"I think nutrition is important, but I think it's often oversimplified," says Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, director of veterinary medicine at Loyal.

No standardized ‘senior’ diet exists for pets, a veterinarian notes

In this video, Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, director of veterinary medicine at Loyal, addresses the complexity senior pet nutrition. He explains that although there are many diets that are marketed for senior pets, currently, there is no standardized "senior" diet. Brennen notes that for now, maintaining a healthy, lean body condition remains the highest priority for maximizing health age, while emerging research on higher-protein and fresh-cooked diets shows promise but is not yet conclusive.

The following is a transcript of the video, lightly edited for clarity and cohesion:

Nutrition is complicated because there are a lot of diets that are marketed for senior pets, but we don't actually have an official [Association of American Feed Control Officials] (AAFCO) senior diet category. The reality is 1) we don't know exactly what the optimal nutrition is for aging dogs or aging cats in general, and 2) it's likely that there isn't one—that each individual is going to need a unique set of nutritional inputs to maximize their health and well-being.

So, I think nutrition is important, but I think it's often oversimplified. Right now, the most important thing is not excessive feeding—not overfeeding—maintaining a healthy, lean body weight, and that's key. I think there's some encouraging information suggesting that maybe higher protein diets may be beneficial in the future. I think there's some interesting but not yet conclusive information about some of the fresh-cooked diets.

I think that's an area where we're starting to take the knowledge that nutrition is important and add enough detail to it to give us things that we can actually do. But I think right now, there's still a lot of uncertainty.

The best advice that we have is feed to a healthy, lean body weight, and probably most cases of age-related disease will benefit from some essential fatty acid supplementation. That's about the only thing that I think we can say with confidence right now.

Videos

Christina Gentry, DVM, DACVM, shared a key dermatology takeaway from her co-presented CE session on concurrent disease.

Considering endocrine disease with a skin condition

What is a key consideration about concurrent endocrine and dermatological disease? Christina Gentry, DVM, DACVM, assistant clinical professor at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences in College Station, is co-presenting a lecture on “Navigating Concurrent Endocrine and Dermatological Disease” with Patty Lathan, VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), a professor of small animal internal medicine at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX), hosted by the North American Veterinary Community, in Orlando, Florida, to address identification and management of these concurrent conditions. In a 

 interview, Gentry shared a key takeaway from the session, from a dermatologist’s perspective.

Understanding concurrent endocrine and dermatology conditions

The following is transcript of the interview portion shown in the video:

What is a key consideration about concurrent endocrine and dermatological disease?

From my dermatology standpoint, it's ‘don't take endocrine disease off your differential list as a cause of occurred pyoderma.’ We know that generally, dog SCS [specialty and critical care] and GP [general practitioners] and [dermatologists] practice for bacterial skin infections. It's almost like it's almost always going to be allergic skin disease. But there are some that are going to come with endocrine disease. And just to keep that in mind, when you have dogs that just come in for recurrent bacterial infections, that were asking historical questions about systemic signs and see whether or not they really do have itch before the skin signs occur.

For more industry news and coverage of VMX, visit 

The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation (AKC CHF) has opened nominations for its 2026 Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award, recognizing recent scientific discoveries that meaningfully advance canine health. The annual award highlights research with clear relevance to clinical care, disease prevention, diagnostics, or treatment, and is intended to elevate work that has the potential to improve the lives of dogs now and in the future.

Image Credit: © megaflopp | stock.adobe.com

According to the foundation, the Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award is designed to honor investigators whose research findings represent a significant step forward in understanding or managing canine disease. Eligible discoveries may span a wide range of disciplines, including genetics, oncology, infectious disease, neurology, cardiology, orthopedics, and other areas relevant to companion animal medicine. Both veterinary and non-veterinary researchers are eligible, provided the work demonstrates a direct benefit to canine health.

Nominations for the 2026 award are now being accepted through the foundation’s online submission portal. The nomination process allows colleagues, collaborators, institutions, and other stakeholders to put forward research discoveries they believe merit recognition. Submissions are reviewed by a panel of experts convened by AKC CHF, with finalists and a winner selected based on scientific merit, innovation, and potential impact on dogs.

