Nutritional Counseling for Pets
Choosing a nutrient rich diet designed to meet your pet’s changing needs over the course of her lifetime plays a key role in your pet’s health and longevity.
But that’s easy, right? The pet store shelves are overflowing with foods proclaiming to be perfect for your pooch or top-notch for your tabby. It might surprise you to learn that it’s not quite that simple. Your pet is an individual with unique dietary needs, and professional nutritional counseling from your veterinarian is the ideal way to take the guesswork out of planning your pet’s menu.
Read on for reasons why nutritional counseling is a healthiest choice for pets!
Choosing the Right Food
With so many brands, textures, styles, and flavors—not to mention fad diets—the act of choosing a pet food can be overwhelming. We can help. During your pet’s wellness exam, we’ll weigh your pet, take a full health history (if we don’t already have it), and ask you about her eating habits and lifestyle. Together, these ingredients will reveal the perfect recipe for your pet’s nutritional needs.
Adjusting the Diet to Your Pet’s Life Stages
Your pet’s body will change over time—on the inside and the outside—and her nutritional needs will change too. Nutritional counseling can help you better understand how to adjust your pet’s diet through each life stage:
- The Early Years: Energetic puppies and kittens need more calories and plenty of nutrients to help them grow into healthy adults.
- Adulting: Once pets reach maturity, they need a balanced diet that gives them enough energy to remain active while also helping them maintain a healthy body weight.
- Growing Families: Those caring for a pregnant pet need to ensure that she’s getting the extra calories she needs to carry and nurse her offspring.
- The Golden Years: Senior pets often need special diets to help manage the symptoms associated with certain health conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes, or hyperthyroidism.
When Special Diets are Needed
Prescription or therapeutic diets are often recommended for pets with medical conditions, such chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, or heart disease. This typically impacts senior pets, but pets at any age can develop a health problem that could be mitigated with a prescription diet.
Portion Control
Knowing how much and how often to feed your pet is critical at every life stage because too much of a good thing can lead to obesity. Nutritional counseling can help you pinpoint portion sizes and frequency of feeding.
Creating a Well-Rounded Plan for Health and Longevity
Choosing an optimal diet to meet your pet’s nutritional needs at each life stage will significantly impact your pet’s quality of life and longevity. Responsible pet owners know that nutritional counseling should be part of any pet’s comprehensive healthcare plan.
At Beverly Hills Veterinary Associates, we’re proud to offer our pet families the benefits of diet and nutritional counseling. Please contact us today to schedule your pet’s visit.