What Are the WSAVA Nutritional Guidelines for Pet Nutrition?

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) is an organization that describes itself as an “organization of organizations.” It is comprised of approximately 115 global professional veterinary organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA), as well as most other major US and international organized veterinary medical associations. It was founded in 1959 and has a stated purpose of helping to advance the health and welfare of animals.  

Among the stated purposes of WSAVA is to establish guidelines for different aspects of pet health. These are drafted recommendations authored by WSAVA committee members. They include written guidelines for animal welfare, dental, gastrointestinal, nutrition, hereditary disease, liver disease, microchip identification, pain, professional wellness, renal standardization, reproduction, and vaccination.  

The WSAVA nutritional guidelines were designed to be a tool that veterinarians and consumers alike could use to inform pet health advice and choices. The information provided includes resources to help practicing veterinarians evaluate healthy body weight and body condition scores in pets. Other clinical guides include diet history forms, nutritional assessment checklists, and pet calorie needs. Content that WSAVA has created for pet parents includes recommendations for evaluating pet food brands, pet food labels, and pet food marketing claims.  

One particular resource that has received a lot of attention is WSAVA’s Guidelines on Selecting Pet Foods. This document was written in 2021 by the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee,  which is made up of veterinary nutritionists. These guidelines include questions designed for pet parents and veterinarians to ask pet food companies about the diets they market.  

According to these guidelines, the first question is: Do they employ a nutritionist? The guidelines then recommend that a company employs either a PhD in animal nutrition or a Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist. However, it’s important to note that the pet food industry is similar to other industries, in that not all companies employ technical experts, but many may use these experts as consultants, such as those at BSM Partners. 

The second question in the Guidelines on Selecting Pet Foods is: Who formulates the diet? The guidelines acknowledge that pet foods may be formulated by a nutritionist with a master’s or PhD in nutrition, a veterinarian, or someone else (a pet owner, breeder, or trainer), and emphasize that pet food formulation is complex. This means that not only is pet nutrition important, but also the experts who understand how raw ingredients and pet food manufacturing processes work are just as critical as nutritional knowledge when it comes to making pet food.  

For clarity, there are four different types of skill sets commonly used in pet food nutrition: Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists, veterinarians, nutritionists, and food and processing scientists.  

Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists are experts in helping pets with specific medical conditions get the best food to address their problems. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) is the organization that board certifies all specialties in veterinary medicine, including in cardiology, neurology, nutrition, oncology, small animal internal medicine, and large animal internal medicine. Veterinarians are experts in understanding animal physiology, including how pets’ digestive systems assimilate food into the nutrients the body needs. Nutritionists are experts who understand what nutrients and in what amounts are needed by animals to live. Food and ingredient scientists are experts in understanding the physical properties as well as nutritional values of individual raw ingredients that make up a complete food. Process scientists are experts in understanding how the manufacturing of pet food affects both the nutrients as well as the physical properties of the ingredients that make up the finished product. 

Some individuals are skilled in more than one of these areas of expertise and can successfully and reliably serve in multiple roles and in multiple areas. This isn’t necessarily because of formal training, credentials, or degrees, but because of experience in the science and art of making safe, tasty, and nutritious pet food. Ideally, a team of individuals who possess experience in all of these areas is the best choice. 

An experienced team of nutritionists, veterinarians, food scientists, and process experts is the best way to ensure a pet food can be trusted by pet parents. It is not as important that pet food companies employ certain individuals with certain credentials as it is that they utilize technical pet food expertise, whether that is through internal employees or by partnering with experienced consulting experts such as those at BSM Partners in these important aspects of pet food manufacturing.  

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About the Author

Dr. Bradley Quest, DVM, is the Principal Veterinarian at BSM Partners. He has practiced clinical veterinary medicine, developed and tested hundreds of pet food and health products, performs extensive animal health research, and helps navigate pet food ingredient approval for clients.