dog and cat nutrition. To believe vets or not

[bock]

Well today, we took Casper to the vet for the for the first time today. We usually go to a different vet, but we decided to give this one a try. Right when we walked in I couldn't help but notice the whole wall dedicated to Science Diet food.

I can't say I was that surprised, that seems to be a very common sight. Well, my mom decided to ask the vet what he thought about Purina and Science Diet vs. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild dog and cat food. My mom said that I was interested in their nutrition, and that I had her switch the dogs and cats. Here is what he said,

1. Vet, ''There is nothing wrong with Purina and Science Diet, of course the people selling Blue Buffalo and TOTW will say bad things about these foods, they want you to buy their food.

- Me, When I researched these foods, I didn't look at reviews on their websites, what kind of research would that be? Of course they would support themselves, so does Science Diet, a LOT too. I looked at several different websites, at Yahoo Answers, and of course BYC and I read a the nutrition section in a cat book by a holistic cat vetranarian . Probably like 95% of of people said that Purina and Science Diet are extremely bad for your pet, and to find foods without grain and with meat as the first ingredient. Then, I looked at the Tractor Supply, Petsmart, and Petco websites and chose the foods that I thought would be best for my pet; Blue Buffalo and TOTW.

2. Vet, ''Corn will not hurt your pet, they need the fiber and carbohydrates from the corn. They call corn a ''filler'', but really it is providing essential nutrients for your pet.''

-Me, Corn IS a cheap filler, there is nothing else to it. Cats and dogs CAN NOT digest corn, and therefore go #2 a LOT more, and it stinks really bad.

3. Vet, ''Stop feeding into this nonsense and take a pet nutrition class.''

-Me, Most pet nutrition classes are taught by a representative for a pet food company. (I saw a pet food nutrition table set up at Petco once. At the bottom of their little board with all the info it said Hills. Wow, I can't guess who was teaching that class.) I am sure there are some genuine nutrition classes out there, and I would gladly take one of those. Maybe he should come with me.

4. Vet, ''Who is paying for all this food?''

-Me, My parents, and they pay for the vet bills too. So when my cats and dogs develop all these problem later on in life from low-quality food, they can pay for that too. And, Science Diet costs almost the same as Blue, so why would we buy junk when we can do something good for our pets?

5. Vet, ''The only problem is that they poop more and it smells worse, but if you don't mind than don't waste your money''.

-Me, ''The reason they poop more is because they can't digest all of the corn in their food, see the connection?''


Anyways, correct me if I'm wrong, but this guys doesn't know what he's talking about or he just wants our money. And when my mom asked if we should just switch back to Purina he said, ''Yeah......or Science Diet. This guy really makes me suspicious, and now my parents don't believe me anymore and are going to switch all of my cats and dogs back to Purina!

They say, ''This guy has gone to vet school for 8 years and he works with pets everyday, he knows what he is talking about.'' How am I supposed to convince them that isn't true? I told them everything I know, and I tried to show them the cat book and several websites, but they refuse to look. I told them to think of it this way, would a wolf go out in a corn field and eat corn, or would it hunt? Ugh, I just can't believe this! Help!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

If you know more about nutrition than a vet, why......

 

[redhen]

My vet told me the SAME thing..
She said that Purina One IS fine for dogs...
AND..that folks are nuts when they say their dogs have grain or corn "allergies"..
Thats its all the "rage" now to say that..

She said..Its VERY rare for a dog to be actually allergic to it...
MOST people just assume that their dog is allergic to it if they are having some problems.....but they never do the CORRECT allergy tests to prove it. The tests take a LONG time... (they do it by food elimination tests..etc...).. and its very expensive...
So therefore, most people dont actually do the allergy tests for the dogs... They just assume.
So who knows.... i dont know who to believe either...
But of course..my vets office also sells Science diet at the desk too..

 

[noodleroo]

My vet, whom I worked for part time many years ago, makes fun of me for my holistic animal choices.

I highly recommend checking out this web site: http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/index.html It has lots of good information on pet nutrition, and she has great supplements. She has amazing knowledge and I trust her information..

 

[Beekissed]

Actually, a lot of omnivores eat corn and I truly consider canines and felines omnivores to a certain degree~at least mine are. My dogs and cats LOVE fresh corn on the cob and the dogs would actually go and pick their own corn until I fenced off the garden. Foxes love corn also and will pull down corn ears to nibble on~I imagine a wolf will too if given the chance.

Now, they don't eat as much corn as is in pet foods, that is for sure, but there are many mammals who can't digest corn properly....not even cows or pigs, or even humans, for that matter.

Why stress yourself over things of this nature? There are millions of pets all over this land who are eating these so-called cheap dog foods who are thriving and well into old age without a lot of vetting. My dogs don't have health issues, other than naturally growing old and getting arthritis, and they have been fed just plain on Ol' Roy every day of their lives. I do add other types of foods here and there and had even made dog food this past year for the older dog....but in the long run its not really worth getting all bent out of shape about.

 

[Imp]

I work in human nutrition, at a hospital. Nutrition seems to change constantly and there never seems to be a shortage of nutty ideas floating around about it.

I tell the dieticians I work with that:

Nutrition is a hard science, just like astrology.

Imp

 

[TiaView]

Unless vets specialize in nutrition they have 4 hours of nutritional counciling by the Iams Co., and/or Science Diet. They get a kickback for selling it. That's why almost every vet in the Country that does not specialize in nutrition carrys it. It is a very poor food. Corn and chemicals. Do a search on ethoxyquin (the preservative in SD) It is a poison.
I have friends that are vets that laugh when I tell them that it's dishonest for them to push this low quality food. I am a canine holistic nutritionist that has been studying food for over 20 years. Almost all dogs have health related issues (mostly skin problems) if they stay on this food as they age. The skin is the body's largest organ. And when nutrition is absent/lacking the dogs body shifts the nutrition from the skin to the other vital organs. That's why you see so many dogs with skin issues in my grooming industry that can be healed with a simple switch of diet. The vets usually recommend allergy shots or steroids.

 

[chickee]

I found that one of my cats is allergic to grains when there was the scare of Melamine in the grains imported from China, and I switched to a no grain food. My cat had health issues that the Vet could never put a finger on. I had to discover this myself and now my cat is very healthy. I worked as a vet tech, and in my personal experience, Vets are not specialists in nutrition. You need to try different foods until one works the best for your pet. I can tell you that the Vet I worked for sold and fed the animals in the clinic Science diet. When Purina One came on the market he switched to feeding it to the animals in the hospital because it cost less. The results we saw were so poor that they switched back to Science diet.

 

[chickee]

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[chickendude]

I have been giving my now 9 month old black lab. Purina puppy pro plan. It is rice based. He is doing extremely well on this. any opinions on this feed?