Nutrition's Important Role in Anesthesia & Pain Management- with Robin Saar, RVT, VTS (Nutrition)

Nutrition is often a forgotten aspect of the overall animal healthcare experience, especially when compared to the more "sexy" specialties such as ECC and Anesthesia. However, nutrition plays a VITAL role in effecting almost all specialties and body systems of our patients. Today we talk to Robin Saar, a VTS (Nutrition) to talk about how nutrition plays a role specifically in post op recovery, and pain managment! Resources mentioned in this episode: Chaitman J, Ziese AL, Pilla R, Minamoto Y, Blake AB, Guard BC, Isaiah A, Lidbury JA, Steiner JM, Unterer S, Suchodolski JS. Fecal Microbial and Metabolic Profiles in Dogs With Acute Diarrhea Receiving Either Fecal Microbiota Transplantation or Oral Metronidazole. Front Vet Sci. 2020 Apr 16;7:192. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00192. PMID: 32363202; PMCID: PMC7182012. Martini, S. E., Schmidt, T., Huang, W., Blake, A. B., Cavasin, J. P., Suchodolski, J. S., & Swanson, K. S. (2025). Effects of Metronidazole on the Fecal Microbiota, Fecal Metabolites, and Serum Metabolites of Healthy Adult Cats. Pets, 2(2), 19. https://doi.org/10.3390/pets2020019 https://www.amazon.ca/Veterinary-Small-Animal-Microbiomes-Nutrition/dp/1119862604 https://todaysveterinarynurse.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/11/TVN-2023-01_Nutrition_Microbiome.pdf About Robin: Robin is a vintage registered veterinary technologist with a Veterinary Technician Specialty in Nutrition. Her professional experience includes working in small and mixed animal practices as an RVT, and a Practice Manager, developing a nationwide nutrition program for a Canadian veterinary corporation, and gaining sales and customer education skills at a start-up microbiome-focused company. Currently, at Royal Canin, Robin is a Sr. Scientific Communications Technician and she is completing her masters in Animal Nutrition at the University of Glasgow. Robin is a peer-reviewed, published author and was the lead author on the first dedicated textbook “Small Animal Microbiomes and Nutrition”. She enjoys supporting the veterinary community and volunteers on multiple organization boards.