Veterinarian nutritional guidance integral to pet healthJanuary 8, 2020While discussions related to nutrition might sometimes take the back seat during wellness checks, veterinarians should play a proactive role in their patients’ diets, as many owners are blind to their pet’s potential weight problem.
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Nutrition and GI disease: Assessing ingredients in complete and balanced dietsJanuary 2, 2020In both companion animal and human nutrition, the concept of gut health is a point of major focus in foods and supplements. Veterinarians are often faced with the challenge of prescribing the right diets that fit both the pet’s needs and its owner’s resources.
K-State internship focuses on small animal obesityNovember 26, 2019A collaboration between Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Kansas State University (K-State) emphasizes the value of nutrition and weight management for pets.
Hill's nutrition facility to focus on small dogsAugust 19, 2019Small and miniature dog breeds are set to receive the star treatment at Hill’s Pet Nutrition’s “Small Paws” center in Topeka, Kan.
Research updates on diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathyAugust 15, 2019As veterinarians, our mission to identify curable conditions is everlasting, but like many of our human colleagues, we too may be overlooking the most logical etiology of all—food.
Zoetis strengthens equine portfolio with acquisitionJuly 25, 2019Zoetis Inc., has entered into an agreement to purchase Platinum Performance. The acquisition aims to strengthen Zoetis’s nutritional offerings, particularly within the equine market.
What does FDA's DCM alert mean?July 8, 2019Last week brought a revealing announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After frequent and persistent petitioning from veterinarians, veterinary nutritionists, and caregivers, the FDA finally released a list of the brands that have been linked to cases of diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Since June 27, my inbox and social media sites have been blowing up with shares, retweets, and emails from concerned friends and family. The story was even picked up by major new outlets such as CNN and ABC, adding to the fervor. But I'm conflicted about this report. On one hand, certain pet food manufacturers have taken a very cavalier approach to their diet's role in this preventable and potentially deadly disease. Because only a relatively "small percentage" of dogs develop diet-associated DCM on their foods, they insist there is no problem, ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. On the other hand, the FDA's report paints a broad stroke over specific brands and is being interpreted (at least by the concerned friends and owners I've talked to) as an indictment of all "grain-free" diets or of certain manufacturers, which is a less than helpful oversimplification of a complex problem. As I advised in my …
Before you change the diet…February 7, 2019Naughty Girl is a healthy six-month old terrier puppy who is being fed a complete and balanced commercial growth food. She lives with Bad Boy, a four-year old beagle-spaniel cross who is fed an adult maintenance dog food. Bad Boy is brought to your clinic for a two-day history of vomiting and acting sluggish (or punky). Your physical exam reveals some pain on abdominal palpation and a lab test for canine pancreas-specific lipase is "abnormal," suggesting an elevated lipase level. Your suspicion of pancreatitis is high and, after rehydrating the dog with fluids, you send him home on a fat-restricted therapeutic diet. Is a diet change warranted in this situation? Nutrition textbooks and veterinary nutritionists refer to dietary fat as a "nutrient of concern" or "key nutritional factor" when talking about nutritional management for patients with pancreatitis. However, before automatically switching a patient's diet, conduct a thorough nutritional assessment to get the whole picture of what's happening in the home environment. Performing a nutritional assessment involves collecting information about the patient, the diet, and feeding management (Baldwin, et. al. 2010). This is not a process that involves extra time or work—a nutritional assessment begins with routine information collected about …
Vitamin E: Necessary to horses, but there's a lot to learnFebruary 5, 2019Vitamin E seems to be at the forefront of many discussions about horse nutrition these days. Contrary to appearances, vitamin E is not a vitamin in and of itself. Rather, it's a group of eight compounds—four tocopherols and four tocotrienols—that are fat soluble. This vitamin is important for myriad functions in the horse's body, including but not limited to, and in no particular order, the eyes, the reproductive tract, and the neuromuscular system. The most important function of vitamin E seems to be as a biological antioxidant. In this way, and probably by other ways that haven't been determined yet, vitamin E serves to maintain many normal body functions of the horse. Vitamin E-related problems generally manifest in the horse's neuromuscular system. In young horses, these include nutritional myodegeneration, neuroaxonal dystrophy, and equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy; in older horses, a lack of vitamin E is associated with vitamin E-deficient muscle problems or equine motor neuron disease. The grass is greener and packed with vitamin E Happily, for most horses, there is ample vitamin E provided in the diet. Green grass is a great source of vitamin E—most things that are green have a good bit of it. Those horses lucky …
Debating raw dietsJanuary 2, 2019In spite of resistance from most veterinarians and from public health authorities, the popularity of raw meat-based diets for dogs and cats continues to grow.
