Can you become a Canine Nutritionist in the UK?

Dog food and feeding General discussion
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Can you become a Canine Nutritionist in the UK? http://thespiritualdogtrainer.com/can-you-become-a-canine-nutritionist-in-the-uk/

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Interesting read Thanks

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Thank you very much for this information - it is interesting. For anyone who is interested, we have another couple of threads on this subject:
Pet Nutrition Courses
Veterinary Nutrition Specialists

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This person seems to be a little one sided and ill-informed.

‘As the current legislation stands only pet shop owners, or those who work for a dog food company are able to discuss dog food and diets with dog owners for a profit.’ - no it doesn’t unless I missed that section and I have already been offered work.

‘Currently there are no specific trainings offered in the UK to become a recognised, qualified, professional ‘canine nutritionist’’ - Well that throws my qualification out the window. There is no law on what a nutritionist is or level of qualification.

‘What can I do to improve my knowledge or help dogs?’ - Listening and learning from the expert scientists and using fact rather than opinion. Filling a freezer full of raw meat or dog food doesn’t make you an expert. As I have never seen fake dog food I am not sure what they mean by real.

‘The nutritional elements are not included in the guidelines for a Complete food, most of the elements do not withstand processing methods. The dog misses out on much needed nutrition by eating only processed food.’ - The law prevents that happening. It may not make a dog excel but it must be nutritionally complete. If it isn’t very digestible add more so the dog can absorb enough.

Basically this person is a passionate raw food feeder and only respects or listens ‘experts’ that follow his beliefs. Every reputable expert knows that it is possible to feed a balanced raw, wet, dry or even homemade diet as easy as it is to make it unbalanced. I think poorly of many foods in the market but they are all legally marketed.

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Thank you for the appraisal of the article. Your lists are always interesting and useful. I cannot add much to the discussion except that I haven’t yet found an independent nutritionist. I once enquired about veterinary nutritionist specialists but received no reply from the university.

I think it is useful when visiting websites to find out something of the qualifications of the person/people who are providing articles. Also to look for valid, scientific references.

It is possible for pet owners to be confused by all the conflicting advice. With guidance pet owners are often able to choose a good product themselves (unless the dog has specific needs). Keeping things as simple as possible, tailoring advice to the owner’s budget/lifestyle and to the dog’s needs is useful. The main things are that we feed decent quality food (of whatever type), keep our pets as healthy as possible and just enjoy their company.

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Must agree with what Rhebden writes about the article. I must admit, a few years back I went looking for qualifications in nutrition but to no avail apart from full degree courses where nutrition was just a part. I think it would be difficult to set up a suitable course without some compliance from the dog food industry whether directly sponsored or indirectly using research carried out on behalf of them.

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Pegasus, my qualification is independent from the pet food industry and written by COAPE taking the Nutrition elements from the Degree course. Also supervised by Offqual to ensure it is an official qualification. It is however paid for by a pet food manufacturer as they want a team of nutritionists to front the business and not sales people. Most pet food companies train to know about feeds or a basic overview.

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‘my qualification is independent from the pet food industry’ - good stuff, but that’s why I mentioned the indirect research aspect - I’ve read many scientific studies for various food related stuff then read at the end the research was carried out with sponsorship from a dog food manufacturer. I think it would be hard to set up a course totally independent from any influence of the pet food industry.

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Pegasus, Rebden, Tigger69 and Dottie thank you for taking the time to comment on the article.

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Just thinking that if you passed certain qualifications in canine nutrition and set yourself up (perhaps online) as an independent canine nutrition advisor, rather than a ‘nutritionist’ who would be able to stop you? Would that be legal?

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As far as I am aware yes I can do that. No one has said no.