Royal Animal Health University Courses

On April 8-9, 2017, the top names in healthy pet nutrition gathered at RAHU's San Luis Obispo, CA location to teach the most practical, helpful and feasible ways to feed a wildly healthy pet.

Dr. Karen Becker, Mercola’s most well-read veterinary voice for integrative medicine and Dr. Barbara Royal, co-founder of RAHU, are both advocates for integrative medicine, pet food consultants, authors and well-respected engaging lecturers. Their integrative veterinary approach to practical fresh food nutrition draws from years of clinical experience and in-depth education and research.

Steve Brown is widely recognized as the very best pet food formulator. As an author, researcher, and consultant in formulation of many fresh pet foods, he and has a unique and well-researched approach to every diet.

Rodney Habib’s vlogs on Planet Paws are the most-watched pet food videos on Facebook (millions of views!). He combines a visually descriptive multimedia approach with his amazingly dedicated field research into common sense nutrition, health and longevity to get the best information to his viewers.

Chapter Overview:

Chapter 1: In-Practice Nutrition
Presented by Dr. Barbara Royal
How addressing species-appropriate nutrition and treats in medical practice can help not only improve patient outcomes, but also increase relaxed in-hospital animal-human interactions, increase client satisfaction and loyalty, improve compliance and increase return visits, decrease stress and increase job satisfaction for vets and staff. How to incorporate nutrition into office visits and create a healthy situation for all bottom lines.

Chapter 2: The New Generation of Pet Parents are asking better questions, be prepared!
Presented by Rodney Habib
Generation differences in health management and what current pet parents are looking for. Specific details about the pet food industry and what is available. How health is regulated in the pet food industry.

Chapter 3: The History of the Pet Food Industry
Presented by Dr. Karen Becker
The current food choices that are available and their benefits and risks. What health sequela occur when inappropriate foods are fed and why.

Chapter 4: Understanding Great Diets Start with Pet Food Math
Presented by Steve Brown
Outlining the health potential of dogs and cats based upon genetic inheritance, epigenetic inheritance (what the dogs’ grandparents ate, environment), and pre-conception through weaning: diet, environment, and early exposure to microbes. Over time, we can improve the odds that dogs and cats can live long, healthy live by understanding, working with breeders, eliminating puppy mills and more.

Chapter 5: Managing the Overweight and Underweight Pet
Presented by Dr. Barbara Royal
Practical hints and answers to medical concerns in dealing with pets that are not at their optimal weight. What is a scavenger? Should pets be allowed to free feed? How to remedy conditions for animals that are overfed but have poor nutrition. The top 8 tips for dog weight loss and the top 8 tips for cat weight loss. Unexpected conditions affected by weight. How did we create an epidemic of overweight animals? How fast can a dog or cat lose or gain weight?

Chapter 6: Description and Function of Macro-Components of Pet Food Diets
Presented by Dr. Karen Becker & Steve Brown
Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates: How to properly assess their content from labels. How to calculate the carbohydrate content from a label where it is not included. Pet food standards, agencies involved, (AAFCO, NRC, FDA, etc.) useful specific background, and information about fresh foods and ancestral diets.

Chapter 7: What Can Go Wrong with Fresh Food Diets?
Presented by Dr. Karen Becker & Steve Brown
Balance Matters. Why most vets disapprove of homemade and raw diets. Why balanced foods are important and a practical method to recognize imbalances in a diet. How to manage different feeding systems.

Chapter 8: Medical Concerns and Assessment of Currently Available Treats, Chews & Toys
Presented by Dr. Barbara Royal
What medical problems are associated with treats, chews and toys? How to assess safety, sourcing, function and content in treats. Practical advice on using (or avoiding) treats to help manage weight, health and dental condition. Best and healthiest ingredients, additions, and feeding tip to entice appetite. Treats/chews to avoid. How to make healthy treats/pill pockets for pets.

Chapter 9: Current Research Involving Longevity and the Prevalence of Life Shortening Diseases in Pets
Presented by Rodney Habib
What are the causes of health and longevity? Current research, who is studying this and why, and what are results.

Chapter 10: Interactive Diet Formulation Lab
Presented by Dr. Karen Becker & Steve Brown
Using a state of the art pet food formulation program, work through different ingredients, diet requirements, macro and micronutrient needs and formulate balanced diets. What are likely food-based sources for macro and micronutrients? How to best source ingredients and use them in a food. What specific health conditions might require specialized macro or micronutrient content? How to adjust ingredients to meet needs, deficiencies and excesses during formulation.

17 CE Hours
Includes 10 video lectures and access to the course booklet

Includes Course Booklet

This program 1136-29318 is approved by the AAVSB RACE to offer a total of 17.00 CE Credits (17.00 max) being available to any one veterinarian: and/or 17.00 Veterinary Technician CE Credits (17.00 max). This RACE approval is for the subject matter categories of:
Category One: Scientific
Category Two: Non-Scientific-Clinical
Category Three: Non-Scientific-Practice Management/Professional Development using the delivery method of Seminar/LectureLab/Wet Lab. This approval is valid in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE; however, participants are responsible for ascertaining each board's CE requirements. RACE does not "accredit" or "endorse" or "certify" any program or person, nor does RACE approval validate the content of the program.