The American Animal Hospital Association recommends these nutritional assessment guidelines because good nutrition enhances pets’ quality and quantity of life, and is integral to optimal animal care. Incorporating nutritional assessment into regular animal care is critical for maintaining pets’

/pdf/aaha-nutritional-assessment-guidelines-for-dogs-and-cats-199tij70nn.pdf

AAHA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines for Dogs and Cats

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2011.01079.x

WSAVA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines

Health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) has been studied extensively in human medicine. There is currently no standard HRQoL evaluation for veterinary oncology patients. The aim of this study was to assess the practicality, usefulness and robustness, from a pet owner and clinician perspective, of a questionnaire for the assessment of HRQoL in canine and feline cancer patients. A HRQoL assessment entitled 'Cancer Treatment Form' and two questionnaires entitled 'Owner Minitest' and 'Clinician Minitest' were designed. The first and second were completed by owners of patients presenting to a veterinary oncology referral service and the third by attending clinicians. The 'Cancer Treatment Form' was well received by owners and clinicians and provided a valuable assessment of HRQoL with 98% (82/84) of owners reporting an accurate reflection of their pet's quality-of-life. Following this, minor improvements to the form could be suggested prior to regular use in evaluation of clinical oncology patients.

Development of a questionnaire assessing health-related quality-of-life in dogs and cats with cancer

Careful assessment of nutritional needs of dogs and cats must be taken into consideration in order to maintain optimum health, be part of a treatment regimen for a diseased state, or to maximize the quality of life in all animals. Therefore, the goal of these WSAVA Guidelines is that a nutritional assessment and specific nutritional recommendation be made on every patient on every visit. This will become known as the 5th Vital Assessment (5VA), following the four vital assessments of temperature, pulse, respiration, and pain that are already addressed on each patient interaction.

WSAVA Nutritional Assessment Guidelines.

Summary
Reasons for performing study: Previous studies suggest that owners underestimate or incorrectly recognise or report health problems in geriatric horses. However, few studies have directly compared owner-reported and veterinary assessed disease.

Objectives: To compare the findings of veterinary clinical examination of geriatric horses with owner-reported clinical signs and disease.

Methods: A total of 200 horses aged ≥15 years were randomly selected to receive a veterinary examination, from responses to a cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey. Veterinary examinations were performed within 2 months of questionnaire return, and agreement between owner-reported data and veterinary clinical findings was assessed.

Results: Owners under-reported many clinical signs and disease conditions detected on veterinary clinical examination. For example, dental abnormalities (detected in 95.4% of horses, reported by 24.5% of owners); cardiac murmurs (detected in 20% of horses, reported by 0.5% of owners); lameness (present in 50% of horses, reported by 23% of owners) and hoof abnormalities (detected in 80% of horses, reported by 27% of owners). Agreement between owner-reported and veterinary assessed respiratory disease (Kappa 0.02–0.2), body condition score (Kappa 0.24) and coat abnormalities (Kappa 0.42) was poor, fair and moderate, respectively. Range of motion (ROM) of the tarsal and metacarpophalangeal joints was lower in horses with owner-reported osteoarthritis (P = 0.005 and <0.001, respectively).

Conclusions and potential relevance: The low prevalence and relatively poor agreement of owner-reported disease compared to that detected on veterinary examination suggests inaccurate or under-recognition, or inaccurate reporting of health problems by owners of geriatric horses, which could lead to a delay in presentation for veterinary treatment. Increased veterinary involvement and improved owner education in the care of geriatric horses should facilitate earlier identification of disease, particularly that which is not readily detectable by owners, and aid management of health and welfare problems.

Comparison of owner‐reported health problems with veterinary assessment of geriatric horses in the United Kingdom

Objectives: Quality-of-life (QOL) assessment is a novel field in veterinary medicine. It shares similarities with the more established fields of human QOL assessment and animal welfare science and could prove similarly useful.



Methods: This paper draws on existing literature on human QOL assessment, animal welfare, philosophy and animal QOL assessment.



Results: It provides practical recommendations for QOL assessment in veterinary practice and in veterinary research on what should be assessed, how it should be assessed and who should assess it.



Clinical Significance: These should assist veterinarians intending to develop their use QOL assessment.

Dcj Main

Papers

Assessment of companion animal quality of life in veterinary practice and research.