Nutrition is the fifth vital assessment when dealing with patients, it is vital to get this correct throughout the animal’s life in order to maintain a good quality of life, prevent nutrition related diseases and increase longevity. There is a myriad of nutritional complications that can occur differing between the species and breeds, with varying nutritional requirements needed dependent on the signalment of the animal. The importance of nutrition has a large impact on the animals life and one of our roles as nurses is to educate our clients on the best diets for their pet, therefore it is important to know not just what is the preferred diet but what can go wrong if the diet supplied has inadequate nutritional value for that animal. Studies have shown that feeding the correct diet can increase QOL and longevity for the patient therefore reducing medication requirements; consequently it is important to get this correct from the beginning. This webinar will discuss the nutritional requirements of healthy dogs and cats from birth, growth until adult maintenance.

Nutrition support is often overlooked or delayed in the management of acutely unwell or hospitalised cats and dogs, as medical and surgical treatments take priority. This presentation outlines the importance of early nutritional assessment and intervention in the management of sick cats and dogs, and offers practical solutions to the provision of nutrition support for the at-risk patient. It covers the reasons why early nutrition support can improve patient outcomes, and simple guidelines to assess the nutritional status of patients. Different feeding methods will be discussed, and case studies will be used to demonstrate the appropriate choice of feeding for particular cases.

As nutritional support is now considered an integral part of managing critically ill patients, this presentation will focus of assessing patient’s needs for nutritional support and strategies for introducing feeding in hospitalised small animals.