Moving Toward, Not Away: Megan Sprinkle on Nutrition, the Vet Channel, and Why It Takes a Village

<p>There are fewer than 100 board certified veterinary nutritionists in the country. Megan Sprinkle is one of them. She is also the host of Vet Life Reimagined and head of veterinary affairs at Golden Child, the vet-formulated fresh food brand. I had the pleasure of appearing on Megan&#39;s show earlier this summer, so it was a treat to return the favor.</p><p>We got into the inflection point facing veterinary care, the thin nutrition education most vets actually receive, whether &quot;vet-formulated&quot; means anything, and how you build a pet food company from day one. Megan brought a frame I keep thinking about: she has always moved toward what she wants, never away from what she doesn&#39;t. Give it a listen.In this episode:</p><ul><li>Why Megan knew the exam room was never her destination, and how a broad definition of &quot;veterinarian&quot; opened every other door</li><li>The nutrition education gap, in her words: two hours of small animal nutrition lab at Auburn. Not two credits. Two hours.</li><li>Enrichment and gamification of feeding, from zoo nutrition to companion animals, and what Farmer&#39;s Dog acquiring Woof signals</li><li>My thesis that the vet channel is the next frontier for non-therapeutic brands, and Megan&#39;s healthy skepticism about &quot;vet-formulated&quot; as a buzz term</li><li>Inside Golden Child: building from the who, the drizzles, shipping frozen D2C, and an overwhelming response from vets</li><li>Why there is no single fix for access to care, and the two-clinic story that reframes the whole problem</li><li>Building better community for pet parents, and a nutrition hotline to make those 90-ish experts more reachable</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Chapters:<br>00:00 Welcome Megan Sprinkle<br>02:00 The inflection point in veterinary care<br>03:20 Never wanted clinical practice<br>05:40 Moving toward, not away<br>11:25 Marine mammals to zoo to nutrition<br>19:00 Farmer&#39;s Dog buys Wolf, and enrichment in the bowl<br>21:30 The nutrition education gap<br>26:40 The vet channel and the &quot;vet-formulated&quot; question<br>32:10 Building Golden Child from day one<br>46:45 The product line: diets and drizzles<br>48:40 What she would change: no single solution<br>54:30 Community for pet parents and the nutrition hotline<br>59:25 Parting words<br>01:00:25 Peony, and why food is love</p><p></p>