite the circumstances dictating that the pet ought to be seen for assessment.

Qualitative data provided by VNs at the Nutrition Roadshow suggests that >80% are weighing pets, but <10% are scoring them.

Conclusions

Data supports the hypothesis that the fifth vital assessment is not being consistently made by the majority of clinicians.