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"...the potential benefit of weight loss was not seen and...the post-operative risk of the outcomes we evaluated was higher in certain cases."
So many studies start with the unquestioned assumption that fat=unhealthy and thin=healthy, and weight loss=good and weight gain=bad. Any findings that throw doubt on these assumptions confuses the authors. It's like doubting the germ theory of disease.
I don't see that (Western) medicine is going to be able to move past its present weight bias until it abandons this assumption and all its attendant misconceptions. Doctors have to see all people as human, not White Male and Aberrations. In today's political climate that seems like too big an ask.
I had total hip replacement surgery on 9/27/2022, and people told me I'd be lucky if the surgeon I was referred to agreed to do it because I am a higher-weight person (BMI 34.3). He never said anything at the pre-op appointment, but my paperwork (and also his post appointment notes) had a bunch of "counseling" stuff about healthy eating, exercise, and weight loss, which I ignored. I had it done at a surgery center, stayed overnight, and went home the following morning after being there just a bit over 24 hours. I had no problems with the anesthesia, and my pain was contolled well. I started PT 4 days later, was off my pain meds in 5 days, and "graduated" from PT in 6 weeks! I healed beautifully, and feel FANTASTIC about the results.
I took my 8 mo old dog to the vet for hip dysplasia and they told me she is overweight and that keeping her lean is the best way to help her joints. I asked isn’t weigh bearing good for bones though and she said yes but not for joint issues. She then gave me a research paper on “Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs” (JAVMA, Vol 220, No. 9, May 1, 2002). I find myself confused... is this research sound? I even asked if they found causation and not correlation and she insisted they had. Is that true? Or is diet culture pervading veterinary medicine,too?
It has, and it's been for a while. It probably depends on the vet, but I've seen the equivalent of pet BMI charts on a number of exam room walls. Silhouettes of cats or dogs from the side or the top with different levels of tummy roundness. The fatter animals all described as being at risk for arthritis, other joint problems, diabetes, heart disease, and poor health in general.
Hip dysplasia is mostly a growth problem, especially in large-breed puppies (or mixes) that grow rapidly to a large size. Reducing that growth (by not feeding them as much as they would eat by choice) might help reduce the incidence (since they don't have enough food to grow as quickly as their genetics dictates), but it's not a puppy's (or their owner's) fault that selective breeding makes their bodies grow large and fast. Like respiratory problems in short-faced dogs, that's on us collectively. The long answer is to quit breeding animals with a propensity for hip displasia, however much they fit the breed standard otherwise. That doesn't help you with your puppy, and I'm sorry.
Back in the early 90's I had a cat who weighed upwards of 22 pounds. He was a solid 18" tall when sitting. He was long enough he could reach his front paws onto the kitchen counter with his back feet still on the floor. If he had opposable thumbs he could have opened his own cat food cans and served himself. But my vet at the time thought he was too big because the average cat was 9 pounds so he spent most of his life on Science Diet Lo-Cal kibble. I feel terrible about that in retrospect, but at the time I didn't know any better.
He did get arthritis. When he was like 12 or 13. Clearly weight related. Not age. (/s)
Toward the end of his life when he had renal failure and was just bones he still weighed more than 9 pounds.
It's bizarre how vets get sometimes. I have a cocker spaniel who weighs about 30 lbs. She is quite skinny and always has been--her hips and ribs were prominent when I adopted her at 26 lbs, and are still visible now. I had one vet insist she was five pounds overweight because the breed standard says cocker spaniels "should be" 25 lbs. I was like--look at her! You can nearly count the bones in her spine!
(Our other dog weighs 50 lbs and eats *less* than the cocker despite being nearly twice the size, since the cocker regularly gets high-calorie food to try to keep her from being skin and bones. Metabolisms are weird, even in dogs!)
I just wish I was able to respond intelligently when they tell me my dog is fat (at 8 mo!!) and that fat is bad. I’m not going to restrict her food, though. She’s growing and I will trust her body.
We had a vet (a family friend of mine) tell us that with a slightly rounded tummy, our energetic dog was ob*se and would not live so long. He said that "I don't want you to bring him back at a higher weight."
We won't be hearing that again from that vet. The dog's weight hasn't changed one bit, but the vet developed pancreatic cancer and died. The dog is still alive, and energetic!
A previous dog, a great dane, was also harassed due to her weight. That vet, stared at my wife, who was fat, and said that "Dooley wants to be a skinny dog."
But Dooley had the last laugh--she lived until 11, which we were told is 3 years longer than Danes usually live. BTW, we gave her food by Science Diet, which was prescribed for weight loss, but Dooley demanded twice as much of it. What do you give a Dane to eat? Whatever it wants, or it will make your life totally unlivable.
From the article cited regarding surgical risks:
"...the potential benefit of weight loss was not seen and...the post-operative risk of the outcomes we evaluated was higher in certain cases."
