The 2019 Veterinary Emerging Topics (VET) report on osteoarthritis in obese animals was released by Banfield Pet Hospital and NAVC. In addition to looking at the diagnosis and treatment of OA, the report also focuses on the barriers encountered by veterinary teams in providing the recommended care for the disease.
“As an industry, we face an uphill battle as excess weight becomes normalized and associated conditions like OA are on the rise,” said Daniel Aja, DVM, chief medical officer at Banfield Pet Hospital.
The report also found that key barriers preventing appropriate care for OA include cost of diagnostic services and treatment, noncompliance, and owners not recognizing their pet is in pain or overweight.
“With the goal of advancing pet health, VET provides insights into these trends and offers veterinary professionals access to information and resources they can use to manage patients with OA,” says Aja.
In fact, Banfield found 51 percent of dogs and 41 percent of cats newly diagnosed with OA were considered overweight or obese in 2017 – and that key barriers preventing appropriate care for OA pets include cost of diagnostic services and treatment; owner noncompliance; owner not recognizing their pet is in pain; and owner not accepting their pet is overweight. Given the growing severity of each of these conditions, Banfield and the NAVC are committed to exploring opportunities for the veterinary industry to help reverse these trends.
“Tackling the U.S. pet obesity epidemic is of paramount importance to the profession, and we are honored to partner with Banfield on the 2019 VET Report for the third consecutive year to offer insights that impact not only the profession but also pet health,” said Tom Bohn, MBA, CAE, HABc, chief executive officer of the NAVC. “Our hope is that the 2019 VET Report provides actionable insights to help enable hospital teams to help clients reverse current trends.”
LEARN MORE
Download the complete results of the 2019 Veterinary Emerging Topics report.
Watch our Spark! video on the 2018 VET report on allergic conditions in pets.