Pet Nutritional Counseling in Raleigh

Ensuring Your Pet Enjoys a Healthy & Balanced Diet

Just as nutrition is a crucial part of our lives, it's important to our pets’ lives as well. Whether your pet could stand to lose a little extra weight, or they have special nutritional needs, our veterinarians can help.

Nutritional counseling is an important part of what our veterinarians do every day at Leesville Animal Hospital because a healthy diet makes for a healthy pet. Our clinic not only offers specialty prescription foods for special needs pets, but we also focus on educating our clients on their pet's individual needs. Helping you to understand what your pet needs nutritionally ensures that your pet receives the right nutrients to thrive.

Call (919) 887-8808 to schedule an appointment for pet nutritional counseling in Raleigh.

Why Is Nutritional Counseling Important?

Our pets today are living much longer and richer lives due to our increased medical knowledge and improved nutrition. However, unlike human foods, it can be much trickier to identify healthy pet foods from unhealthy ones. This is simply because most of us are not trained to know what to look for when we come face to face with a guaranteed analysis table and an ingredients list.

That is where our team comes in. Our veterinarians understand what to look for in a high-quality pet food, but more than that, they know how to match up the right ingredients with your pet's individual needs.

What Is Nutritional Counseling?

When you bring your pet in to see our veterinarians for a nutritional counseling session, there are various factors that we address. Primarily, we will discuss any concerns you may have about your pet and their nutrition. Then, taking your concerns into consideration, one of our veterinarians will evaluate your pet's body condition to make an individual nutritional recommendation.

A few factors our veterinarians consider during this evaluation include:

• Your pet's body shape. This helps determine how underweight or overweight your pet is.
• Your pet's teeth. This helps determine whether certain food types are necessary for your pet, such as a dental formula, kibble, or a strictly soft food diet.
• Your pet's current health. If your pet has a condition such as diabetes or renal failure that require supplementation, elimination of certain nutrients, or particular dietary needs, this will be taken in to consideration.
• Your pet's stage of life. Depending on your pet's age and physical health, we may recommend placing them on a specific type of food with particular nutrient levels.
• Your pet's allergies. If your pet shows signs of food allergies, we may recommend that you eliminate certain nutrients from your pet's food by switching to a new variety of food.
• Your pet's current diet. If you have recently switched to a new diet (particularly home cooking), our vets will assess whether this diet is right for your pet based on their current appearance as well as the nutrients that you are providing your pet on a regular basis.

What Information Can Nutritional Counseling Provide?

In addition to the wealth of information listed above, nutritional counseling can also help you understand how to ensure that your pet is in optimal health. This includes understanding optimal feeding patterns, serving sizes, how to identify if your pet is becoming overweight or underweight, and what not to feed your pet.

Perhaps the most important thing that our clients take away from our nutritional counseling sessions is the ability to see through the claims being made by popular pet food corporations. Unlike these corporations, our veterinarians are not looking to sell you a product – they are looking to optimize your pet's health.

Do I Have to Feed Certain Brands or Diets?

Many pet owners fear that veterinarians push only food brands that they are paid to promote. Our veterinarians put your pet's health above all else. This means that we do not have brand loyalties, nor do we discriminate against specific diet types such as holistic feeding, or home feeding. So long as your pet is receiving a well-balanced and nutritionally sound diet that suits their individual needs, our veterinarians are happy!

Prescription Pet Foods

Prescription pet foods are sometimes prescribed for pets with unique nutritional needs. Our hospital carries a range of these specially formulated foods. If your pet requires a prescription diet that we do not carry, we would be happy to order it for you.

Request an appointment for nutritional counseling with out team of professionals. Contact us at (919) 887-8808 today.