Prevention of Obesity

Obesity in pets is highly prevalent and although good strategies exist for providing obesity care and reducing weight, incidence still appears to be increasing. Alongside all traditional techniques for reducing weight focus should also be given to preventing weight gain as this may hold the key to reducing the prevalence of pet obesity.  This session will first describe the many simple things all pet owners can do to prevent weight gain, including monitoring of body weight, limiting excessive intake of food and when action should be taken.

In addition to monitoring weight, in puppies and kittens tracking their growth can have a huge impact on their health as adults. With the recent development of evidence-based growth charts ideal growth can now be observed. The session will discuss how using growth charts can help prevent obesity in adults. By monitoring growth and recognising growth patterns of concern, action can be taken early to prevent obesity occurring at all.

Georgia Woods-Lee

RVN CertCFVHNutrition VTS (Nutrition)

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Georgia Woods-Lee qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse in 2004. In 2015, Georgia joined the ROYAL CANIN® Weight Management Clinic at the University of Liverpool, Small Animal Teaching Hospital, where she is now dealing exclusively with pet obesity care and nutrition. Georgia was awarded her Certificate in Canine and Feline Veterinary Health Nutrition in 2017, the American Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) in nutrition certificate in 2019 , and her BSc (Hons) Veterinary Nursing (Top-up) degree in 2022. In 2023, Georgia was appointed as clinical lead for the Weight Management Clinic and currently works as an academic researcher whilst working towards a PhD in pet obesity.