3 tips to rock your diet trial

This content is sponsored by Blue Buffalo.

Diet trials are a cornerstone of diagnosing and managing food-responsive skin disease, but success depends on more than just picking a food. Getting a clean, conclusive result requires the right patient, client, and plan from the start.

In this latest installment, Julia E. Miller, DVM, DACVD, walks through the essentials of a well-run diet trial: identifying patients with year-round pruritus who've had other causes ruled out; pairing them with clients ready to commit fully to the diet; stocking a range of prescription, hydrolyzed, and novel protein options in both canned and kibble forms; and locking in in-person rechecks at the time of the initial exam to confirm the diet is working as intended.

Below is a full transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Julia E. Miller, DVM, DACVD: Hi, my name is Dr Julia Miller, board-certified veterinary dermatologist. Let me share with you 3 tips to rock your diet trials.

No. 1: Make sure you choose the right patient and the right client. [Does] your patient…have year-round pruritus? If they do, have you ruled out all of the other things that could potentially be causing that pruritus? For the other part of that, it's the client. Do you have a client [who] is willing and able to be really strict with the diet?

No. 2: You want to make sure that you have a lot of diets at your disposal. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to diet trials—except I always, always, always want you to do a prescription diet. Other than that, hydrolyze [and] novel protein. There are lots of different options out there. Personally, I like things that have a canned option and a kibble option, but it's different for every patient. So just make sure you're aware of what's out there so that you can have lots at your disposal.

No. 3, follow-up is so important. Please don't just prescribe the food, send them out the door, and never see them again…. Set up in-person rechecks, and get those rechecks scheduled at the time of the exam. Forward booking is our best friend; that way, you can make sure [that the diet is working and the client is feeding it appropriately]. And we can make sure we're not prescribing food that isn't necessary, so make sure you have good follow-ups for that, too.

I'm Dr Julia Miller. Make sure to come back to dvm360 for more Pet Connections.