So many studies start with the unquestioned assumption that fat=unhealthy and thin=healthy, and weight loss=good and weight gain=bad. Any findings that throw doubt on these assumptions confuses the authors. It's like doubting the germ theory of disease.
I don't see that (Western) medicine is going to be able to move past its present weight bias until it abandons this assumption and all its attendant misconceptions. Doctors have to see all people as human, not White Male and Aberrations. In today's political climate that seems like too big an ask.
I had total hip replacement surgery on 9/27/2022, and people told me I'd be lucky if the surgeon I was referred to agreed to do it because I am a higher-weight person (BMI 34.3). He never said anything at the pre-op appointment, but my paperwork (and also his post appointment notes) had a bunch of "counseling" stuff about healthy eating, exercise, and weight loss, which I ignored. I had it done at a surgery center, stayed overnight, and went home the following morning after being there just a bit over 24 hours. I had no problems with the anesthesia, and my pain was contolled well. I started PT 4 days later, was off my pain meds in 5 days, and "graduated" from PT in 6 weeks! I healed beautifully, and feel FANTASTIC about the results.
I took my 8 mo old dog to the vet for hip dysplasia and they told me she is overweight and that keeping her lean is the best way to help her joints. I asked isn’t weigh bearing good for bones though and she said yes but not for joint issues. She then gave me a research paper on “Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs” (JAVMA, Vol 220, No. 9, May 1, 2002). I find myself confused... is this research sound? I even asked if they found causation and not correlation and she insisted they had. Is that true? Or is diet culture pervading veterinary medicine,too?
It has, and it's been for a while. It probably depends on the vet, but I've seen the equivalent of pet BMI charts on a number of exam room walls. Silhouettes of cats or dogs from the side or the top with different levels of tummy roundness. The fatter animals all described as being at risk for arthritis, other joint problems, diabetes, heart disease, and poor health in general.
Hip dysplasia is mostly a growth problem, especially in large-breed puppies (or mixes) that grow rapidly to a large size. Reducing that growth (by not feeding them as much as they would eat by choice) might help reduce the incidence (since they don't have enough food to grow as quickly as their genetics dictates), but it's not a puppy's (or their owner's) fault that selective breeding makes their bodies grow large and fast. Like respiratory problems in short-faced dogs, that's on us collectively. The long answer is to quit breeding animals with a propensity for hip displasia, however much they fit the breed standard otherwise. That doesn't help you with your puppy, and I'm sorry.
Back in the early 90's I had a cat who weighed upwards of 22 pounds. He was a solid 18" tall when sitting. He was long enough he could reach his front paws onto the kitchen counter with his back feet still on the floor. If he had opposable thumbs he could have opened his own cat food cans and served himself. But my vet at the time thought he was too big because the average cat was 9 pounds so he spent most of his life on Science Diet Lo-Cal kibble. I feel terrible about that in retrospect, but at the time I didn't know any better.
He did get arthritis. When he was like 12 or 13. Clearly weight related. Not age. (/s)
Toward the end of his life when he had renal failure and was just bones he still weighed more than 9 pounds.
Appreciate your response. Really helps me not feel nuts to think that weight-bias is literally everywhere. Not even our pets are safe from it!
It's bizarre how vets get sometimes. I have a cocker spaniel who weighs about 30 lbs. She is quite skinny and always has been--her hips and ribs were prominent when I adopted her at 26 lbs, and are still visible now. I had one vet insist she was five pounds overweight because the breed standard says cocker spaniels "should be" 25 lbs. I was like--look at her! You can nearly count the bones in her spine!
(Our other dog weighs 50 lbs and eats *less* than the cocker despite being nearly twice the size, since the cocker regularly gets high-calorie food to try to keep her from being skin and bones. Metabolisms are weird, even in dogs!)
I just wish I was able to respond intelligently when they tell me my dog is fat (at 8 mo!!) and that fat is bad. I’m not going to restrict her food, though. She’s growing and I will trust her body.
We had a vet (a family friend of mine) tell us that with a slightly rounded tummy, our energetic dog was ob*se and would not live so long. He said that "I don't want you to bring him back at a higher weight."
We won't be hearing that again from that vet. The dog's weight hasn't changed one bit, but the vet developed pancreatic cancer and died. The dog is still alive, and energetic!
A previous dog, a great dane, was also harassed due to her weight. That vet, stared at my wife, who was fat, and said that "Dooley wants to be a skinny dog."
But Dooley had the last laugh--she lived until 11, which we were told is 3 years longer than Danes usually live. BTW, we gave her food by Science Diet, which was prescribed for weight loss, but Dooley demanded twice as much of it. What do you give a Dane to eat? Whatever it wants, or it will make your life totally unlivable.
Appreciate this so much! Thank you for sharing. Weight-bias is soo pervasive, even our dogs are fat shamed!