Penn Veterinary Medicine | University of Pennsylvania

Nutrition is an essential part of preventative health care and managing disease. Penn Vet is one of only a handful of veterinary schools in North America with a board-certified small animal clinical nutrition specialist. Through consultation with doctors in the clinic and with referring veterinarians, the Clinical Nutrition Service helps identify animals that would benefit from nutritional support or special diets.

The Clinical Nutrition staff assist clinicians, veterinary students and nurses in assessing the nutritional needs of individual hospitalized patients and guide them through the selection of appropriate therapeutic diets for various medical conditions. The Clinical Nutrition Service also counsels on the long-term nutritional management of patients and is available to assist owners after their pet is discharged from the Ryan Veterinary Hospital.

This service is provided for veterinarians to initiate communication with the Clinical Nutrition Service staff for nutritional consultation including questions concerning supplements or diet selection for complicated diseases, as well as requests for weight reduction programs, assisted feeding protocols (enteral or parenteral nutrition), and individually tailored home-prepared diet formulation.

Note: This service is for veterinarians only. We are sorry, but due to the volume of requests, and legal and ethical issues, we cannot respond to owners whose animals we have not seen here at Ryan. Pet owners wishing a consult should request their primary veterinarian to request one on their behalf or alternatively call the MJ Ryan Appointment Desk at (215) 746-VETS to make an appointment with whichever one of our out-patient services is most appropriate.