Proper nutrition

Nutritional Counseling in Older Pets

There are many conditions that require special nutritional attention in our older pets. Dental disease, kidney disease, liver disease, weight management, heart disease, bladder stones, food allergies, intestinal disorders, pancreatic disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus and cognitive disorders are just a few.

The determination for which diet would be best is based primarily on recent labwork. Labwork as basic as urinalysis for instance can indicate the need for a kidney diet even before blood work would enable us to come to the same conclusion. Once a diagnosis is reached based on the blood work a prescription food can be recommended. A recent study has shown that pets diagnosed early with renal disease can live twice as long fed a proper diet when compared with pets whose diet was not changed. (ACVIM Forum 2002 Proceedings)

Another common indication for nutritional counseling we see is weight management. A recent study by Purina (the longest running study ever conducted in dogs) showed that dogs of proper body weight could live up to 15% longer than a pet that is overweight. The article summary can be seen at www.purina.com/institute/news.asp?article=421 Degenerative arthritis can be much more difficult to control if a pet is overweight as can cardiac and other diseases.

There are many other conditions including diabetes, pancreatitis, urinary calculi, liver diseases and cancer that can affect older pets and can be addressed following a complete physical exam and a discussion of lab findings.

Here is a list of goods we commonly prescribe for pets with the following conditions:
• Weight management   R/D or W/D or M/D (cats only)
• Kidney disease   K/D or Select Care Modified
• Heart disease   K/D
• Dental disease prevention  T/D or Science Diet Oral Care
• Diabetes Mellitus   W/D or Purina DM
• Cognitive disorders   B/D
• Intestinal problems   I/D
• Food Allergies   Z/D
• Hypertension    K/D or Select Care Modified
• Bladder Stones   C/D, U/D, K/D or Select Care Modified

(Please note: all “X/X” diets are produced by Hills and are prescription diets available only through veterinarians following an exam and appropriate labwork)

We look forward to helping your pet live a long and healthy life by addressing their special nutritional needs.