Client Consult Process

Good nutrition is a cornerstone for health and can play a critical role in illness recovery. Here at Vital Vet, our veterinary nutrition department headed by Dr Danielle Conway and with a team of Vital Vet Certified Master Nutrition Technicians. We work closely with your pet’s veterinarian(s) to make nutritional recommendations. 

• We need to have all of your pet’s medical documents, medical records, current labwork and diet history form at the time of scheduling the appointment as we pre-prepare for our appointments ahead of time.
• A link to the consult will be emailed to you several days prior to your appointment. The platform is a link and does not require any downloads. Please test the platform and go through any trouble shooting prior to your appointment.
• Please note that all appointment times will be made in Eastern Time Zone time.

• During the actual appointment we will discuss options, you can ask questions, and make sure you are comfortable with the plan.
• Appointments are 30 minutes via Telemedicine using a platform that “feels” more like a regular appointment than a phone call.
• The appointment and the majority of the follow up will occur with Dr Conway or one of the certified nutrition consultants.
• Please bring a list of questions with you to the appointment or even keep a “Nutrition Journal: where you can jot down thoughts, notes and questions you may have in order to ensure that we cover all of your questions during the allotted appointment time.

• Dr Conway and or a member of the Vital Vet team. Please note that we work as a team, the same way your human practitioners do.
• Even if you have a Technician appointment (available soon) the plan will always be approved by Dr Conway before being released to you- similar to a human radiologist reading an X-ray before passing the interpretation along to your Dr.
• If you are requesting a homemade diet, Dr Conway will always be formulating the diet behind the scenes. Think of Dr Conway like the Wizard of Oz, even when you don’t see her, she is always just behind the curtain.

Why do we do this?

Dr Conway is only person and this approach helps expand our capacity to help as many patient’s as possible while also providing quality, care. This also keeps our costs to you as low as possible. We believe nutrition information and recommendations should be accessible and are working hard to improve this.    

• A completed diet history form
• Veterinary records within the last 3-6 months
• Recent lab work for sick patients within the last 3 months (minimum database- complete blood count, serum biochemistry and urine analysis)
• A signed Veterinary patient client relationship form. We hope the laws will catch up to human medicine but in the time behind in order to speak with you directly without performing a physical exam of your pet, this form is required by most states. It is a simple form that both you and your veterinarian sign stating that Vital Vet is providing nutrition consulting and all other medical care will continue through your primary care veterinarian. 
• We also ask that you sign an Expectations/ Kindness Clause.
  Nutritional services operate with unique dynamics compared to most other medical services, and understanding what to anticipate helps ease anxiety and promotes successful outcomes. While it might seem straightforward to ask for kindness, our encounters with virtual consultations reveal that people sometimes don’t extend the same level of courtesy and respect virtually as they would in person. At Vital Vet, we uphold a stringent policy ensuring everyone, including our patients, clients, staff, and doctors, are treated with utmost respect and kindness. If you are someone who struggles with a temper, then an in person consult with a nutritionist is going to have the best outcome for all parties involved. Link to a list of nutritionists  https://acvn.org/

• A 30 minute consultation with Dr Conway or a Master Vital Vet Nutrition Consultant about your pet’s nutritional needs.

What is included with a diet plan?

• A comprehensive written document with commercial diet options or a homemade recipe.
• Additional information such as cooking instructions (if appropriate), treat options, and recommended supplements.
• Up to 20 minutes of follow up questions either via email or phone call with the nutrition technician (questions above and beyond may need to be scheduled as a re check appointment or billed out per time required to answer them)

The initial appointment is approximately 30 minutes in length. During this time, the nutrition team will review your pet’s medical history (provided by your veterinary specialist and regular veterinarian) as well as the Client Diet History Form you completed. This information is essential in creating the best possible recommendations for your pet and is required for the appointment. If we do not receive your diet history form 48 hours prior to the appointment it will need to be rescheduled. 

During the appointment, potential diet options will be discussed. During the appointment you will have the opportunity to present any dietary options and ingredients you are not comfortable using for your pet. If necessary, you may be given “homework” assignments to complete, such as feeding certain human food items to gauge your pet’s willingness to eat them or collecting additional information regarding specific foods, treats and/or supplements being used at home.

Please note changes in ingredients/diets, or food companies you prefer to avoid not discussed during the appointment will incur a fee. You will have the opportunity to address ingredient and diet concerns Both written on the Diet History Form and in person during the appointment. The reason for this as edits to the diet plan with preventable issues are time consuming and repeated adjustments to the plan limits our capacity to assist other patients. Please note – we absolutely will work with you to find a diet your pet will eat- minor adjustment in the beginning are part of the process – we simply ask you disclose all of your and your pet’s preferences ahead of time.  

