Veterinary student creates nutrition guidelines for animal shelters

E’lisia Davis working with shelter dog, Maggie at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center (Image courtesy of Margie Christianson for Virginia Tech)

E’lisia Davis, a veterinary student at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, has developed nutrition guidelines for pets in 3 shelters local to the college, Pulaski County Animal Shelter, Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center, and the Humane Society of Montgomery County. Over 6 weeks, Davis helped the individual shelter animals become healthier as well as provided resources to employees that they can use in the future.

"It's a great opportunity for students, and it's a great opportunity for us to help fulfill our mission of education in the community, and it helps the animals — it's a win-win-win,” expressed Eileen Mahan, director of animal care and adoption at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center, in an organizational release.¹

“Our goal is always to adopt out the healthiest animals. We understand that nutrition — and decisions that previous owners have made — can put pets in danger, health wise, and so we will do everything we can while they're here to get them in a better situation.

When it comes to pets being adopted, their weight is a major factor to their health but can also hinder adoptions. People going into shelters to adopt a pet are looking at their appearance when considering them for adoption, and if they are at an ideal weight, someone is more likely to ask to meet the pet. This can be detrimental for those that are overweight, which can lead to health conditions in the future such as joint problems, or being underweight, which can promote health problems or a more expensive pet food bill. 

Davis was inspired to create these guidelines during her shelter medicine clerkship she completed during her second and third years as a veterinary student.¹ She then spoke with another shelter clerkship about her idea to conduct a study on animals’ weights and how it affects their ability to be adopted. However, she ran into a happy problem, cats and dogs were being adopted before she could properly track their weight.

Because of this, she changed her course of action to developing guidelines for the shelters so that cats and dogs can get the right amount of food to either achieve or maintain their healthy weight for each individual animal.

"One thing I discovered working with individual animals is that there is so much more to take into consideration, considering breed, age, and other diseases," said Davis.¹ "For example, hounds in a stressful environment tend to lose more weight."

Davis was then able to follow up with some of the animals that were adopted to keep tabs on the plans she designed for them with their owners. Once she graduates veterinary school, she will head back to her home state of New Jersey to practice, but plans to volunteer at shelters in her area. By doing so, she hopes to encourage other veterinary students to do the same.

"This was a chance for me to help animals while also helping the community — and I got to cuddle with dogs every day!" Davis concluded.

Reference

1. Boudrea S. Veterinary student develops nutrition guidelines for local animal shelters. Virginia Tech. Published October 14, 2024. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/10/vetmed-nutrition-guidelines-shelters.html