Nutrition

With the hundreds of pet foods available today, an owner's decision about what to feed his or her pet has become a more complicated question than it once was.

Although dietary supplements are thought to be safe because they are natural, this is not necessarily so.

The process of choosing an appropriate diet for an animal with cardiac disease involves examining the patient, the diet, and the owner's feeding practices and considering all the issues at hand.

When patients are unable to tolerate enteral feeding, parenteral (intravenous) nutrition should be considered. A veterinary facility with the ability to obtain and maintain aseptic vascular access, to provide attentive 24-hour nursing care, and to perform in-house serum chemistry analysis can provide parenteral nutritional support.

Obesity is the most common nutritional disorder affecting dogs and cats in the United States (and, now, other countries), and its treatment is extremely challenging.

Dr. Matthew Beal discusses an exciting new technique that allows enteral nutritional support in critically ill veterinary patients that can't tolerate gastric feeding because of severe vomiting or a risk of aspiration pneumonia.

Dietary fiber may help dogs and cats feel fuller by diluting calories.

A recent clinical study shows the efficacy of the upgraded IVF weight loss diets in optimizing body composition and body weight inoverweight dogs and cats.

Through this roundtable, we hope to provide practicing veterinarians with a better understanding of how to recognize food allergies and food intolerance in both cats and dogs, as well as how to help manage the condition through diet.

With increasing weight comes increased weight-related disorders, especially osteoarthritis and type 2 diabetes. It's up to veterinarians to reverse this trend and save our patients from suffering needlessly.

In this interactive case, investigate why Misou has lost her appetite.

New research in dogs has been conducted to see if early feeding in cases of severe acute pancreatitis is well-tolerated.

Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. - moisture-enhanced feline diet, coupled with increased activity, may inhibit the rate of weight gain in cats, according to research published in the June issue of the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition.

Find out from Drs. Pete VanVranken and Richard Ford in our Specialist in the Spotlight video series.

This reader tip shows how mini-muffin tins may be just the answer.

There are many myths and misconceptions about pet nutrition and commercial pet foods that are commonly propagated online, in written marketing material for various pet food companies, and by third party "non-biased" sources such as pet lover magazines.

Renal disease is one of the medical conditions in veterinary medicine that is most amenable to dietary management. Research in both dogs and cats has demonstrated that specially formulated diets for renal disease help prevent uremic episodes, slow disease progression, and can double survival time.

I have had the great opportunity to work professionally in a variety of positions including private practice veterinarian, extension veterinarian, and tech service nutritionist for a major feed company.

There are many ways to feed a transition dairy cow, specifically a prefresh cow. They include low-energy, high-forage diets that are identical to the diet fed far-off dry cows, the far-off dry cow ration with additional additives such as anionic salts or rumen-protected choline, or a separate prefresh ration with an energy level intermediate between the far-off dry cow ration and the fresh cow diet.

Many clients whose pets are being treated for cancer are interested in potential benefits from nutritional modifications. Some owners blame a diet for causing the cancer while others want to home-cook so they can feel like they are actively contributing to their pet's care. Still another group has done "research" online and in various books and would like to modify or supplement their pet's diet in the hope that these changes will help cure their pet.

Stress Starvation: lack or absence of calories and protein (absolute or relative) compounded by physiologic stress associated with illness or injury.

Struvite and calcium oxalate are by far the most common types of uroliths in cats and dogs. Less commonly seen are urate and cysteine, although the prevalence within specific breeds may be high.

There remains much confusion when it comes to feeding growing puppies. Many traditional recommendations of breeders and veterinarians, such as switching growing large breed dogs to adult food or not using growth diets at all, are no longer appropriate and may be harmful.

Nutrition is often overlooked in patients that present for wellness visits and is often a low priority when it comes to the management of ill patients. However, it is important to collect a thorough nutrition history for all new and continuing patients, sick and well, and update this history regularly.

Intensive milk or milk replacer programs, also known as accelerated growth programs, enhanced growth programs, or perhaps most properly biologically appropriate feeding programs have had a great influence on bottle calf nutrition programs on U.S. dairies in the past 10 years.