Veterinary Nutritional Consulting
When to Consult a Veterinary Nutrition Specialist
The right diet can help to increase your pet's life expectancy and improve their quality of life. Pets that receive a nutritionally balanced diet experience fewer stomach issues, less sensitive skin and a healthier coat.
A nutritional consultation with our certified Groton nutrition specialist will provide you with all the tools you need to:
- Address your pet's health issues through dietary changes
- Improve your dog or cat's diet to help them achieve their very best health
- Resolve your pet's weight problem to avoid future health complications like diabetes
Finding the Right Unique Diet for Each Unique Dog and Cat
Animal Nutrition Specialist
Nutritional advice from your animal nutrition specialist can help to transform your pet's health; while most pets will be fine on a standard diet, eating healthier, balanced meals will always serve them well to maintain their health. If your pet is obese, underweight, suffering from allergy symptoms, or being treated for a serious condition, intervention by a professional nutritional counselor could remedy the issue.
Life Stage Nutrition
Your dog or cat's nutritional requirements can change dramatically over the course of their lifespan. Our dog and cat nutritional specialist will work to help you adapt to your pet's needs at every stage of their life in order to help maintain their best possible level of health.
Weight Consultation
As with people, obesity in pets is strongly linked to a number of serious, potentially life-threatening, conditions. Furthermore, carrying too much extra weight causes immense additional stress to be placed on the joints in dogs and in cats. Injury and degradation of joints associated with obesity make up a notable portion of cases we treat at Companion Animal Hospital. Through nutritional counseling, our certified nutritionist can help you find the best way for your pet to achieve a healthy weight.
FAQs About Pet Nutrition Consulting in Groton
Read our FAQs for answers to our most frequently asked questions about nutritional consulting at Companion Animal Hospital.
If you have further questions about nutritional consulting, please feel free to contact us!
- How will a nutritional consultation help my pet? No one understands your animal's health concerns like your vet. Many serious health conditions can be treated or managed successfully with the help of a specially modified diet. If your animal is suffering from kidney disease, allergies, diabetes, or other serious health conditions, book a nutritional consultation with your Groton vet and our certified nutritionist.
- How can I tell if my pet is overweight?
If your dog or cat is a healthy weight you should be able to see a waistline just above their hips if you look straight down at them from above.
You should also be able to feel their ribs when you run your hand along their side, and see that their abdomen is slimmer than their ribcage when viewed from the side.
If you believe that your pet is overweight, book a nutritional consultation to learn how to get your animal's weight to a healthy level while maintaining good nutrition.
- Will my pet enjoy eating a new diet?
While specially formulated prescription diets that are created to address specific health concerns, they can't help unless your pet is happy to eat them. For that reason, manufacturers of all kinds of pet foods work hard to ensure that the foods they formulate are enjoyable for cats and dogs as well as nutritionally balanced. It may take a while for your pet to get used to their new food, but chances are that they will soon learn to love it.
- Will my pet need supplements?
Supplements can play an essential role in the healthy management or treatment of your pet's health condition, but they aren't always required.
Your vet will take the time to assess your pet's overall health and recommend any supplements they feel will help to improve your pet's health.
- Can pets get diabetes?
Cases of diabetes are on the rise in pets and are often linked to obesity.
If you think that your cat or dog is suffering from diabetes, see contact your vet right away to book an examination for your pet. Left untreated, diabetes in pets can result in serious complications.
- What are the symptoms of diabetes in dogs?
Common symptoms of diabetes in dogs include increased or excessive thirst, frequent urination, excessive appetite, and unexplained weight loss.
If the condition is left untreated, your dog may begin showing signs of visual impairment or blindness, still joints, reduced energy, poor coat, and chronic vomiting.
- What are the symptoms of diabetes in cats?
Some of the most common symptoms of diabetes in cats include increased thirst, increased urination, weakness, dehydration, vomiting or diarrhea, staggering or poor control of hind leg movements.
If your cat is displaying any of the symptoms above, veterinary care is essential.