Purina and Senior Dog Veterinary Society launch vet nutrition training for aging dogs

As dog owners are increasingly taking a proactive, preventative approach to managing their pets’ well-being, Nestlé’s Purina is partnering with the Senior Dog Veterinary Society to help veterinary professionals address the specific healthy aging and nutritional needs of older canines. 

The initiative will deliver nutritional insights for members of the Senior Dog Veterinary Society and the broader veterinary professional community. The partners aim to equip veterinary professionals with “actionable strategies” to support more personalized care for older dogs.

“Senior dogs are not simply adult dogs who have reached a certain birthday,” says Dr. RuthAnn Lobos, senior veterinarian at Purina.

“Subtle changes in muscle condition, mobility, cognition, and digestive health may begin before a more significant decline, creating an important opportunity for veterinary teams to take a more proactive approach to senior dog care — especially through nutrition.”

Undefined life stage for elderly dogs

Purina underscores that there is no universal definition of the “senior” life stage for dogs, unlike puppies or adult dogs. This is because life expectancy and aging rates can vary significantly by breed, size, genetics, and environment.

Due to this lack of a definition, organizations such as the Association of American Feed Control Officials have not yet outlined specific nutritional requirements for senior dogs.

Purina underscores that there has been a lack of a universal definition for the senior life stage of dogs, unlike puppies or adult canines.Purina says this emphasizes the need for individualized pet nutrition created together with veterinary nutritionists and backed by scientifically proven benefits.

“As dogs age into the senior years, it’s increasingly important to understand that their bodies and nutritional needs are changing too,” it stresses.

Monica Tarantino, doctor of veterinary medicine and co-founder of the Senior Dog Veterinary Society, underscores: “Senior dogs don’t wake up one day and suddenly become old. They change gradually, and nutrition is one of the ways we can support them through that process.”

Tools for senior canine care

The Senior Dog Veterinary Society issues training certifications from industry specialists and researchers to guide veterinary professionals through advancing their care for older canines.

Within the initiative, Purina will provide veterinary professionals with additional tools. These include nutrition webinars led by board-certified veterinary nutritionists, with the aim of building clinical expertise and empowering veterinary teams to use nutrition as a tool for healthy aging.

This focus on applying personalized nutrition as an active approach to healthy pet aging reflects similar themes in human nutrition — a trend that suppliers have observed in increasingly “humanized” animal companion diets.

Exploring the topic of personalized pet nutrition in depth, Nutrition Insight previously connected with Blaire Aldridge, VP of R&D at Golden Child, who is a former senior manager of the Nutrition Platform team at Nestlé Purina. She advised studying animal health as an integrated biological system, rather than targeting single organ, pathway, or biomarker in isolation.

Purina in headlines

Last month, Nestlé announced a CHF520 million (US$641.9 million) investment in a new Purina pet food plant in Mantova, Italy. The facility will start manufacturing super-premium wet foods for cats and dogs in 2029 to meet growing demand for pet food across Europe.

Earlier this year, Purina launched its new factory in Vargeão, Brazil, to grow production of its wet food for cats and dogs. The site exports products while also serving local demand, which the company notes is still expanding as one of the largest global pet food markets, with around 110 million pets.