Small Animal: Nutrition

The Nutrition Service provides nutritional recommendations and feeding plans for patients undergoing treatment for and recovering from medical and surgical ailments at the Veterinary Hospital.

Dr. Saker develops nutritional plan for hospitalized cat.

Overview

The Clinical Nutrition Service works closely with the Critical Care Service in ensuring optimal nutrition by designing both voluntary and assisted feeding nutrition support plans.

We specialize in the management of all types of assisted feeding ports and the preparation and delivery of intravenous nutrition as needed. We work closely with Internal Medicine, Surgery, Oncology, the Rehabilitation Service and other specialized services to provide state-of-the-art individualized nutritional plans for patients with various medical conditions.

We provide individual nutrition consultations for dogs, cats and horses. We work in conjunction with both your pet’s specialist veterinarian and family veterinarian. We are not beholden to any particular pet food company and receive no monetary “kickback” for our recommendations. Therefore we are able to provide simply the best dietary options for your pet.

Contact Us

Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m to 5 p.m
Phone: 919-513-6999
Email: NCStateVeterinaryNutrition@ncsu.edu

What to Expect

At the current time we are unable to accept consultations for cases that are not currently patients or already referred into services at NCSU-CVM.

Request a Consult

Consults are for veterinarians only and are provided as a complimentary service of the NC State Veterinary Hospital.

Meet the Team

We’ve got a team of compassionate, skilled professionals ready to assist you. Get to know them.

Make a Gift to the Red Bowl Fund

The Red Bowl Fund helps us train the next generation of veterinarians through research, education and outreach opportunities.

Our Specialties

Commercial diet recommendations
Critical care nutrition for inpatients
Individualized assisted (tube) feeding protocols
Elimination diet trials for the diagnosis and management of suspected food allergies
Orphaned neonatal feeding plans
Customized weight loss programs
Complete and balanced home-prepared recipe formulations

Appointments and Consultations

Consults can be completed either by an in-person appointment or via telemedicine (i.e. phone/email). If an in-person appointment is desired, please note on the consult form and a client service representative will call to schedule the 30-minute appointment.

All consultations require a consult request from your family veterinarian or veterinary specialist. Veterinarians should submit a Veterinarian Consult Referral Request along with all pertinent medical records.

Resources

We’ve assembled some references that cover common nutritional challenges in companion pets and their solutions.

Mature Pet Diets

What do you feed your mature cat or dog? Diet recommendations for a healthy senior pet.

Evaluating Pet Food

With so many pet foods out there, how do you choose the best food for your dog or cat?

Biologically Appropriate Raw Diets

What is a Biologically Appropriate Raw Diet (BARD) and what do you need to know before feeding?

Chronic Kidney Disease

With careful monitoring and management, cats with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) live happy, comfortable lives.

Weight Management Diets

Weight management and your pet. Find out how to create a healthy lifestyle for your cat or dog.

Food Allergies

Does your pet have a food allergy? What pet owners should know about reactions to pet food ingredients.

Additional Resources

Browse print and digital resources for pet owners and veterinary professionals

Hydrolyzed Diets

Prescription hydrolyzed diets and novel protein have far stricter quality control while OTC diets can contain contaminant proteins that may skew the results of an elimination diet trial.