# Animal Nutrition Course?



## newlndnfire (Aug 19, 2011)

Ever since coming to this site I am SO interested in Animal Nutrition! I am already planning on taking a Animal Care course at Sheridan college to get some experience in all the different areas of animal care. I do not want to go to school to be a vet or a veterinary technician. I have worked at a vet clinic and it is not something I want to go into. I will be opening my own kennel in the future (many many years in the future!) and I would love to be able to educate people in nutrition and alternatives to veterinary medicine and have something to say I went to school for it! 

I have done a google search and haven't found anything in Canada. Does anyone here know of any good classes I can take on Animal Nutrition? I would like to get a degree in animal nutrition if its possible.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I don't know where you can get a degree or anything, but I would almost say just years of experience as well as a LOT of research would be better than a degree. If it's anything like the vet/vet tech programs, it's very commercial food based. I'd spend my time researching raw and the benefits to certain diets.


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## newlndnfire (Aug 19, 2011)

Yeah that's what I was worried about too! That it would all be commercial food based and not correct at all. I have done a ton of research already, I love reading up about peoples experiences with raw and what people have learned over the years of feeding raw!  

I would like to go to school for it because then I'm going to school for something that really interests me! Haha.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

newlndnfire said:


> Ever since coming to this site I am SO interested in Animal Nutrition! I am already planning on taking a Animal Care course at Sheridan college to get some experience in all the different areas of animal care. I do not want to go to school to be a vet or a veterinary technician. I have worked at a vet clinic and it is not something I want to go into. I will be opening my own kennel in the future (many many years in the future!) and I would love to be able to educate people in nutrition and alternatives to veterinary medicine and have something to say I went to school for it!
> 
> I have done a google search and haven't found anything in Canada. Does anyone here know of any good classes I can take on Animal Nutrition? I would like to get a degree in animal nutrition if its possible.


I think the problem is most of the nutritional classes are geared towards recommending the lesser foods like Science Diet, Eukanuba, Royal Canin etc.....the majority of my education where it regards to pet food has come from the internet & google searches, as well as several forums I am on.


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## splitnightsky (Jun 20, 2011)

I've never seen a animal-specific nutrition course, even at a vet school (the one I was previously going for does not offer one).
when I was in the pre-vet program though, we were required to take a Comparative Nutrition course that was supposed to be comparing different digestive tracts of animals. mostly though it just centered on the differences between ruminants and non-ruminants (so it wouldn't help with dogs at all as humans and canines are not separate).

if you do find one let me know - I'd get some strange looks for taking an animal course in my current major, 
but since it's nutrition I bet I could get away with it


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## newlndnfire (Aug 19, 2011)

Cprcheeta: I think that might be the case as well and I worry that I will get into the course and be bombarded with things that are wrong! haha. I think I may just make my own degree for myself and start reading up on everything that I can. Does anyone know of any great books I can read? 

splitnightsky: I will let you know if I find one! I would really like to go to school for it so I can tell people I did when they ask well...what do you know!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i do believe you can get a degree in animal nutrition...

and i'll just say this...knowing how a dog's body works by taking anatomy and physiology along with the nutrition courses....

well, doctors have to do this and maybe what we're taught is wrong,

but starting from a point of knowing what we're taught is wrong allows us a starting point to figuring out what is right....

by continuing our education, based on the physiology of dogs.....or humans, whomever we are studying...


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

from what I've seen, a lot of nutritionists are no better then vets and will often recommend low quality foods because it meets the standards set by the feed association. I would find a holistic/alternative vet clinic in your area and ask if they know anything that they can recommend. I think its still a relatively new field and probably only within the last few years the focus has shifted on the actual quality of ingredients vs nutrition analysis regardless where it came from whether its meat or old leather boots. 
Good luck on your search.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Found this, not sure if it would be worth it or not.
Holistic Chef Animals, Holistic Animal Nutrition - Global College of Natural Medicine


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## newlndnfire (Aug 19, 2011)

magicre: I would defiantly be looking into animal anatomy and so on if I do go to school for nutrition. I think as of right now I will be in school forever! I want to learn so much! haha. 

unosmom: I will look around and call a couple of the holistic vets and see what they say. I will also ask what their school taught them in regards to nutrition. I myself feed PMR and think that is how animals should be fed and I'll ask what their school said in regards to that. 

cprcheetah: That actually sounds like an interesting course although it worries me its online. If I knew FOR SURE it wasn't a scam, I would jump on it asap! The only other thing is that it sounds like they are supporters of barf which to me, isn't correct either.  I would consider taking it for the courses OTHER than the nutrition ones though! Haha.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

newlndnfire said:


> cprcheetah: That actually sounds like an interesting course although it worries me its online. If I knew FOR SURE it wasn't a scam, I would jump on it asap! The only other thing is that it sounds like they are supporters of barf which to me, isn't correct either.  I would consider taking it for the courses OTHER than the nutrition ones though! Haha.


I would be wary of that college, too. There is another one called Kingdom College of Natural Health. I would be wary of that one also. Here is a web site you want to look at List of Unaccredited Schools and Educational Facilities


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

newlndnfire said:


> Ever since coming to this site I am SO interested in Animal Nutrition! I am already planning on taking a Animal Care course at Sheridan college to get some experience in all the different areas of animal care. I do not want to go to school to be a vet or a veterinary technician. I have worked at a vet clinic and it is not something I want to go into. I will be opening my own kennel in the future (many many years in the future!) and I would love to be able to educate people in nutrition and alternatives to veterinary medicine and have something to say I went to school for it!
> 
> I have done a google search and haven't found anything in Canada. Does anyone here know of any good classes I can take on Animal Nutrition? I would like to get a degree in animal nutrition if its possible.