For veterinary professionals, the award offers a window into how foundational and translational research continues to shape everyday practice. Previous finalists have included discoveries that improved understanding of inherited disease risk, advanced diagnostic tools, and informed more targeted or personalized approaches to treatment. Many of these research efforts have implications not only for referral and specialty medicine, but also for general practice, where early detection and evidence-based decision-making play a critical role.

Tufts researcher wins AKC award for diet-associated DCM discovery

In addition to recognizing individual discoveries, the Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award reflects AKC CHF’s broader mission to advance canine health through funding high-quality research and sharing results with the veterinary community. By spotlighting standout discoveries each year, the foundation aims to encourage collaboration, accelerate the application of new knowledge, and reinforce the value of research-driven medicine.

Veterinarians, researchers, and academic institutions are encouraged to review the eligibility criteria and submission guidelines before beginning the nomination process. Nominations are expected to focus on discoveries from recent research efforts and should clearly articulate the significance of the findings and their relevance to canine health.

More information about the award, including nomination requirements and deadlines, is available on the AKC Canine Health Foundation’s Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award landing page.

American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award. AKC Canine Health Foundation website. Accessed January 19, 2026. 

https://www.akcchf.org/chf-health-discovery-of-the-year/

Articles

The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation is now accepting nominations for its 2026 Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award, recognizing recent research advances with meaningful impact on canine health and veterinary medicine.

AKC Canine Health Foundation opens nominations for 2026 Canine Health Discovery of the Year Award

Naomi Hoyer, DVM, DAVDC, explains some key things to consider for identifying issues, in a dvm360 interview at VMX. 

Examining dental radiographs

What are some key factors for examining dental radiographs? Naomi Hoyer, DVM, DAVDC, an associate professor of dentistry and oral surgery at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, addressed how to interpret canine dental radiographs, in a continuing education (CE) session at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX) in Orlando, Florida. Hoyer also co-presented a masterclass on how to professionally interpret dental radiographs, alongside 

, owner of Pawsitive Dental Education, as well as several more CE sessions that focused on veterinary dentistry.

at VMX, Hoyer discussed her presentation on dental radiographs and her other CE session topics. In this video, she provides her “checklist” of what to look for when examining dental radiographs to help identify a patient’s condition.

The following is a transcript of the video, lightly edited for clarity:

: I think, always the thing to think of when you're looking at dental radiographs, No. 1 is, ‘is it diagnostic?’ Are you seeing the teeth that you need to see in the image? Is the image too distorted to be able to evaluate? Is it too dark? Is it too light? Has the computer program done something to make it so it's oriented incorrectly? So that's always question one.

Then the next thing that I recommend thinking about is, ‘are all of the teeth that you expect to be there present?’ So, [that’s] question 2. Question 3: Is the tooth normal? Question 4: Is the bone normal?

And then anything else you see on the radiograph. I think it's nice to have just a short little checklist to walk yourself through every time you look at a radiograph, and that's the one I recommend.

In this video interview with dvm360, Flavia Vaduva, MS, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (Nutrition), and Morgan Kelly, BS, share some insights into what attendees will hear during their lecture at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting & Expo

Video interview with Flavia Vaduva, MS, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (Nutrition), and Morgan Kelly, BS 

In this interview with dvm360, Flavia Vaduva, MS, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (Nutrition), and Morgan Key, BS, discuss how clinical research and therapeutic nutrition support pets with chronic conditions—specifically renal disease and dermatologic issues. Vaduva and Key share insights from the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Center and discuss how new therapeutic diets are being developed to improve patient outcomes.

Below is a partial transcript, edited for clarity and flow.

In your opinions, what was the most surprising finding from the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Center research that will be shared in your lecture?

Flavia Vaduva, MS, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (Nutrition)

: Yeah, so my take on at least the renal research, and I'll let Morgan speak to the dermatology research, is that in the kind of most positive way possible, we were not able to replicate the development of hypercalcemia in cats that are placed on therapeutic renal foods that either have the nutrition of K/D or a test food that has a very similar nutritional profile to K/D. 

