VETERINARIAN • CLINICAL NUTRITION
Clinical Nutritionist for Dogs and Cats
Krzysztof Kujawa, DVM
I formulate individually balanced home-prepared diets for dogs and cats — healthy animals, patients with medical conditions, and pets with specific nutritional requirements. I combine my experience as a veterinarian with current knowledge in clinical nutrition and the nutritional standards of FEDIAF, AAFCO and NRC. Every diet is created for an individual animal, taking into account its age, health, lifestyle and specific needs.My goal is not only to provide nutritionally appropriate food, but also to create a diet that your pet will enjoy and that remains practical for you to prepare.
MEDICINE • PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE • EVERYDAY CONVENIENCE
Individual nutrition based on veterinary knowledge
I am Krzysztof Kujawa, a veterinarian specialising in clinical nutrition for dogs and cats. I formulate balanced home-prepared diets tailored to each animal's individual needs, age, lifestyle and health. My veterinary background gives me an in-depth understanding of animal physiology and health. I have formulated hundreds of therapeutic diets that have helped many dogs and cats improve their health and achieve an appropriate body weight.
I have particular experience in the nutritional management of animals with gastrointestinal disorders, highly digestible and elimination diets, and dietary management of patients with kidney disease. I apply my clinical experience with diet-responsive conditions when working with both healthy and unwell animals, as well as pets with specific nutritional requirements related to their lifestyle, body condition or age.
I combine an approach based on the natural nutritional needs of dogs and cats with scientific knowledge of individual nutrient requirements and the appropriate balance between them. I work with a calculator I developed myself, incorporating the latest recommendations from FEDIAF, AAFCO and NRC — organisations that establish nutritional standards for complete and balanced diets for dogs and cats.
I draw on the available scientific evidence on canine and feline nutrition, combining it with clinical experience and practical judgement to create a complete recipe for your pet's everyday diet from start to finish. Above all, I want preparing your pet's food to be straightforward and enjoyable. I use simple ingredients that are readily available in ordinary grocery stores and home kitchens. If you are looking for nutritional support for your dog or cat, I invite you to get in touch.
My experience
My interest in canine and feline nutrition, as well as kidney disease, began during my veterinary studies. I gained my first clinical experience in several veterinary practices in Warsaw, including the Small Animal Clinic at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the outpatient clinic of the Paluch Animal Shelter.
After graduating, I worked as a small animal general practitioner at Koala Veterinary Clinic near Warsaw and later at Grzegorz Ostrzeszewicz's veterinary practice. I also worked as a mobile veterinarian with the Pupilmed team. This gave me the opportunity to see the everyday realities of caring for dogs and cats in their own homes.
From the beginning of my professional career, I have taken a holistic approach to my patients — looking beyond the treatment of an isolated symptom and considering the factors that may cause or perpetuate it. Nutrition therefore quickly became one of the key elements of my practice. I have also worked as a veterinary consultant in the development of canine supplements for GameDog.
Years of clinical practice and continued independent education have given me extensive knowledge of the market for pet foods, supplements and nutritional products for dogs and cats. This allows me to distinguish solutions that are genuinely useful in practice from those whose popularity is driven primarily by marketing or widely repeated claims.
Veterinary care beyond the clinic
Outside my professional work, I travel extensively, often in a more rugged, survival-oriented way — away from conventional routes and comforts. In such places, I regularly encounter animals living in difficult conditions or simply in need of help. Whenever I can, I try to help them. These experiences remind me that veterinary medicine is not only my profession, but also a way of looking at animals and recognising our responsibility towards them.
How I work
I formulate individual maintenance, specialised and therapeutic diets for dogs and cats. I work primarily with home-prepared diets using two approaches:
BACF — Biologically Appropriate Cooked Food
An individually balanced diet prepared from cooked ingredients. It allows precise control over the composition of each meal while remaining a practical option for many owners and for animals that prefer or require cooked food.
BARF — Biologically Appropriate Raw Food
An individually balanced diet based primarily on raw animal-derived ingredients, supplemented with the components required to meet the dog's or cat's complete nutritional requirements.
In both approaches, my priority is the nutritional balance and appropriate composition of the diet rather than simply assigning it to a particular feeding model. I offer online nutritional consultations as well as in-person consultations at a veterinary practice. If you are interested in an individually formulated diet for your dog or cat, please feel free to contact me.
The online consultation covers exclusively matters relating to animal nutrition and dietetics. It does not include assessment of the animal's health, diagnosis of disease or medical treatment. The consultation does not replace a veterinary examination. Matters relating to diagnosis and treatment should be discussed directly with a veterinarian at a veterinary practice.
Evidence-based resources on canine and feline nutrition
If you would like to better understand canine and feline nutrition, I recommend using resources created by specialists in veterinary medicine and nutritional science. Below you will find a selection of materials presenting current knowledge on nutrition, home-prepared diets and nutritional management of disease, ranging from accessible practical resources to more scientific publications.
FEDIAF
Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs 2025
Current nutritional guidelines for complete and complementary foods for dogs and cats.
AAHA
2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats
Practical guidelines on nutrition and body weight management.
WSAVA
Global Nutrition Guidelines
International nutrition guidelines developed by veterinary experts.
Frontiers in Animal Science
Home-prepared dog food: benefits and downsides
An overview of the benefits and limitations of home-prepared diets for dogs.
Today’s Veterinary Practice
Nutritional Management of Chronic Enteropathies in Dogs
Nutritional management of dogs with chronic gastrointestinal disease.
Today’s Veterinary Practice
Nutritional Management of Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats & Dogs
A resource on the nutritional management of patients with chronic kidney disease.
Assess your pet's body condition
A dog weighing 20 kg may be lean, in ideal body condition or significantly overweight. Likewise, two cats weighing 5 kg can have very different amounts of body fat depending on their build, age and condition. This is why clinical nutrition uses the Body Condition Score (BCS). It allows body fat to be estimated by assessing the animal's shape and by palpation, regardless of its size or breed.
1–3/9 — below ideal body condition
4–5/9 — ideal body condition
6–7/9 — overweight
8–9/9 — obese
A score of 5/9 is the traditional central reference point for ideal body condition.
Determine your dog's BCS
Look at your dog from above and from the side, then assess its body condition by touch. Gently run your hands over the ribs, spine and pelvic area. Do not assess body condition based solely on body weight or the appearance of the coat.
At an ideal body condition, the ribs should be easy to feel beneath a thin layer of fat, a waist should be visible when viewed from above, and a gentle abdominal tuck should be apparent from the side. The more difficult the ribs are to feel and the less visible the waist becomes, the greater the excess body fat. Conversely, very prominent ribs, vertebrae and pelvic bones indicate that the animal is underweight.
Assess your cat's BCS
Palpation is particularly important in cats because their coat can easily conceal their true body shape. Look at your cat from above and from the side, then use your hands to assess the ribs, spine, pelvic area and abdomen.
At an ideal body condition, the ribs should be easy to feel beneath a thin layer of fat, with a gentle waist visible behind the ribs. A small abdominal skin fold does not in itself indicate obesity. As BCS increases, the ribs become progressively more difficult to feel, the waist disappears and the body becomes more rounded. Fat accumulation around the abdomen may also become increasingly noticeable.
Let's talk about your pet's nutrition
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