Suporte nutricional de cães e gatos durante o internamento

Abstract

Dogs and cats admitted to veterinary clinics and hospitals are most often affected by serious illnesses with a high risk of death. Many of these go without eating properly, have insufficient caloric intake and suffer metabolic changes that worsen their general condition. Adequate nutritional support during hospitalization improves responses to treatments, optimizes tissue healing and repair, maximizes the immune response, and prevents the loss of muscle mass. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the adequacy of nutritional support on the evolution of patients admitted to a veterinary clinic, in the city of Campina Grande, PB. For comparison, data were collected from 862 animals admitted to the clinic from January to October 2019, before the experiment. The average length of stay and the percentages of death and euthanasia in the period were determined. The adequacy of nutritional support during the experiment comprised the adoption of a set of measures such as the use of food and appropriate supply for the stage of life and illness; monitoring food consumption, body weight and nutritional status of animals. The experimental period lasted 83 days and 154 dogs and cats were evaluated. For the period, the same variables of the retrospective evaluation were determined, in addition to the daily caloric intake of the animals (Kcal/Kg 0.75/day) and variation in body weight during the hospitalization period. Considering the data collected from patients seen before the study, the average length of stay was 3.9±3,7 days for dogs and 4,7±3,8 days for cats, which varied from 1 to 28 days of hospitalization. The death and euthanasia rates calculated in this period were16,4 and 1,7% of cases. In the experimental period, when the animals received adequate nutritional support, the average hospital stay was shorter, with 2,9±2,3 days for dogs and 4,3±3,4 days for cats, with hospitalization time varying between 1 and 13 days. Death and euthanasia rates were 13,1 e 3,1% of cases. The average caloric intake of the animals during the experiment was 69,6±49.8 Kcal / Kg0,75/ day, which is close to the minimum need for rest. The mean variation in body weight (%) that considered the weight of the day of admission and the day of departure from hospitalization was positive (gain) of + 2.41 ± 8.5%. During the study 45,7% of the animals gained weight during hospitalization, 40,3% maintained their weight when they entered the clinic and only 13,9% lost weight during hospitalization. Most of the clinic's employees considered nutritional adequacy during hospitalization as a relevant factor for the improvement of patients and that practices could somehow be included in the clinic's routine. From the results of the research, it was possible to observe the importance of nutritional management for adequate caloric intake and maintenance of patients' body weight during hospitalization, which seems to have a lower mortality and hospitalization time.