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

AAVN President, Megan Sprinkle, and her husband, Mike, welcomed their daughter Abigail Louise (aka Abi Lou) into the world on September 19. Abi Lou weighed in at 6lbs 11oz. Congratulations Megan & Mike!

Click Here to Review the Call for Abstracts for the

25th Annual Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium.

Oral and poster abstract presenters will be announced on March 21.

Please contact aavnexecutive@gmail.com with any questions.

Experiencing the 2024 ESVCN Congress

European Society of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition (ESVCN) Congress, September 11-13, 2024 in Belfast, Ireland

Submitted by Sarah K. Abood, DVM, PhD

Almost 350 attendees from all over Europe, North America and Brazil descended on the host cities of Dublin and Belfast, Ireland in mid-September for the annual meeting of the ESVCN Congress. A 2-day session for ECVCN residents was held in Dublin prior to the congress, which was held at Queen’s University in Belfast.

More than 100 scientific abstracts and 70 posters were presented during the 2.5 day meeting. The theme this year was ‘Sustainable Diets Across the Food Chain’ and there were 5 plenary speakers sharing their varied research in support of one or more aspects of this broad topic. Scientific abstracts were categorized by species with a focus on poultry nutrition, pig/sow health and nutrition, equine health and nutrition, cattle health and nutrition, and exotics and digestion. Separate from species, there were abstracts categorized by energy and macronutrients, protein and amino acid metabolism, feed intake preferences and acceptability, management of obesity, feed technology, microbiota, pre- and probiotics & antioxidants, and insects as feeds. It was a jam-packed program, to say the least!

To learn more about Sarah's ESVCN experience click here

An Unusual Case of Hypervitaminosis A

in a Dog: Leveraging Our Colleagues for Difficult Cases

Contributed by

Laura Gaylord,

DVM, DACVIM (Nutrition)

Recently, I had a challenging case of hypervitaminosis A in a dog with chronic enteropathy, inflammatory bowel disease, adverse food reactions, early stage chronic renal disease w/ proteinuria, polyuria/ polydipsia, chronic hepatopathy w/chronic liver enzyme elevations, gall bladder sludge, idiopathic vestibular episodes, MDR1 mutation, a history of ototoxicity (due to ear medications), recurrent urinary tract infections/ vaginitis, chronic cough of respiratory origin, cardiac murmur (stage B1 per echo). Whew! 

Have you ever just opened a case file, and you see pages and pages of medical records, then just need to take a deep breath….sigh….okay, let’s get going and read all this, right??

As a Clinical Nutritionist seeing referred cases, this is becoming the norm – pet owners are invested in taking care of their special family members and this is a good thing. BUT, it does add to our workload of case management when there is a long and complicated history, multiple doctors have already dipped their toes into management, and this generates numerous pages of medical records and diagnostics often shared in bulk and sometimes in no particular order. Perhaps multiple veterinarians including other specialists have already weighed in on a case, and now it’s your turn! (We might see better ways to manage this coming to us with AI, however, right now we are pretty much left to do it ourselves.)

What to do?

Fortunately, as a member of AAVN and/or ACVIM, we can leverage our contacts and reach out for assistance from multiple specialties at our access. We are so fortunate to belong to a profession that seeks collaboration continuously and is always looking at the bigger picture with cases and utilizing the expertise of specialists. It is common to consider “multi-modal” therapies for a patient, not just in a medical or nutritional management plan, but also in supporting the concept that “it takes a village” to provide best care for our patients. As members of the AAVN, we can interact with many invested nutrition colleagues in all facets of research and industry, broadening our reach beyond our clinical practice, university or business setting.

To Read the Full Report on This Complicated Case click here

There are a variety of minimally invasive diagnostics available to the practitioner to evaluate for the presence and sequalae of gastrointestinal and pancreatic diseases in companion animals. Many of these assays have been introduced over the last few years and offer additional insight into the cause and/or consequence of gastrointestinal diseases. Although these panels are widely available and relatively easy to perform, the results can occasionally be confusing and difficult to interpret especially when performed before other initial diagnostics and therapies have been performed. In this webinar, we will discuss when to (and when not to) run GI assays including the GI panel, infectious diarrhea panel, alpha 1 protease inhibitor, and dysbiosis index. We will also review how to interpret the results in light of the patient’s signalment, history, physical exam, and initial diagnostic findings and therapeutic trials.