And that's a very encouraging finding. We are pleased to see that we can say that we do not have any evidence at this time, when cats are placed on our therapeutic renal diets that they will develop hypercalcemia when they're given a moderate calcium phosphorus ratio and exclude certain types of highly water soluble inorganic phosphorus sources.

:  And then just taking on that dermatology aspect of it. So I think something that we're going to touch on in our talk will be highlighting some survey data that we have of the need for multimodal support when we're looking at treating or supporting pets with a [dermatology] condition. And so we're going to highlight that when we asked general practitioner veterinarians if they're using a multimodal support plan.

We didn't see as high of compliance or agreement if that's what they were opting to utilize. And so I think, hopefully the key takeaway here is, with some of the research, we're going to be able to present and just demonstrate the impact of nutrition alone, and then also if we can incorporate that into the multimodal support plan with pharmaceuticals and topicals, really taking away how this can benefit even puppies. 

So we'll be talking on some new research looking into puppies with allergies as well.

Flavia Vaduva, MS, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (Nutrition), and Morgan Key, BS, share an inside look into their Veterinary Meeting & Expo lecture.

Approaching patient wellness with therapeutic nutrition

The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) annually awards its VETTY Awards to companies for being the best in advertising, digital, design, events, educational materials, public relations, promotions, video, and other projects created to promote the contributions of the animal health industry and the work they do to help animals across the world.

“Each year, the VETTY Awards honor the top marketing champions in animal health care, and this year was no exception,” Gene O'Neill, CEO for NAVC, said in an organizational release.

“Like athletic champions who separate themselves by fractions of a second, these winners excelled where it mattered most—precision, creativity, and results—with stellar campaigns across all channels. NAVC is proud to celebrate their work and impact on our industry.”

The NAVC invites veterinary nonprofit and for-profit agencies and organizations from around the world to submit projects for consideration for the VETTY Awards. Potential winners can work across a wide range of areas, such as diagnostic equipment, food, veterinary clinics, pet pharmaceuticals, professional associations, and advocacy groups. Once submissions close, each entry is rigorously reviewed by the judging panel, composed of leaders in the creative marketing field. This helps the NAVC ensure that the highest standards of excellence are maintained.

For 2025, the grand prize winners include the following

Elanco Animal Health and BarkleyOKRP: “Galliprant—Playing with Fire”

Animal Health Corridor and JNA Advertising: “KC Animal Health Corridor WORKFORCE Campaign”

Category: Campaign—New Product, Program, or Service Launch

Merck Animal Health and FWD People: “Vence Digital”

Boehringer Ingelheim and Shepherd Agency: “2025 NexGard PLUS & NexGard COMBO Gard Yard”

The Equine Practice Company and Brown Fox Media: “The Equine Ophthalmology Program”

Zoetis and FWD People: “Zoetis Cerenia ‘Leave Mo Behind’ Campaign”

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary and Checkmark: “Pro Plan Veterinary Support Mission”

“The NAVC introduced the VETTY Awards in 2017 to reward marketing excellence in the animal health care industry. Since its inception, the VETTY Awards have grown to become a prestigious marketing award program with entries from around the world demonstrating advancements in technology, innovation, and science to keep our animals healthy,” Laura Walker, CAE, CVBL, said during the event at the conference. “Winning a VETTY Award is no small feat. Our entrants carry the torch for products, programs, and services in our industry. Each entry is scored on the strength of its concept, visual appeal, message, persuasiveness, relevance to the intended audience, and overall creativity. And we had some super creative wins this year, so I'm very excited.”

2025 VETTY Awards winners exemplify marketing excellence in animal health care worldwide. News release. North American Veterinary Community. January 12, 2026. Accessed January 18, 2026. https://navc.com/2025-vetty-awards-winners-exemplify-marketing-excellence-in-animal-health-care-worldwide/ 

This year’s winners were honored at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting & Expo for their marketing excellence. 