Website provides tools for pet nutrition

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The Pet Nutrition Alliance has developed a website to provide veterinary professionals with credible resources on pet nutrition. The PNA announced the website Jan. 19 at the North American Veterinary Community Conference in Orlando, Fla.

The American Animal Hospital Association, the AVMA, and other veterinary organizations established the PNA to promote the importance of proper pet nutrition and the value of nutritional assessments for every pet at every veterinary visit. The PNA website offers a collection of tools on pet nutrition for veterinary professionals to use in practice and to educate clients.

“Our goal was to create this go-to website where people could find all sorts of nutritional information from pretty much every credible source out there,” said Kate Spencer, AAHA communications manager.

Pet Nutrition Alliance logoA PNA committee developed the website by compiling existing resources on pet nutrition and writing answers to frequently asked questions, Spencer said. She noted that the website does not have any company branding, although some of the tools come from companies. The PNA is rolling out the website to veterinary professionals now and will roll out the website to pet owners later this year.

The website has sections with resources for veterinary teams, nutritional guidelines, and resources for pet owners. Tools include the following:

  • Online training on weight loss programs for pets.
  • A Web conference on pet foods.
  • A “Healthy Weight Protocol” tool to determine an overweight pet’s ideal weight.
  • Feline and canine assessment forms.
  • Checklists for physical examinations.
  • Feeding guides and charts.
  • Charts for body and muscle condition scores.
  • Nutrition pamphlets for pet owners.
  • Step-by-step instructions on how to report problems with pet food.
  • A tool to translate pet weight to comparable human weight.
  • Printable client information sheets.
  • Articles on communicating with clients about weight and nutrition.

“With obesity and weight-related diseases on the rise, education about proper nutrition for optimal pet health is more important now than ever before,” said Dr. Kate Knutson, chair of the PNA. “Veterinary health care teams need tangible tools they can use to meet this challenge head-on. Our vision in launching these resources is to bring a variety of credible, vetted nutrition tools to veterinary professionals so that they can better address nutrition in their practices.”

The website is here.

Related JAVMA content:

Pet Nutrition Alliance advocates nutritional assessments (May 15, 2012)