AD LIBITUM = Free choice feeding

ADIPOSE TISSUE = Fatty tissue

ANOREXIA = Loss of appetite

ASCORBIC ACID = Vitamin C

BIOLOGICAL VALUE = Protein quality

CACHECTIC = Extreme weight loss and subsequent poor bodily condition

CAECAL PELLETS = Moist faecal pellets passed by rabbits at night that are eaten

CARAPACE = The shell of a tortoise or terrapin

CIRRHOSIS = A degenerative change; usually with reference to the liver

CRYSTALLURIA = The formation of crystals in urine

DEANIMATION = A process of hydrolysis taking place in the liver by which amino acids are broken down and urea formed

ECLAMPSIA = Acute toxaemia of pregnancy

ELIMINATION DIET = A diet containing a novel protein source used to diagnose dietary sensitivity and pinpoint the protein to which the animal is unable to tolerate

ENOSTOSIS = A tumour or bony growth within the medullary cavity of a bone

GOITRE = Enlarged thyroid gland

HOMEOSTASIS = A tendency of biological systems to maintain stability while continually adjusting to conditions that are optimal for survival

HYPERKALAEMIA = Excessive blood potassium

HYPERKERATOSIS = Hypertrophy of the horny layers of the skin

HYPERNATRAEMIA = Excessive blood sodium

HYPERPLASIA = Excessive formation of normal cells in a tissue or organ which subsequently increases in size

HYPERTENSION = Consistently high blood pressure

HYPERTROPHY = An increase in the size of a tissue or a structure caused by an increase in the size of the cells that compose it

HYPOCALCAEMIA = Insufficient blood calcium

HYPOKALAEMIA = Insufficient blood potassium

HYPONATRAEMIA = Insufficient blood sodium

LIFE STAGE DIET = A diet designed to meet the nutritional requirements of an animal at a certain period of its life

MALOCCLUSION = An abnormality of dental development causing overlapping of the bite

MEGA-OESOPHAGUS = Flaccid dilation of the oesophagus impairing the passage of food from the pharynx to the stomach

METABOLISM = The sum of the physical and chemical processes by which living organised substance is built up and maintained (anabolism), and by which large molecules are broken down into smaller molecules to make energy available to the organism (catabolism)

NUTRIENT = Food; any substance that nourishes

NUTRITION = The sum of the processes involved in the taking in of nutrients and assimilating and utilising them

OBESITY = Describes an animal 15% or more over its optimum weight

PANCREATITIS = Inflammation of the pancreas

PANSTEATITIS = Yellow fat disease

PICA = Depraved appetite

POLYDIPSIA = Increased thirst

RETINOL = Vitamin A

RICKETS = A nutritional disease caused by deficiency of vitamin D; this leads to altered calcium and phosphorous metabolism which consequently disturbs the ossification of bone

THERMOGENESIS = The production of heat

UROLITHIASIS = The formation of calculi in the urinary tract

VENTRICULUS = Gizzard

VOLVULUS SYNDROME = Twisting of a loop of bowel causing obstruction