Congratulations to Hannah Godfrey for successfully defending her thesis and completing her Masters (MSc) with the OVC Pet Nutrition Team!
During her third year of undergrad, Hannah developed a passion for nutrition after taking her first nutrition course. Nutrition combined everything she was interested in and she found that her passion was to study nutrition specific to animals. She completed many nutrition courses such as Pet Nutrition, Wildlife Nutrition, and Nutrition of Fish and Crustacea! Throughout her undergrad, Hannah completed a research internship with turkeys as well as an 8-month research project evaluating the use of insects as a protein source for cats with Dr. Anna-Kate Shoveller, who introduced Hannah to Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe. This project sparked Hannah’s interest in doing a Masters degree and thus began the choline kitten study!
Hannah’s thesis is titled, “Effects of additional dietary choline on food intake, body weight and body composition, respiratory quotient, serum lipid profile, and serum metabolic signature in post-gonadectomy kittens.” By providing kittens with additional choline, Hannah and her team saw a lower food intake and improved growth such as less fat mass gain compared to the control group. They also saw many changes in circulating metabolites with the provision of additional choline that could be beneficial for cats!
Over the summer, Hannah has some fun opportunities lined up involving writing about companion animal nutrition and will be returning to school in September to start a PhD with the OVC Pet Nutrition Team!
Outside of her research, Hannah enjoys spending time with her two beautiful boys, Benny and Balthazar, and loves to steal her brother’s dog, Spyro, to tag along with her on hikes. During her Masters, she was involved in recreational sports such as volleyball and soccer, and, since lockdown, has been trying out many new recipes as well.
Hannah’s research project was supported by NSERC, Elmira Pet products and Balchem. Thank you for your contribution!
Written by: Veronica Fursova
Edited by: Cassidy Van Den Diepstraten.