Nestlé Purina and SDVS partner to advance nutrition for aging dogs amid rising senior pet populations

Nestlé Purina PetCare has partnered with the Senior Dog Veterinary Society to enhance nutritional guidance for older canines, addressing the growing number of senior dogs in US households and the complex clinical challenges they present.

Nestlé Purina PetCare has deepened its focus on ageing dogs through a new partnership with the Senior Dog Veterinary Society, a specialist group created in 2023 to improve care for older canines. The agreement is designed to give veterinary professionals more nutritional guidance for a part of the dog population that, according to MRI-Simmons research cited by Pet Food Processing, now appears in more than half of US dog-owning households.

The collaboration comes as vets face a more nuanced clinical challenge. There is no single point at which a dog becomes “senior”, with ageing shaped by breed, size, genetics and environment. Nor are there formal nutritional requirements for older dogs under standards such as those used by AAFCO, making tailored feeding advice more important, according to Purina.

RuthAnn Lobos, Purina’s senior veterinarian, said subtle shifts in muscle, mobility, cognition and digestion can emerge before obvious decline, creating scope for earlier intervention. Monica Tarantino, one of the SDVS founders, said nutrition is one of the tools that can help support dogs through gradual change.

Purina will provide webinars led by board-certified veterinary nutritionists, open to SDVS members and approved for continuing education credit. The first session is due on 6 August.

Image Source: Purina