Blog
Nutrition: every veterinarian knows it is hugely important, yet everyday reality is that nutrition is THE neglected topic in practice. During our training, when we first encounter the subject, the first thing that stands out is how much calculating is involved — and how much we dislike it. Calculating energy densities of diets, calculating energy requirements, let alone requirements for individual nutrients. After all, the body needs nutrients, so if we want to be sure it gets what it needs, we have to pick up the calculator. Everyday experience, however, is that very little calculating gets done. We have complete (dietetic) foods, after all, for which the manufacturer has done the thinking for us. They are completely formulated, and if Rex or Whiskers eat enough of them, everything will be fine — right?
The importance of tailor-made advice
When handing over a bag of food, the advice is often to look at the back of the packaging, where the feeding amount the dog or cat needs is stated. But what if Rex or Whiskers get far too heavy on that amount? Or that little puppy grows far too fast on it? The quick advice is then simply to feed less. But is that safe? Won’t Rex, Whiskers or the puppy run short of nutrients? Many puppy foods, for example, are formulated fairly tightly when it comes to the building blocks calcium and phosphorus, precisely to prevent bone growth problems. Simply feeding less can mean the amount of building blocks becomes too low and deficiencies creep into the ration. Yet this is rarely if ever considered. If we don’t calculate, we don’t know — and the trouble is that we often find out late that things were not quite right. The body has an enormous reserve capacity to compensate for deficiencies for a long time before things go wrong. And unfortunately, that compensation mechanism is called upon all too often.
Nutrition, then, is more than putting that bag of food on the counter and stating that the diets sold through the practice are of better quality than supermarket food. Yet that is the level of advice in many practices today. Good nutritional advice is tailor-made advice, taking the animal’s background into account. Neutering, activity and body condition all need to be considered to give proper individual advice. This leads to a first estimate of the energy requirement. And then, ideally, you assess which diet is suitable for an animal with that particular energy requirement.
Good nutritional advice also means properly following up the consequences of your initial advice. Is that puppy’s growth not too fast? Does that adult dog or cat stay at a healthy weight on the proposed feeding amount? So: regular monitoring of weight and body condition, so the feeding advice is tuned ever more closely to the patient’s individual situation. And remember to map out the extras the animal receives. If a puppy grows too fast, or a dog or cat gets too heavy, ask about the extras as well — and address those first, before advising a smaller ration.
Giving good nutritional advice is tailor-made work, and to make that easier and raise the quality of advice, I developed FeedWise. An independent nutrition platform for the veterinary practice that makes individual advice possible, follows up the patient, and also keeps an eye on whether the required feeding amount covers all of the animal’s nutrient needs.
Curious about this solution for nutritional advice in everyday practice?