Parenteral Nutrition in Birds

If the gut works, use it. The preferred route for providing nutrition is enteral feeding since this preserves intestinal structure and function. Parenteral nutrition is indicated to prevent malnutrition when patients cannot consume adequate nutrients by oral feeding or tube feeding or when the respiratory tract cannot be protected. Parenteral nutrition is 100% bioavailable […]

Online Resources: Nutrition

A collection of online resources related to nutrition and the feeding of veterinary patients. This list of links come from a variety of sources: academic institutions, industry, government, and professional organizations.

Pet Food Labels: Unraveling the Fine Print

Introduction A critical component for maintaining the health of all animals is proper nutrition. Every patient, healthy or ill, that visits the veterinary hospital should have an evaluation of their nutritional status and healthcare team members should be ready to make a nutritional recommendation based on this evaluation. Unfortunately the large number of pet […]

Kara Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, VTS (Nutrition), VTS-H (Internal Medicine, Dentistry)

Kara Burns, LVT, VTS ( Nutrition) is a licensed veterinary technician with master’s degrees in physiology and counseling psychology. She began her career in human medicine working as an emergency psychologist and as a poison specialist dealing with human and animal poisonings. Kara is the Founder and Past President of the Academy of Veterinary […]

Avian Nutrition Glossary

Created with a focus on the bird, LafeberVet’s Nutrition Glossary is an extensive list of vocabulary terms. Listed terms range from nutrients like vitamins and minerals, nutritional strategies ranging from frugivore to fungivore, and related anatomy or physiologic terms like crop and coprodeum, and even nutrition-related diseases like goiter and gout.

Clinical Avian Nutrition for Veterinary Health Professionals

Dr. Susan Orosz presented this live, interactive webinar event on the clinical perspectives of avian nutrition. How can veterinary health professionals best address the nutritional needs of the companion bird in the exam room? View the RACE-approved, non-interactive webinar recording, the pass the brief post-test to earn 1 hour of continuing education credit.

Formulated Diets in Avian Nutrition

Providing a bird with good nutrition often has different meanings for clinicians and clients. While the goal is to provide a diet that mimics the diet of that particular species in the wild, in captivity those strategies for feeding parrots are very different.

Clinical Perspectives on the Principles of Avian Nutrition

The types of foodstuffs consumed in the wild are often used to classify the nutritional requirements for groups of animals. Usually birds within the Order Psittaciformes are considered to consume plant-based foodstuffs and are classified as florivores. Subdivisions within this category include granivores (budgies and cockatiels), frugivores (many of the macaws), and nectarivores (lorikeets […]

Critical Care Nutrition

When Kara Burns, veterinary technician specialist in nutrition, visited Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine during the fall of 2014, her lecture on critical care nutrition made a big impression on the veterinary medical students. This 48-minute presentation explores the basics of nutritional supportive care appropriate for all species before concluding with information on […]

Avian Nutrition: Practical Applications

Kara Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, VTS (Nutrition), VTS-H (Internal Medicine, Dentistry) presented this talk for the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Avian & Exotics Club as part of the Lafeber Company Student Program. This recording was created for students unable to attend the live event.

Avian Raw Whole Food Nutrition

Dr. Jason Crean of Saint Xavier University presented this distance-learning event on whole food nutrition in birds for the University of Minnesota College Veterinary Medicine ZEAW Club. This presentation was sponsored by the Lafeber Company Student Program.

Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition

Dr. Thomas Boyer presented this live, interactive webinar. The RACE-approved recording discusses nutrition, the leading cause of disease in reptiles and amphibians. Chronic nutritional diseases remain common, including nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, hepatic lipidosis, protein deficiency, hypovitaminosis A, hypervitaminosis A, pyramidal shell growth, renal disease, urocystoliths, thiamine deficiency, vitamin E/selenium deficiency, steatitis, corneal lipidosis, and […]

Nutrition: The Key to Your Chinchilla’s Health

[…] diet is essential to your chinchilla’s health. This educational material was awarded third place in the 2021 Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians (AEMV) Veterinary Technology Client Education Materials Contest, sponsored by Lafeber Company. Download the PDF version of this chinchilla nutrition client education handout, or modify the DOCX version or DOC version for your veterinary hospital.

Avian Quick Links

[…] the basics of avian anatomy and physiology as well as important principles of handling and restraint. Then explore content on the examination and history, behavior, housing and nutrition, as well as supportive care techniques, diagnostics, basic therapeutics, and common presenting problems. Start with content listed in the rows titled, “Begin with…”, then expand your […]

Avicultural Medicine: General Concepts

The cornerstone of successful aviculture is healthy breeding birds. These birds should be kept in a stress-free environment and provided with optimal nutrition to meet their physiological needs. Sound management techniques are paramount to ensure the birds remain healthy. Proper environmental enrichment is also important for psychological and behavioral well-being.

Nutritional Strategies for the Companion Parrot

There are various approaches to provide food for the companion parrot. Each nutritional strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages including seed-only diets, pelleted diets, extruded diets, and/or foraging diets.

Susan Donoghue, MS, VMD

Dr. Susan Donoghue is a veterinarian and a reptile nutritionist and researcher. She is a past-president of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition and was one of the founding members of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition

Stefanie Kotschwar BScH (Zoology, Nutrition), MSc (Zoo Conservation), RVT

[…] of Sciences in zoo conservation biology from Plymouth University. While working as a veterinary assistant in Guelph, Stefanie did the Distance Education Veterinary Program through Cedar Valley College. She has a special interest in exotic medicine, nutrition, and emergency care. Her long term goal is to obtain Veterinary Technician Specialty in Clinical Practice (Exotic Medicine).

John Bauer, DVM, PhD, DACVN

John E. Bauer is Professor of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and holder of the Mark L. Morris Professorship of Clinical Nutrition in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University…