Veterinary Clinical Obesity

Clinical obesity in dogs and cats: from pathophysiology to diagnosis and treatment In the United States, more than half of dogs and cats are overweight or living with obesity, yet the condition is diagnosed far less often than it is encountered in practice. Veterinary Clinical Obesity is a first-of-its-kind clinical reference that defines companion animal obesity as a clinical disease and equips clinicians to diagnose, stage, and treat it as the chronic, systemic disease it is. Bringing together an international panel of contributors, the book connects the biology of excess adiposity to the clinical decisions made in the exam room. Chapters trace adipose tissue as an endocrine organ, chronic low-grade inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and the associations between obesity and diabetes, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and cancer. The result is a practical, multidisciplinary reference for clinicians seeking to move beyond weight loss alone toward diagnosis, staging, treatment, and long-term disease management. Readers will also find: A four-tier classification framework — overweight, obesity, pre-clinical obesity, and clinical obesity — that turns a body condition score into a working diagnosis and stageGuidance on laboratory assessment, biomarkers, and diagnostic testingCurrent pharmacotherapy, including GLP-1 receptor agonists, alongside therapeutic nutrition, structured activity, and anesthetic managementCommunication frameworks for productive, non-judgmental conversations with clients and veterinary teamsDedicated coverage of obesity in companion rabbits alongside the book’s canine and feline focus Written for practicing veterinarians and veterinary students, and valuable to veterinary technicians and nurses, nutritionists, and internists, this book provides the clinical depth needed to diagnose, stage, and treat obesity as a multisystem disease.