Nutrition

 Isuru Gajanayake, of Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service, discusses the use of nutritional therapies to manage disease in the feline gastrointestinal tract.

Veterinary professionals are often called upon to provide guidance on appropriate nutrition for animals under their care. Since nutrition is the cornerstone of all good veterinary care it should ideally form part of the discussion with every pet owner seeking advice about their pet. As veterinary professionals, our advice to our clients should always be based on sound scientific evidence, whenever available, excellent clinical reasoning and informed risk management. Given the wealth of information available to pet owners, it is the responsibility of veterinary professionals to assist them in making decisions about what to feed their pet. As well as ensuring that minimum nutritional requirements are met, the chosen diet should ideally provide optimal nutrition. Updated in 2023, this guide now includes 4 new sections on alternative protein-based diets, plant-based diets, obesity care and restricted activity.

Written by Georgia Woods-Lee and edited by Marge Chandler and Alex J. German.

A free webinar The essential ingredients for a good nutritional recommendation is now available to provide additional support.

Last updated: August 2023. If you previously bought the full guide you should automatically have access to the new chapters.

Dietary dangers and dilemmas: the vet’s point of view

• In the context of current trends and choices being made by caregivers, understand how caregivers’ nutritional choices can impact patient’s physical and emotional health
• Consider the communication skills needed to keep clients with you, so as to maintain positive influences on the patient’s wellbeing
• Apply the principles of dog friendly interactions in the context patient nutrition

Dietary dangers and dilemmas: the nurse’s point of view

• In the context of current trends and choices being made by caregivers, understand how caregivers’ nutritional choices can impact patient’s physical and emotional health
• Consider the communication skills needed to keep clients with you, so as to maintain positive influences on the patient’s wellbeing
• Apply the principles of dog friendly interactions in the context patient nutrition

Dogs in the UK are getting the first taste of a novel foodstuff that is likely to appear with increasing frequency on their owners’ dinner plates over the next few years. Insect protein may have to become a regular part of our diet if we are to feed an ever-growing global population without destroying the planet. John Bonner reports…

Nicola Lakeman walks us through the process of nutritional recommendation decision making, including, reviewing the body condition score, blood haematologists, supplements, phosphate levels and much more. Learn@Lunch broadcasts are available to BSAVA members only and are free to attend - visit the education page of the BSAVA website for details of future Learn@Lunch webinars. Recordings will be available for 3 years via the BSAVA Webinar Library.

In this free webinar, Georgia Woods provides an introduction to the BSAVA Guide to Nutrition, looking at the aims of a nutritional recommendation and the quality of the current evidence in this field.

Appropriate nutritional support has long been considered essential for the recovery of postoperative, critically ill and injured human patients. Whilst there is convincing evidence of the deleterious effects of malnutrition in people, the optimal nutritional strategies for critically ill and postoperative animals remain controversial and are largely unknown. Despite the lack of definitive answers, it must be emphasized that recommendations for nutritional support of critically ill animals are based on current understanding of the metabolic response to injury and the limited clinical information available. This should not discourage the implementation of nutritional support for critically ill or injured animals. In fact, with proper patient selection, sound nutritional planning and careful monitoring, nutritional support can be an integral part of the successful recovery of many critically ill animals. This chapter covers Metabolic responses; Identifying the need for nutritional support; Nutritional assessment; Nutritional plan; Modes of nutritional support; and Complications of providing nutrition in the critically ill.