The AAVN E-News is now being distributed to all of our friends and contacts!

Learn More About AAVN Membership Here!

Message from the President

Megan Sprinkle, DVM

Dear Colleagues,

It is an honor to serve as President of AAVN. 

As I begin my term, I am grateful for the support of our Executive Board. These volunteers dedicate much time and energy to planning programs and developing new initiatives for the organization. In addition, several of our Board members have also signed on to chair committees:

Education Committee: Dr. Jonathan Stockman

Outreach Committee: Dr. Dan Su

Student Member Committee: 

Ashley Self, BS, LVMT, VTS (Nutrition)

Jonathan, Dan, and Ashley, thank you for your service! 

All of our committees are looking for volunteer members! If you are interested in learning more, please be in touch via email: aavnexecutive.org.

Students, we need your help too! AAVN will be accepting applications for a Student Representative to serve on the student committee. Details on qualifications and the application process are below. 

I am looking forward to sharing updates with you each month in the e-newsletter throughout the next two years. If you have thoughts, suggestions or questions about AAVN, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at aavnexecutive.org

Best,  

Megan Sprinkle, DVM

ANNOUNCEMENT

FROM AAFCO

There are big changes coming to pet food labels to help consumers make more informed decisions.  

To review the July 31 AAFCO announcement click here

Are you wondering how you can best utilize, empower, and advocate for your credentialed veterinary nursing team? Join the AAVN for a round-table discussion about why nutrition is the perfect opportunity for advancing your veterinary nurses. This will be an interactive session where audience participation is strongly encouraged.

This webinar is free to all AAVN members and $20 for non-members.

Click on the graphic above to sign up.

A Zoom link will be provided in the registration email confirmation.

**Students, contact us for your promo code **

This webinar has been submitted to RACE for 1 CE credit.  The program will be recorded and available to all registered attendees for two weeks after the live date

Member Spotlight

Kara M. Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, CVT, VTS (Nutrition)

How long have you been an AAVN member?

A long time! I joined AAVN in 1998.

What company or organization do you work at right now? 

I am an independent consultant and work with many organizations and associations. I consult with WellHaven Pet Health as their Director of Veterinary Nurse Development, and with NAVC as editor in chief of Today’s Veterinary Nurse.

Area(s) of interest in animal nutrition: All areas of animal nutrition and all species are fascinating to me! I work with avian, canine, feline, equine, etc. - basically anything that eats. But not human, ewwww. 😊

What has been your biggest professional achievement? Founding the Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Technicians. Nutrition is one area of veterinary medicine that affects every pet that comes into the hospital. The veterinary healthcare team should be the preferred, expert source of the best nutritional information for pets. Thus, I wanted those who are as enthusiastic as I am about nutrition to have a pathway to focus their passion. Ann, Vicky, Charlotte and I were able to bring the AVNT and thus the VTS (Nutrition) to fruition! We currently have 30 VTS (Nutrition) members and continue to grow.

Who has made the biggest impact on your career in animal nutrition?

My parents had a love of all animals and that was passed on to me. My dad was a type 1 diabetic, so I saw the importance of proper nutrition on his overall health and wellbeing. Combining nutrition with a love of animals was a logical next step.

My wife, Dr. Ellen Lowery, has supported everything I have wanted to do in my career -- starting the AVNT, writing articles and books, serving on boards, speaking, etc. She has been my biggest supporter and has offered invaluable guidance through it all.

What do you hope to see as part of the future for animal nutrition?

Continued and strengthened focus on veterinary nutrition across the profession. Veterinary team members know the importance of nutrition on animal health, managing disease conditions, increased revenue, team utilization, and most importantly the health of the individual patient. So why do so many shy away from discussing nutrition? If it is in the best interest of the patient, we should talk about it with the owner and we know that proper nutrition is in the best interest of the patient.



Fun/interesting fact that people probably don't know about you! 

I collect sports memorabilia – mainly hockey and football, with other sports mixed in. I have Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card, Bobby Orr’s autographed hockey stick and Larry Bird’s autographed basketball!

On the Menu:

Veterinary Nutrition Facts

from the Experts



Calling veterinary nutrition specialists, PhDs in animal nutrition, industry experts and VTN (Nutrition) colleagues!. We have started a new initiative to collect tidbits of nutrition advice from all of you. 

