Zoo/Aquarium

Ardente Veterinary Nutrition LLC focuses on providing nutrition consultation to zoos and aquariums. The following outlines the consulting packages we offer; upon request, any service option can be customized to meet the unique needs of your facility:

 

Basic: Consult– $497

  • Recommend generic diet for a given species, including suggestions for ingredients, relative diet item proportions, projected target caloric needs, supplementation, and laboratory analyses (feed or animal health via serum/tissue sampling)
  • Review standard operating procedures and provide recommendations for revision, or generate new standard operating procedure in conjunction with animal health care and/or nutrition team as appropriate
  • Assist with AZA/ZAA certification or re-certification process by reviewing nutrition-related documentation and recommending revisions as needed

 

Basic: Diet Evaluation – $1497

  • 30-minute consultation meeting (phone, virtual)
  • One diet evaluation, individual animal or group-fed species
    • Gather animal, exhibit, diet, and management related information
    • Evaluate current diet fed
    • Compare estimated nutrient profile of current diet with species-appropriate nutrient targets, as available
    • Provide a detailed report summarizing the case, current diet (including energetics and nutrient profile), and diet modification recommendations
  • One follow-up email, at a specific time point based on recommendations, with optional diet revision based on feedback from team

 

Premium Agreement – Starting at $1,197/mo. for 8 hours/month

  • Retainer status given for a minimum of 8 hours per month, negotiated based on your animal inventory, nutrition needs, and budget.
  • Priority response for all diet evaluations and email inquiries, with a projected turn-around time of 5 business days for emails and 1 month for diet evaluations.
    • Timeline for completion of diet evaluations depends on several factors, including thoroughness of submitted diet history and facility response time regarding requests for additional information.
  • For all evaluations:
    • Facility team gathers animal, exhibit, diet, and management related information
    • AVN nutrition team evaluates current diet fed
    • AVN nutrition team compares estimated nutrient profile of current diet with species-appropriate nutrient targets, as available
    • Nutritionist provides a detailed report summarizing the case, current diet (including energetics and nutrient profile), and diet modification recommendations
  • Perform follow-up evaluations as needed, but minimally on an annual basis to assess animal health, management strategies, population changes, and/or diet drift.
  • Lead monthly or quarterly meetings to touch base with animal health care team and review diet-related questions/concerns in real-time

 

Standard Review – Starting at $20,000 (depending on facility size and needs)

  • Perform diet evaluations for total collection over 1-2 years’ time based on animal inventory
  • For all evaluations:
    • Facility team gathers animal, exhibit, diet, and management related information
    • AVN nutrition team evaluates current diet fed
    • AVN nutrition team compares estimated nutrient profile of current diet with species-appropriate nutrient targets, as available
    • Nutritionist provides a detailed report summarizing the case, current diet (including energetics and nutrient profile), and diet modification recommendations
  • One follow-up email for all diet evaluations performed, at a specific time point based on recommendations, with optional diet revision based on feedback from team.
  • *If multiple iterations of diet recommendations are needed to optimize a specific animal or group of animals’ diet needs, and/or if additional animal health information becomes available necessitating diet recommendations be revisited more than once, the “Basic” package will need to be added to cover the additional time needed.