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• The Role of Nutrition in Managing Urinary Stones

  Nutrition plays an essential role in treating and preventing urinary stones (uroliths). Since the diet can affect urine dilution, composition and pH, pet foods can be critical to the success or failure of treatment and prevention. Important factors are covered, such as the importance of water intake, diet composition, relative supersaturation (RSS) testing, and urinary diets.

• Tips for Successful Weight Loss in Dogs and Cats

  Helping your pet lose weight may be challenging at first, but with a little patience and persistence, you can be successful. Research has shown that small amounts of weight loss help improve the quality of life for overweight pets: they feel better, move easier, play more often, and live healthier lives. This handout focuses on commonly asked questions and tips for owners to help their overweight pet successfully achieve some weight loss.

• Using Food and Treats for Training Cats

  Treats are a wonderful way to provide positive reinforcement to your cat during a training session. Choose low-calorie foods such as green beans, zucchini squash, and watermelon. Avoid foods that are potentially harmful, such as chocolate, garlic, onions, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, and products that have xylitol. Limit high-calorie treats and keep treats within 10% of your cat's daily calorie intake. Keeping training sessions short and engaging while providing appropriate foods as treats can be a wonderful way to strengthen the human-animal bond.

• Weight Management for Pets with Activity Restriction

  Weight-loss programs are not easy, especially when an overweight animal cannot exercise. Veterinary therapeutic diets, automatic feeders, food puzzles, and animal rehabilitation therapy are tools that should be considered for every pet's weight loss program. Pet parents who are motivated to help their overweight dog or cat lose weight should work closely with their veterinary healthcare team to address concerns and discuss ideas for the pet's home environment. The most successful pet owners recruit family and/or friends to support their plans. Patience and persistence are often needed because weight loss doesn't happen quickly.

• What Makes a Diet Palatable?

  Palatability refers to how good a pet food or treat tastes, and it is based on the preferences of a dog or cat. Palatability is a combination of how a product smells, tastes, and feels. Pet food companies spend a lot of time and money studying how to improve the palatability of their products. This article addresses several commonly asked questions about the "how", "what", and "why" of making pet foods as tasty as they can be.