M. Katherine ("Katie") Tolbert, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM, SA Nutrition) completed her small animal internal medicine residency and Ph.D. at North Carolina State University. She is a clinical associate professor in the Gastrointestinal Laboratory at Texas A&M University and is a member of the Dog Aging Project consortium. She completed an alternate-track residency in small animal nutrition at the University of Tennessee. Her clinical interests and research program are focused on the treatment of acute and chronic gastrointestinal diseases in dogs and cats.

AAVN Veterinary Nutrition Workshop for Technicians to Debut in April - Sign Up Today!

AAVN is excited to announce a new program! In April 2025, we will host our first ever workshop designed specifically for licensed veterinary technicians. Attendees will earn 13 RACE approved CE credits. They will also have the opportunity to form a network of technicians in their region that they can connect and consult with on nutrition and other topics.  

Sponsorships Available! Pet food and related service companies - we want the technicians to meet you! Companies are invited to provide sponsor a meal/other item and have a table at the event. For more details, please contact Jen Gazdacko at aavnexecutive@gmail.com

AAVN's goal is to offer this program on a regular basis in different regions across the United States.

Reminder to AAVN Student Chapters!

Your membership roster, including a list of officers and advisor(s), was due by October 15.  This should be submitted as an Excel spreadsheet with columns for First Name, Last Name, Email Address and Phone #. 

Please email Jen at aavnexecutive@gmail.com with any questions.

A lot of owners select pet's food based on what they perceive is the healthiest diet made with the best ingredients. However, there are so many options to choose from, and so much marketing, that it is difficult to make a well educated decision. Veterinary health care teams are reported to be the pet owners' primary source of nutrition information, so it is important for us to understand alternative pet foods (non-traditional kibble and canned foods) and how to partner with pet owners to help them select the best for their pet. In this webinar, we will cover the basics of alternative diets to help you gain an understanding of them, and how to partner with your clients when selecting a pet food (especially a brand you are not familiar with). 

Speaker Dan Su, MS, DVM, DACVIM (Nutrition) obtained his DVM at the Western University of Health Sciences, and completed a small animal rotating internship at a VCA ASEC in Los Angeles after graduation. His passion for nutrition led him to pursue a nutrition specialty internship at the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and then a clinical nutrition residency at the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Su has been working in the pet food industry since finishing his residency. He has enjoyed helping develop different types of products that can benefit pets and help his veterinary colleagues with their practice.

Canadian Academy of Veterinary Nutrition 

Fall Webinar Schedule

October 9, Pet Food Labeling - Dr. Jenna Manacki

October 16, Lifestage nutrition - Dr. Caitlin Grant

October 23, Acute diarrhea management without antibiotics - Robin Saar, RVT, VTS Nutrition

October 30 - Protein - Dr. Younes Chorifi (in French!)

The CAVN Fall Webinar Series is hosted on the Communivet platform.

The webinars are free but registration is required at https://www.communivet.com/en/ca/.  

Upcoming CE Opportunities

ACVIM On Demand Course

A Comprehensive Approach to Enteral Feeding: When, Why, How

For more information and registration click Here

Veterinary Education Today (VET)

November 1-2, 2024

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

For more information and registration, click here

Purina Institute Microbiome Forum November 6-7, 2024 For more information and registration, click here

Fetch West December 6-8, 2024 Long Beach, CA

For more information and registration, click here

VMX Veterinary Meeting & Expo

January 25-29, 2025

Orlando, FL

For more information and registration, click here

WVC Annual Conference

March 2-5, 2025

Las Vegas, NV

For more information and registration, click here

Classified Ads

Waltham Petcare Science Institute is looking for an established scientist with expertise in pet nutrition.   As Nutrition Science Expert this role requires strong technical leadership, and the ability and drive to ensure Mars policies, standards and positions on pet nutrition to make a better world for pets. 

Click here for additional details. 

AAVN Membership Renewal -- Are You Caught Up on Dues?

Renewing after September 1 means a late fee of $20 to be assessed.



 To Renew Your Membership:

• Sign in to the AAVN website
• Your username is your email address
• If you don't remember your password, you may use the automated password reset request
• Click on Invoices and Payments and process payment for your open membership invoice

Only by renewing can you continue to receive these member benefits:

• Access to the AAVN Membership Directory 
• Free webinars on cutting edge veterinary nutrition topics (4 per year)
• Discounted registration for the Annual Clinical Nutrition & Research Symposium
• Access to “Members Only” information on the AAVN website, including Symposium proceedings and recordings
•  Monthly E-Newsletter 
• Access to the AAVN List Serve (includes job and training posts)
• Opportunity to submit research abstracts for consideration at the annual Symposium

If you have any difficulty signing in or with the renewal process, please contact us at aavnexecutive@gmail.com.

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