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Nutritional advice for sick animals

Pets with certain diseases require special attention. These animals can experience this condition just for a short period of time or it can last longer, even for a life time. In certain situations, your pet can experience changes in his/her metabolism that are accompanied by different nutritional needs. Always based on scientific evidence, we provide your pet with the best option to fulfill all nutritional requirements taking into account the specific needs for his/her condition. This can be achieved by using the most appropriate commercial diet, individualized homemade diet and the addition of nutritional supplements. We offer you advice and tips about how to feed your best friend. A higher success rate is achieved when the appropriate diet is selected and it is offered in the correct manner.

Does your pet have a special condition or disease and do you need nutritional advice? Please don't hesitate to contact us. We will gladly help you.

Nutrition usually plays an important role in the treatment of various illnesses or complaints. Nutritional advice is appropriate in the following cases:

• obesity
• diabetes
• endocrine disorders
• food allergies or intolerances
• skin conditions
• heart problems
• kidney diseases
• bladder stones
• diarrhoea, vomiting, constipation
• liver diseases
• pancreas diseases
• anorexia longer > 3 days
• diseases of the joints
• neurological diseases

Price indication nutritional advice

Our nutrition consultations are modular: there is a basic consultation fee, with an additional cost on top depending on the type of nutrition plan being drawn up.

🩺 Basic consultation (1 hour)

Preferably, the consultation with the pet takes place at the veterinary clinic. If this is not possible, it can also be organised online.

• € 60 (excl. VAT) > During this consultation, we discuss nutritional history, life stage, activity level and any medical concerns of the animal. We also provide general nutritional advice, adapted to the animal's situation (e.g. life stage, breed, condition, activity level). This is done without calculations and without thorough evaluation of the current diet.

🥣 Tailor-made nutrition plan (optional, on top of the basic fee)

This additional cost is in addition to the basic consultation fee (€ 60):

• + € 35 (excl. VAT) – Commercial feed > Advice based on commercial feeds adapted to the individual needs of the animal. In contrast to the basic consultation, a concrete feed is chosen on the basis of, among other things, a comprehensive evaluation of the current ration and a comparison of different commercial feeds using various calculations.
• + € 55 (excl. VAT) – Sick puppy or weight loss programme > For puppies with medical needs or overweight animals. Guidance via growth curves or gradual, responsible weight loss.
• + € 70 (excl. VAT) – Self-prepared diet > Tailor-made, science-based recipes for self-prepared food.

Includes follow-up for 3 months via email or phone (with up to 3 minor adjustments to the plan).

🔄 Follow-up consultations

For animals previously in counselling:

• € 30 (excl. VAT) – Tracking healthy puppy or weight loss trajectory
• € 40 (excl. VAT) – Modification of existing diet during consultation

🏥 Other services

• € 50 (excl. VAT) – Hospitalisation including nutritional follow-up during the stay

How does it work?

1. Schedule an appointment 📞

Contact the Small Animal Clinic secretariat on T 09 264 77 00 to book an appointment.
When scheduling the appointment, indicate clearly:

• Whether the consultation will take place in the veterinary clinic with pet (preferred) or online via videocall (Microsoft Teams).
• Whether or not the consultation can proceed in English.

2. Before the consultation: preparatory steps 📝

📄 Download and fill in the questionnaire
At the bottom of this page you will find a pdf form with questions about the animal's nutritional history and housing. Please fill in this form carefully.

📬 Provide us with the necessary information
Email the completed form together with relevant medical information of the animal (such as blood results, diagnoses or previous reports) to: dienstvoedingkhd@ugent.be

Please provide this at least 24 hours before the consultation to allow the nutrition team vets to review the information in time.

3. During the consultation 👩‍⚕️

During the consultation – in the veterinary clinic or via videocall – we discuss in detail:

• 🐾 The nutritional history of the animal
• 💬 Expectations, questions and any concerns
• 🩺 The medical background and health status
• 🍽️ The current diet, including products used and quantities
• 🔄 The possible nutritional options, tailored to his or her situation
• 🧾 The possibility to draw up a personal nutrition plan

If the consultation takes place in the veterinary clinic, we also perform a physical examination:

• We determine the exact body weight with a calibrated scale
• 📏 We evaluate the body condition (Body Condition Score - BCS) and the muscle condition (Muscle Condition Score – MCS)

These measurements help us to tailor the diet as accurately as possible to the individual needs of the animal.

💻 If the consultation takes place online, we ask you to send this information (weight, BCS and MCS) via the treating veterinarian.

👩‍🎓 It is possible that during the in-person consultation a final-year veterinary student will first take a history and perform a general clinical examination.

🧑‍⚕️ The final decisions regarding nutritional advice and any plans are always made by a veterinarian from the nutrition team (specialist or specialist in training).

4. After the consultation: personalized nutritional advice (not included in the basic fee) 🍽️🐾

After the consultation we will start working on an optimal nutritional plan🧐:

• We evaluate the current diet.
• We actively seek out the best nutritional option. This may involve contacting different feed companies to request details of the products so to thoroughly compare nutritional values ​​and compositions.
• Based on this analysis, we draw up individual nutritional advice, including:
  • Selection of the best food
  • Calculation of the exact amounts of food the animal needs
  • Complete nutritional management, tailored to age, condition, activity and any medical concerns.

5. ​Follow-up and adjustment if necessary or desired

After drawing up the nutritional plan, we provide follow-up for 3 months by email or phone.

📌 The rate for customized nutritional advice includes this follow-up, including a maximum of 3 minor adjustments to the plan if necessary (e.g. based on changes in weight, appetite or medical condition).

⚠️ If further follow-up or major adjustments are required, a check-up consultation can be scheduled. The follow-up consultation fee applies.