Review by Kathy Lyon (Click on stars for an explanation)

You may purchase this book on Amazon.com.

This is a noble effort at addressing the basics of nutrition, nutritional requirements, and the various feeding regimens. It is essentially a review of the nutrition information currently available.

Some points are repeated in different chapters, but that seems to be for explanatory reasons. (For example, the extrusion process is explained in the chapter on History and Regulation of Pet Foods and again in the following chapter on Types of Pet Foods.) Not a big problem, but I tend to notice repetitions. I don't agree with all of the statements made by the author- I don't believe that dogs have not been fed raw diets since the discovery of fire.

Enough of the nitpicking. The book is informative and appears to collect much in the way of related information about nutrition and existing foods. There is a chapter devoted to raw diets, and the author seems to present arguments against feeding raw meats.

It might be my imagination, but the book seems to be a little heavy on cat topics- e.g., there are two charts of body conditioning grading showing cats, but I did not find one for dogs, although there is a written scaling chart that is for both dogs and cats.

There is a chapter on homemade diets, with some guidelines for pet owners to follow to maximize the nutrient content and balance of the diet. You might want to recommend the book to those clients.

The chapter on milk replacers discusses the value of cow milk for puppies and kittens; although it mentions goat milk, it does not comment on its nutritional value. Since goat milk is a very popular milk replacement for neonates, I would have liked to learn more about its actual nutritional value.

The book is worth having in your library. It will give you a collected view of a number of published reports on diet and nutrition. You will be able to better answer some client questions. It will not answer all of questions, but there are references at the end of each chapter that will direct you to more specific publications.

Table of Contents

• Basics of Nutrition
• Energy and Nutrients
• Water
• Carbohydrates
• Fats
• Protein and Amino Acids
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Digestion and Absorption
• Energy Balance

Nutritional Requirements of Dogs and Cats

• Regulation of Pet Foods
• Reading Pet Food Labels
• Nutrient Content of Pet Foods
• Home-Prepared Pet Foods
• Food Safety

Feeding Management for Dogs and Cats

• Feeding Regimens for Dogs and Cats
• Pregnancy and Lactation
• Neonatal Puppies and Kittens
• Growth
• Adult Maintenance
• Performance and Stress
• Geriatrics
• Nutritional Idiosyncrasies for Cats

Publisher's comments about the book:

"Nutrition for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses serves as an introduction to the fundamentals of nutrition and a guide to monitoring the nutritional needs of patients in daily practice. Students will benefit from the clear and consistent approach to the basic principles of nutrition. Practicing technicians and nurses will appreciate the practical applications and techniques for managing the nutritional needs of both sick and healthy patients and educating clients."

Blackwell Publishing (publication: 2007).

Paper cover, 272 pages, 6 x 9" format.

ISBN: 9780813829135.