If you are planning on taking a course at Sheridan, I'm assuming you are somewhere near the GTA. Have you talked to the University of Guelph?

The University of Guelph has a world-renowned faculty of Animal Sciences & Health (part of the Dept of Animal & Poultry Science). If they can't help you directly, they may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Take care, eh?! (I'm Canadian... I can say that :biggrin1:)


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## maplewood (Apr 14, 2011)

ACAN home

This is one recommended to me by a natural breeder.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

maplewood said:


> ACAN home
> 
> This is one recommended to me by a natural breeder.


Whenever my eyes see "Naturopathy" or similar forms of the word, my mind see's "Quack".


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## newlndnfire (Aug 19, 2011)

RFD: Thanks, I think I will stay away from that one because the website isn't that great and doesn't end in .edu! I'm just a little too nervous for that, hehe. 

Submariner: Unfortunately I don't have all my university high school credits to go to university. I was planning on going to Ridgetown for a veterinary technician program and then going to Guelf after to become a vet but that's no longer something I want to do.  Thank you though! I say eh AT LEAST once a day. Its bad! haha. 

Maplewood: I'll give it a look and see what it's like.  

Oh and does anyone know of any good books on this kind of subject as well as animal behaviour?


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## maplewood (Apr 14, 2011)

RawFedDogs said:


> Whenever my eyes see "Naturopathy" or similar forms of the word, my mind see's "Quack".


To some feeding dog's a raw food diet and preachig it's benefits is quakery as well. Afterall how could you know more than scientists and veterinarians who do research and are educated and trained to know what is best for your pet?



> na·tu·rop·a·thy /ˌneɪtʃəˈrɑəθi/ noun
> [noncount] : the treatment of illness by using diet, herbs, exercises, etc., without using standard drugs or surgery


When we switch our dogs to raw to prevent/treat things like allergies we are in a sense practiceing naturopathy. Feeding things that will make the body healthier and better able to fight of illness, thus reducing and/or eliminating the need for traditional medicines.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

maplewood said:


> To some feeding dog's a raw food diet and preachig it's benefits is quakery as well. Afterall how could you know more than scientists and veterinarians who do research and are educated and trained to know what is best for your pet?


Oh, that is not difficult at all. Actually, vets don't do research. Vet students do. No one researches a raw diet. NONE actually have fed a raw diet. By far, the greatest majority of vets know next to nothing about nutrition. The ones that do only know what someone else chooses to teach them.



> When we switch our dogs to raw to prevent/treat things like allergies we are in a sense practiceing naturopathy. Feeding things that will make the body healthier and better able to fight of illness, thus reducing and/or eliminating the need for traditional medicines.


The people who have a buisiness treating ill animals that way are quacks. I don't know a one of them who is a vet. If you say what about holistic vets, there is actually no such thing. ANY vet can call himself a holistic vet and at that point he is one. There are no requirements to do so.

BUT ... there is some truth in your statement


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## maplewood (Apr 14, 2011)

RawFedDogs said:


> Oh, that is not difficult at all. Actually, vets don't do research. Vet students do. No one researches a raw diet. NONE actually have fed a raw diet. By far, the greatest majority of vets know next to nothing about nutrition. The ones that do only know what someone else chooses to teach them.


Even in the short time I have been feeding my dog's raw I can't tell you the number of times people have said to "Well my vet recomends Science Diet because it's proven to___ (fill in blank)" or "Well my vet say's you shouldn't feed dogs bones" I even had one person ask me where I went to school to learn what dogs need by way of nutrition. I've argued with the vet over my choice, and even after seeing the difference he wouldn't credit the change to a raw diet. Many people see that vet education as "well they should know what's best because they must have covered nutrition in vet school". I know it's not covered, you know it's not covered, however John Q. Public hasn't gotten the memo yet.



> The people who have a buisiness treating ill animals that way are quacks. I don't know a one of them who is a vet. If you say what about holistic vets, there is actually no such thing. ANY vet can call himself a holistic vet and at that point he is one. There are no requirements to do so.


I'm not saying people who push "ganja tea" as a cure all aren't quacks especially if they are charging for it. However I do know some people who study and practice a "hollistic" or "naturopathic" way of life for themselves and their dogs that I would never in a million years refer to as a quack! Generally they are willing to pass this information and advise on for nothing because they care and see how having healthier pets can improve the pets and owners lives.... Kind of reminds one of the Dog Food Chat forum, without all the drama.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

maplewood said:


> However I do know some people who study and practice a "hollistic" or "naturopathic" way of life for themselves and their dogs that I would never in a million years refer to as a quack! Generally they are willing to pass this information and advise on for nothing because they care and see how having healthier pets can improve the pets and owners lives.... Kind of reminds one of the Dog Food Chat forum, without all the drama.


I'm going to get in trouble because I'm going to make a very general comment. I also know many of these people who study and practice hollistic and/or naturopathic way of life and most of them have one very important thing in common. They are almost all pretty sickly people.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

RawFedDogs said:


> I'm going to get in trouble because I'm going to make a very general comment. I also know many of these people who study and practice hollistic and/or naturopathic way of life and most of them have one very important thing in common. They are almost all pretty sickly people.


not from me you won't.


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