Frequently Asked Questions

We work with dogs and cats of all kinds! Nutrition appointments can be for both healthy and ill pets. Most patients fall into one of the following categories:

• Pets that have multiple medical needs and therefore have complicated nutritional considerations.
• Pets that eat a non-traditional diet such as a homemade diet. These require precise analysis to avoid nutrient deficiencies or excesses.
• Pets that have difficulty losing weight and may risk nutrient deficiency if they continue caloric restriction without diet analysis.
• Pets with owners that wish to have detailed conversations about their pet’s nutrition that may be outside the scope of a primary care veterinarian or a specialist in another area of veterinary medicine.

We are happy to create homemade diet plans for our patients! Although it is common to cook for ourselves, creating balanced, healthy meals for our pets is a different challenge, even more so if you have a pet with special health needs. 

Nutritional deficiencies and excesses may not show obvious clinical signs for months or even years but can prevent our pets from being in their best health. Our Clinical Nutrition team reviews patient records, meets with owners to discuss their pet’s needs, and creates recipes based on health needs and owner/patient preferences. All recipes will be examined for 40+ nutritional components to ensure it meets our recommendations and avoid deficiencies/excesses. 

To book an appointment:

1) Please fill out the form found under 'Pet Owners'.

2) Reach out to your veterinarian for a referral. 

3) After we receive your form, we will reach out with scheduling and deposit information! Please note that prepayment for an initial appointment is required in order to schedule. This payment is refundable if the appointment is cancelled or rescheduled at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time. 

Please note that we operate only on a referral basis and cannot give medical/dietary advice to pets that we have not been established as a patient. 

Please fill out a Referral Form and have patient records sent to us. If you are seeking assisted feeding plans (such as e-tubes) or vet-to-vet consults, please fill out a Hospital Establishment form first. 

VeterinarySpecialists.com has a summary of a typical appointment (written by our own Dr. Luisana):  A Comprehensive Walkthrough of a Nutritionist Consultation  

Our goal is to provide simple, transparent pricing. Prices for add-on services vary depending on the complexity of the service requested. See 'Pet Owners' tab for pricing. 

We strive to provide as much information as possible during an appointment. However, homemade diets can involve significant analysis, especially those for complicated medical patients or with several ingredients/substitutions. Therefore, a simple, temporary homemade diet may be included with an appointment if medically indicated but additional charges apply for tailored/long-term homemade diets.

Monitoring patient progress is essential to ensuring our plans are ideal. Email is the best way to reach our staff. We strive to respond to emails within 3 business days. Urgent questions should be directed to your pet's regular or emergency veterinarian. 

Please note that medical questions or updates such as new lab work are best discussed during a recheck appointment with the doctor. For ill patients or those who are beginning a homemade diet, rechecks are typically recommended every 2-4 weeks until stable. 

We are happy to work with multiple pets in the same household. If each pet has significant medical history, it is best to establish them as patients during separate appointments. These can be booked back-to-back, if desired. 

Sometimes, owners have one ill pet and others that are relatively healthy, and they wish to know if they can feed the same diet to all pets. For these pets, we offer a medical record review.  This is a reduced-price service ($163) that we offer for healthy housemates of our patients, to determine if the diet is appropriate for both pets. However, please note that this option limits our ability to provide nutritional and medical advice and an appointment is recommended if they are 1) unable to have the same diet 2) have any health concerns. 

If you are unsure of which service you'd like, we recommend starting with one pet and we can discuss which options are best for you an appointment.

Peak Veterinary Specialists offers only virtual appointments, and we are lucky enough to have patients all over the world! 

Peak Veterinary Specialists does not recommend raw feeding; however, our nutritionists will work with clients who choose to do so unless medically contraindicated. 

Our specialists are not trained in herbal supplements and therefore defer to those who are. We recommend looking for a veterinarian who is a Certified Veterinary Herbalist.