60-Hour Canine & Feline Clinical Nutrition Course

Circle of Nutrition – concept and clinical application

• Nutritional assessment – screening, extended evaluation, identifying risk factors
• Diet‑specific, animal‑specific, environmental factors
• Body Condition Scoring (BCS) and Muscle Condition Scoring (MCS)
• Dietary history – structure, collection, interpretation
• Key calculations – energy and nutrient requirements for dogs and cats
• Client communication – how to address owner concerns
• Evaluating pet foods – manufacturing, composition, WSAVA guidelines
• Building client trust through personalised nutrition plans

Focus on unconventional diets (home‑made, raw, cooked)

• “Safe? Nutritious? Right for the pet?” evaluation model
• Detecting nutrient gaps & common imbalances
• Microbial hazards in raw diets – risk mitigation
• Owner belief systems & feeding philosophy
• Environmental and food-safety considerations
• Support vet’s in neutral, evidence-based guidance

Obesity as a pathology. Accurate assessment of the obese patient.

• Diets suitable for a structured weight-loss protocol
• Implementing and monitoring the weight-loss plan – the road to success
• Obesity with comorbidities – solving complex cases (endocrine, orthopedic, GI)
• Nutritional management of the obese patient in the intensive-care unit
• Weight-control strategies for large-breed growing dogs
• Diets and nutraceuticals for joint health

Strategies for Canine & Feline Liver Disorders

• Prevalence & breed predispositions: copper-storage hepatopathy, chronic hepatitis, idiopathic liver cirrhosis, congenital portosystemic shunt, hepatic lipidosis, biliary tract inflammation in cats (feline cholangitis / cholangiohepatitis
• Dietary modifications for management of different hepatopathies:
• • • protein type, amount and digestibility 
    • energy density, dietary fat 
    • dietary fibre type and amount 
    • minerals, hepatoprotective nutraceuticals
• Diet selection & monitoring for commercial and home-prepared hepatic diets

Food intolerances and allergies 

• Food intolerances – diagnosis and nutritional management
• Food allergies – dermatological manifestations in dogs and cats
• Elimination-diet protocol – step-by-step implementation and re-challenge
• Practical challenges: owner compliance, treats, supplements, hidden ingredients
• Strengthening the skin barrier through targeted nutrients (essential fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants)
• Dietary support in patients with atopic dermatitis

Targeted Nutrition for Complex GI Disorders

• Hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome, chronic enteropathies & protein-losing enteropathies, lymphangiectasia and short-bowel syndrome
• Etiopathogenesis overview for each condition
• Key nutritional factors & evidence-based supplementation
• Diet selection strategies for GI recovery and maintenance
• Microbiome modulation: probiotics, prebiotics, Fecal Transplant Therapy

Nutrition for Diabetes, Pancreatitis & EPI

• Endocrine:
  • Diabetes – etiopathogenesis, dietary management, diabetes and comorbidities, diabetic cat vs. diabetic dog
  • Insulinoma – diet selection and management
• Exocrine: pancreatic insufficiency, EPI – management and diet selection,
  • Pancreatitis – acute vs. chronic, diet selection and management

Selecting and Administering Diets for Critically Ill Patients

• Nutrition in the intensive care unit: per os, enteral, parenteral
• Refeeding-syndrome prevention and monitoring
• Short-term enteral nutrition (NE / NG tubes) vs. long-term (E / G tubes) 
• Nutritional support for oncology and cachectic patients

Optimising Diets for Urolithiasis, Cystitis & FLUTD

• Causes, clinical signs and diagnostic approaches for urolithiasis – dogs vs. cats
  
• Common stone types, pathogenesis and targeted dissolution / prevention diets
  
• Nutritional and medical prevention and treatment strategies
  
• Diet management strategies for cystitis and Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD)
  
• Monitoring and adjusting the plan: urinalysis, imaging and owner compliance

Nutrition for Chronic & Acute Renal Disorders

• Chronic kidney disease (CKD) vs acute kidney injury (AKI) 
  
• IRIS staging system – how and when to apply it in clinical practice
  
• Dietary management: water intake, phosphorus, high-quality protein, ω-3 fatty acids, energy density, potassium, sodium, vitamins, dietary fibre, antioxidants
  
• Selecting renal diets – commercial therapeutic formulas vs balanced home-made plans

 Recognising and Correcting Diet-Induced Disorders

• Pathophysiology, diagnosis and clinical signs of diet-related diseases
  – dilated cardiomyopathy (diet-associated)
  – nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism
  – thiamine deficiency
  – vitamin A toxicity
  – other key deficiencies and excesses
• How to recognize clinical signs, utilize appropriate diagnostic tools, and design nutritional interventions tailored to address each condition and improve animal outcomes.

Prioritizing nutrition in complex cases (decision-making, comorbidities, communication)

• Real-life composite cases with overlapping conditions
• Step-by-step decision-making for setting dietary priorities
• Balancing macronutrient and micronutrient targets across comorbidities
• Integrating nutrition into multimodal treatment plans
• Communicating complex recommendations clearly to pet owners