How Crucial is Good Nutrition for Dogs and Cats in a Veterinary Hospital?

Inadequate nutrition can delay the healing process or even worsen an illness. This means that the optimal nutrition of inpatients is by no means a marginal issue.

Malnutrition weakens the immune system and delays both wound healing after surgery and recovery from internal diseases.

Short-term stays vs. long-term care

In general, the inpatient stay should be kept as short as possible. With a short inpatient stay, feeding has little impact on the animal’s health. However, the situation is different for patients who are already undernourished or malnourished due to illness, or if a serious operation or illness necessitates a longer stay in the clinic.

The importance of adapted nutrition

Optimized, patient-specific nutrition is of great importance under such circumstances. Whether the patient is to undergo surgery or is suffering from a serious illness, the nutrition must always be individually adapted. A study in German hospitals in 2019 showed that with optimized patient nutrition, there were 15% fewer complications and 27% fewer Deaths. It is obvious that similar effects can also be observed in dogs and cats – even if specific studies are lacking.

Particularly vulnerable groups

An optimized nutrition concept is primarily essential for sensitive patients. These include:

• Cats, who are often more sensitive to stress and changes in their environment.
• Animals that need to recover from a major operation.
• Very young or very old animals whose metabolism and immune system are particularly susceptible.
• Critically ill animals, such as cancer patients or animals with severe infections.

Customize nutrition plans

A special nutrition plan should be created for each patient and adapted to the current situation if necessary. This starts with the inpatient admission, during which the patient’s nutritional status must be recorded. If there are any abnormalities, factors such as increased calorie or protein requirements and an increased need for vitamins and micronutrients should be included in the individual concept.

Cost-benefit consideration

The implementation of a special nutrition concept may initially cause higher costs. However, this is offset by advantages such as shorter hospital stays, fewer complications, the rescue of critically ill patients and longer survival times for chronically ill and cancer patients. Last but not least, the well-being of the animals is also increased.

Practical implementation of optimized nutrition

Oral nutrition as a priority

Nutrition via normal food intake (oral) always takes precedence. If this is not possible, assisted feeding can be carried out. In serious cases, feeding tubes are necessary to ensure a regular and needs-based supply. It is also possible to combine oral nutrition with intravenous nutrition. Only when all other options fail is intravenous nutrition used, but this should be kept as short as possible.

Why is intravenous nutrition problematic?

This form of nutrition is not only cost-intensive, but also carries risks:

• The intestinal flora suffers because bacteria lose their natural basis of life.
• The long-term health of the animal can be negatively affected by the lack of intestinal activity.

Stress reduction as part of the concept

Especially for cats, social stress in the hospital should be taken into account. The presence of owners has been proven to increase the animals’ well-being and often leads to them eating on their own.

Dogs: Different needs
In dogs, the situation is different: they usually bond quickly with caregivers, which makes their adaptation easier. However, too frequent visits from the owners can trigger separation anxiety, which can increase the dog’s stress level. Nevertheless, there are also situations here in which visits are beneficial.

Concrete steps for implementation

1. Written fixation of the nutrition plan: The exact amount of food and liquid per day should be documented.
2. Monitoring and adjustment: Close monitoring ensures that the nutrition always meets the patient’s current needs.
3. Prefer assisted feeding: Nutrition via tubes or oral feeding should always take precedence over infusions, even if this is more time-consuming and labor-intensive.
4. Involve owners: Cat owners should have access to their animals whenever possible. This minimizes stress and supports recovery.

Conclusion
Proper nutrition in the veterinary hospital is a crucial factor for the recovery of dogs and cats. A well-thought-out nutritional concept saves costs in the long run, reduces complications, and sustainably improves the animals’ well-being.