Share a tiny piece of your expertise here

From there, our social media team will curate a graphic for your submission. We soft launched this program earlier this summer and cannot wait to see YOUR entry!

Please take a moment to complete this form!

Member Research in the News

Dr. Kelly Swanson, University of Illinois, has been an AAVN member since 2004. His research team at the University of Illinois published an original paper looking at human-grade vegan dog food in the February 2023 issue of Translational Animal Science.

Title: Amino acid digestibility and nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy of mildly cooked human-grade vegan dog foods using the precision-fed cecectomized and conventional rooster assays.



Check it out at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txad020

We’re glad to recognize AAVN members who have successfully published an original research article, textbook chapter, case report, or review paper. Do you have research to share? Contact us at aavnexecutive@gmail.com

ESVCN Waltham Early Career Workshop

The AAVN provided travel grants, in the amount of $1,000 each, for

Drs. Ching-Yen Lin and Doina Solis to attend this program.

We appreciate the dedication to our professional growth that was demonstrated by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, the ESVCN and AAVN members. We learned a lot from our coaches and will apply this knowledge as we develop our professional careers.

~ Ching-Yen Lin & Doina Solis

From Ching-Yen Lin

Throughout the event, I had the opportunity to engage with mentors who shared their own career journeys. The workshop offered comprehensive insights into various aspects of professional growth, such as effective proposal writing and paper publication.

One highlight of the workshop was a session on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. We learned about different personality types, how they affect our work environment and strategies for collaborating with diverse personalities. An emphasis was placed on the importance of embracing diversity and capitalizing on individual strengths for collective success.

The workshop also facilitated networking opportunities with peers from academia and industry. We forged meaningful connections and exchanged ideas.

We even toured a nearby castle, a refreshing break and an opportunity to appreciate history and culture.

From Doina Solis



As a young researcher and PhD student, the Early Career Workshop was an incredible opportunity to meet colleagues from other countries who share similar interests and goals.

In the workshop we addressed many topics related to professional development, including the career paths of senior experts and how to put together a research portfolio.

For Latin American researchers these opportunities, and opportunities in science in general, are so scarce that I am deeply grateful. I would love to continue participating in activities of this type and to continue learning from such experienced people.

Pet Food Forum Report 2023

By Sarah K. Abood, DVM, PhD

It has been a long time (25 years at least) since I first went to the Pet Food Forum in Kansas City. I was fresh out of my nutrition residency and working in R&D at Ralston Purina. If you don’t know about this 2-day meeting, it is a trade show for pet food manufacturers and it’s organized and hosted each spring (late April or early May) by Pet Food Industry, which is owned by WATT Global Media.

The Pet Food Forum is the place to go if you’re thinking about purchasing a big piece of equipment or you want to talk directly with different ingredient suppliers. For small and medium-sized manufacturers, the exhibit hall can offer ideas on how to scale up production, and for graduates coming out of nutrition, food science, packaging, or marketing programs, there are plenty of networking and employment opportunities as well.

To Read the Full Report and See More Photos Click Here

Cats are vulnerable to malnutrition and often undergo stress which can worsen inappetence while hospitalized. The 2022 ISFM Consensus Guidelines on the Management of the Inappetent Hospitalized Cat aim to provide clinicians/students with the tools needed to identify cats needing nutritional support and guidance on when to intervene to prevent malnutrition. This webinar will review these guidelines while highlighting cat friendly practices and medical management (e.g. appetite stimulants) to improve

caloric intake and discuss assisted feeding strategies, when appropriate.

This program is FREE but registration is required.

AAVN Symposium Recorded Lectures

Three keynote speakers pre-recorded their lectures for AAVN. These are now available to AAVN members on our website.

To view, log in to your account and click here

Learn more about AAVN membership benefits HERE

CAVN 4th Annual Live Webinar Series

Each Wednesday in October at

7 pm EDT join a CAVN expert as they discuss a variety of topics in veterinary nutrition.

For speakers and topics click here

Registration is Now Open!

To sign up click here

Save the Date!

European Workshop on Equine Nutrition

July 1-4, 2024

Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway

Look out for information on abstract submission, conference schedule and registration in Autumn 2023 on the EWEN website.

Check out all of the AAVN swag now available for purchase at

our new Spreadshop!

We have sweatshirts, aprons, mugs, water bottles, t-shirts, a bandana for your dog AND much more!