We will discuss dietary options at the time of the appointment, with what we call a “quick discharge to get you started”. However, written copy of the comprehensive consultation will take time to build and will be emailed to you within 10-15 business days. You will receive this diet plan via email and the veterinary clinic that submitted the referral will receive a copy via fax, or via email if requested.

 Please note that the diet plan release may be delayed while we wait to hear back regarding the results of any “homework” assignments (for example: feeding certain food items to gauge your pet’s willingness to eat them, supplements being used at home, or the results of additional requested labwork).

Yes absolutely. We ask that you save your questions until you receive your diet pan and read it through thoroughly a few times. Most often answers to the questions we receive can be found right in the diet plan. If you still have questions, please save, and consolidate them. If possible, save your questions for the next scheduled consult time, if not please provide a concise, edited email to us asking your question directly. If your questions require a prolonged explanation, we will ask that you make a follow up appointment to have them addressed. The same way your human medical team would have you schedule an appointment if your concerns could not be addressed expeditiously via phone with the support medial team members.

Much of the follow up communication will be facilitated through the master nutrition consultant under Dr Conway’s guidance.

Homemade diets are custom made for every patient and are very time consuming. A lot of consideration, math, and behind the scenes research goes into each recommendation. A single diet plan can take >2 hours for the team to complete. Patient’s who are not doing well (losing weight, vomiting, having diarrhea) will be triaged and provided with a temporary plan- a temporary plan is always discussed during the consultation. If you need your diet faster a rush fee can be added for a faster diet turnaround time – please let the team know if you would like this option.

Re-check appointments are recommended for sick patients and those consuming homemade diets. This will ensure that the diet is and continues to be optimal for your pet. Dr Conway will discuss the need for and recommended frequency of follow up re-check appointments at the time of your initial consult. The cost for additional follow-up appointments is a standard recheck fee. The fee for any follow-up appointments, and any additional fees discussed during that appointment, are due when services are rendered.

Homemade diets can do adrift and the food that ends up in your pet’s bowl can be very different from the initial formula Dr Conway created. Regular recheck to ensure we are all on the same page about how it is bring prepared ensured your pet is receiving optimal nutrition and that unintended deficiencies are not being created due to a term called “diet drift” aka the diet being prepared differently than the way it was formulated. A patient’s nutrition needs are dynamic and constantly evolving, and the best form of medicine is proactive and preventative. So regular rechecks, like regular checks ups ensures your pet is still on the optimal plan and we can quickly course correct and address any subtle issues that arise before they become a greater concern. Since pets can not talk, and because our diagnostics are not always sensitive as we would like, by the time our pets show us a problem, the disease is often very progressed.  For example, by the time kidney disease is evident on routine bloodwork greater than 70% of kidney function has been lost.  

Fee for the consultation, and fees related to any written diet plan to be formulated after the consultation, are due at the time of the appointment. We CANNOT begin working on any written diet plan formulations until payment has been received.

Missed appointments are inconvenient to our current and future patients, deposits will be required shortly for all appointments. Please call us at least 24 hours in advance if you are unable to make your scheduled appointment. Please note we are located in the Eastern Time Zone.

If we do not receive your diet history form and records from your veterinarian 24 hours prior to the appointment we will need to reschedule. As we will be unable to make any meaningful recommendations without knowing your pet’s medical history.

To see our most updated fees, click here. 

Please note – Vital vet reserves the right to charge for email and phone time between appointments, and additional questions, they will be billed at a rate of $75/hr tech time and $250/hr DVM time.

Vital Vet Certified Master Technician appointment options will be available soon.

If requesting diets for multiple pets, each additional pet must have completed pre-appointment information. Fees for additional pets are based on health status and requested ingredient variety.

They are elite veterinary technicians (like human nurses) who have undergraduate degrees and have gone to additional schooling (like nursing school) to provide medical supportive care in a veterinary setting. They have passed exams and certifications to demonstrate their clinical skills and knowledge. They have also been hand selected by Dr Conway for their skills and interest in nutrition and have taken the Vital Vet Nutrition Certification program to demonstrate their nutrition skills. They also either have or are working towards their Veterinary Technician Specialty in Nutrition – a program that requires over 4000 hours (minimum) clinical experience in nutrition, application package, case reports, letters of recommendation and successful passing of a detailed and rigorous technician clinical nutrition exam. In addition some of the Vital Vet Certified Master Nutrition Technicians are also working on a master’s degree in animal nutrition. In short these are highly qualified technicians who have passed The Vital Vet Program, and the academically oriented VTS program and can operate with the knowledge of a physician’s assistant equivalent in the veterinary medical world.