The OVC Nutrition Team is so pleased to introduce the Canadian Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (CAVN) to all of our readers! The CAVN is a group of veterinarians and veterinary technicians with a passion for nutrition. It’s 12 fellows include board certified veterinary nutritionists, veterinarians who have completed a residency in nutrition, residents in training to become board certified, as well as veterinary technicians who have received their specialty training in nutrition –in Canada! To say this group loves nutrition is an understatement and it was this shared passion that brought the founding members together in August 2018 to form the CAVN.
The mission of the CAVN is to advocate for evidence-based animal nutrition and for veterinary nutrition education across Canada. Goals of the organization are focused on nutrition education and include enhancing veterinary nutrition programs and services within Canada, using nutritional expertise to improve the health and well-being of animals, disseminating credible nutrition information to stakeholders, and promoting the practice and teaching of evidence-based animal nutrition.
The CAVN has been actively creating content to share with veterinary health care teams and pet owners and this has included webinars on topics like addressing the pet obesity epidemic. In the spring of this year in the wake of the COVID pandemic, members of the CAVN produced several educational videos for pet owners on topics including recommendations for maintaining a pet’s food supply, homemade diets, transitioning pet food, and using food puzzles. These videos were also translated into French!
As part of the Global Animal Nutrition Summit, the CAVN and Equine Guelph are cohosting a symposium happening on August 15th at the University of Guelph. Titled ‘Fuelling Wellness: Developing Your Animal Nutrition Tool Kit’, this symposium is a one-day, virtual event geared towards veterinary health care teams, pet paraprofessionals (breeders, groomers etc.), equine enthusiasts and pet owners. The full day of lectures include topics on emerging ingredients, trends in pet feeding practices, a review of canine and feline nutrition, homemade and alternative diet talks, horse hay evaluation, evaluating supplements and much more!
Fellows of the CAVN meet regularly to discuss goals and next steps for the organization and each year thus far, the CAVN has had a full day board meeting to discuss accomplishments of the past year, and more importantly, to make a plan for the next year. The 2020 meeting was adapted and took place in a virtual format instead of the usual face to face meeting, but nevertheless, great discussions were had and the CAVN has a lot of exciting content planned for 2020-2021 including a webinar series planned for Fall 2020. So, stay tuned for more from the Canadian Academy of Veterinary Nutrition!
If you’d like to learn more about the CAVN, please check out the website.
You can also scan the QR code below to join the CAVN’s mailing list.
Written by Caitlin Grant, BSc, DVM, DVSc Candidate, Res ECVCN, CAVN Fellow