Abstract
The Manual of Veterinary Dietetics is especially useful because of its small size and the easily understood explanations of nutritional concepts. It might be better titled ‘Manual of Small Animal Veterinary Dietetics’, as its main objective is the nutrition of dogs and cats, with a chapter dedicated to exotic animals. It is especially appropriate for veterinary students and owners new to veterinary nutrition, although it lacks the depth that might be expected by more experienced or academic veterinarians.
The chapter on nutritional assessment gives tips that are appropriate for veterinary nutritionists; however, it is difficult to see how the suggestions would fit into the short time that many practitioners have for taking a history and physical examination. There are good tips for technicians or nurses and good advice for owners, especially in the reproductive section. The tips in different sections are somewhat repetitive. There are some errors in the tables in the section on basic nutrition.
The clinical nutrition sections are well written and provide solid information essential for veterinary students and practitioners. As clinical nutrition and internal medicine are very closely related, there is always a difficulty in determining the limits of a discussion of clinical nutrition. Other than the section on diabetes mellitus, this book effectively addresses nutritional aspects of medicine, rather than inadequately attempting to discuss internal medicine.
The section on ‘Contemporary Issues in Clinical Nutrition’ is very interesting. These issues are of current importance and concepts such as the raw meat and bones diet are ones that veterinarians need to be able to discuss intelligibly with owners. The web site references are a good resource, and the use of evidence based medicine well described.
The appendix tables on diets are very useful, but provision of energy on a dry matter basis as well as on per can or cup as fed might have been provided (although the authors are appropriately emphasizing the nutrients per 100 kcal). The greatest drawback to the book was the lack of references with the text. References were made to interesting studies, but the reader has no way of easily sourcing the original material.