Therapeutic nutrition is when food is used to help treat a disease or condition. Nutrition plays an important part in a pet’s health, healing, immune function, performance and disease. The goal of using therapeutic nutrition is to help alleviate clinical signs, and improve the quality of life. Therapeutic diets are specially formulated to either have a decrease or increase in certain nutrients that may or may not be beneficial to your pet.
The first step in finding out if your pet needs therapeutic nutrition is to see your veterinarian. It is very important for the veterinarian to know a complete history about your pet. Depending on what the veterinarian might suspect, they may recommend doing more diagnostic testing such as blood work. After the veterinarian has a complete work-up for your pet, they will make a treatment plan that may or may not include a therapeutic diet.
Therapeutic diets got their start back in the 1930’s by a gentleman named Dr. Mark Morris, Sr. Dr. Morris was the founder of Hill’s (Science Diet). For over 60 years, Hill’s has been creating and improving therapeutic diets. Below is a list that shows some of the diseases/conditions that can be managed by therapeutic nutrition.
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The Animal Hospital of Waynesville strongly supports Hill’s Science Diet. We feel that due to their on-going research and quest to make sure that all pets get the proper nutrition that Hill’s is above the other leading pet food brands.
If you have any questions regarding your pet’s nutrition or questions regarding the above diets or other Science Diet products please feel free to call or email us today. We also offer nutritional consultations with registered veterinarian technicians.