Veterinarian focus groups were 2.5 hours long. Randomly selected veterinarians from a list of practicing veterinarians within a 30-minute driving radius of the Ontario Veterinary College were invited to participate in the study. All participants were veterinary clients, at least 18 years old, English speaking, and the primary caregiver of a cat or dog. Participating pet owners were provided refreshments during focus group sessions and were paid a CAD $25 honorarium for their participation.

Pet owner focus groups were 2 hours long. A convenience sample of pet owners was recruited by having one of the authors (NJ) approach clients in the lobby of some participating clinics or by posting a recruitment poster in the clinic lobbies. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 veterinary clinics for pet owner recruitment within a 30-minute driving radius of the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Focus groups were used because they have the advantage of allowing observation of how participants express and sometimes modify their viewpoints during interactions with others, producing data that may be less accessible without this participant interaction (eg, during one-on-one interviews or in response to survey questionnaires). A semistructured interview format was followed, which included open-ended questions and follow-up probes. 7 In brief, the pet owner and veterinarian focus group discussion guides 8 were developed by the research team to explore veterinarians’ and pet owners’ perceptions of information exchange and decision-making during companion animal visits. The methodology of the focus groups has been previously described in full. The objectives of the study reported here were to explore and compare veterinarians’ and pet owners’ perceptions of pet weight–related communication in companion animal practice and identify pet owner expectations for weight-related communication and veterinarian challenges when discussing pet weight. 6Ĭurrently, a comprehensive understanding of pet owners’ perceptions and expectations when discussing pet weight with veterinarians is lacking. 1, 2 Similar barriers may exist for veterinarians, for whom apprehension about discussing pet obesity due to fear of harming their relationship with the client has been assumed, 3– 5 and veterinarians have reported perceived issues with client compliance, lack of time, and the client’s own obesity as reasons they may not address pet obesity. In human medicine, several barriers to effective conversations about being overweight or obese have been identified for physicians communicating with their patients, including time constraints, stigma, effects on patient mental health, being unclear on appropriate language, fear of damaging rapport, and concerns about patient readiness to consider weight management. As concerns about the prevalence of pet obesity continue to increase, a clear understanding of veterinarian-client communication specific to pet weight is an important aspect of tackling this growing problem.

Pet weight management in truro