[Mary N]

What is your opinion on this subject? I heard many of my pet owners friends are not pleased with the ingredients found in what they call “So-called Veterinarian approved dog food”, while on another hand I know many of them who swear in their Vets recommended dog food.

A friend of mine went far with me today on this subject that it got me thinking and I started researching this. Many sources claim that it is just another dog food myth and that these recommended dog food brands are not so healthy for our four legged companions.
http://mysweetpuppy.net/dog-food-myths/
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/holistic-healthcare-library/food-diet—general/147/top-10-myths-about-pet-food-and-nutrition.aspx
They, for example, claim that veterinarians are recommending dog food which is filled with bad ingredients.
OnlyNaturalPet states in their article:
“While large brands sold in veterinarian’s offices may be marketed as premium, top of the line foods, one look at the ingredients tells a different story.”

But lets not just look at dog related websites. Here is a really heartbreaking story I read today while researching this problem and it is featured on dailymail a media news website who is powerful enough not to have any reason to publish this but they did. I am pretty sure they got nothing for writing a piece about how the vets recommended food killed a beloved cat named Jaggers 🙁

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244595/Is-food-youre-feeding-pet-killing–making-vet-rich.html

The article dailymail wrote is really long but I advise you to read it, they went with some stone hard facts as to why this problem persist. And they weren’t just talking about that one cat, that’s just the intro of the article.

Still, I can’t map my mind about all of this. I am writing this topic to fill you in on what I know so that you could give me your opinion. How do you go about this? Do you or do you not trust your vets recommended food brand?

After all of this, I don’t know who or what to trust anymore. I have two dogs, I love them both. I feed them home made and dry kibble dog food, most of the time it is the one my veterinarian recommends. Please give me your opinion on this.

[anonymous]

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=prescription+food

Go to the above site if you are interested in science-based veterinary medicine. Nothing is being sold there, no kits, no t-shirts, no supplements, no books, no memberships fees.
Nothing. Just facts.

[anonymous]

Per the site you recommended, disclaimer/excerpt:
Veterinary Advice
The product recommendations, pet health care advice, and other information provided on the Site (Site Content) are not to be construed as veterinary advice and are not meant to be a substitute for a consultation with a certified veterinarian. The Site Content is provided “as is” to assist you in the selection of appropriate products for your pets, but should not be relied upon to make important health care decisions for your pets. If your pet is ill, you should take it to a certified veterinarian for an examination and diagnosis.
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/help/termsofuse.aspx

[Cannoli]

Hi Mary,

It depends on the situation. If my dog was sick and depending on the illlness and the vet recommended it in the hope that it will make my pup better than probably yes. I would give a try since it is temporary. Kind of like eating hospital food.

But if the issue has nothing to do with food helping my pup (example he had sprained his leg) than no I would not buy the food at the Vet

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Cannoli.

[pitlove]

Hi Mary-

Veterinary Theraputic diets are made for specific illness and disease processes. They are not intended for healthy pets. Therefore when your vet is recommending one of these diets, its to help manage those disease processes.

Veterinary nutritionists do not use an ingredient deck to evaluate the quality of a pet food as it tells you very little about the food besides what’s in it. It does not tell you the quality of the raw materials, the manufacturing process, how the raw materials are stored and handled, the companies quality control procedures or who is formulating the diet and what credentials they have. Nutritionists prefer to use this set of guidelines when choosing a pet food http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Recommendations%20on%20Selecting%20Pet%20Foods.pdf

I suggest you start there when asking yourself these questions. It’s great to have discussions like this with friends or as part of a public forum, but the opinions expressed should never be misconstrued as fact.

I personally also feed a vet recommended diet and have found it works best for my pets out of the countless “better” brands I’ve tried.

[Mary N]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

Now I feel a bit better about feeding my dogs with vet recommended food brands.

Will email this topic to my friend who had me encouraged to write it in a first place and I will expect her to add anything if she feels that it is necessary.

Thank you for recommending resources I will make sure to read them all before jumping to any further conclusions.

[Cannoli]

Hi Mary N,

To add to my previous comment I think it’s difficult to answer your question of whether we should trust your vet’s recommendation in regard to your pet’s food.

It’s hard for me to tell no or yes since we don’t really know anything about your vet.

For me when I first got my pup two years ago I had to decide between three vets. This was a daunting experience for me since I knew nothing about Veterinary medicine and most lay people don’t. So I checked out their yelp reviews and how long they have been in business. All of these 3 vets all had over a hundred reviews but two of them had really terrible reviews (quite a lot). The first two vets people complained a lot about their pets getting even sicker for months after the treatment received from these vets and being forced to buy unnecessary shots.. But the third vet and the one that I chose had only negative reviews based on the amount they charged.

In addition the first two vets were relatively new in practice while my 3rd vet has been around for 20 years. I chose the 3rd vet. He really knows his stuff..I have had few times that I had to take my pup to the emergency to see him and all times were false positive. He never orders unnecessary blood work or tests, never pushed me on food that he sells at his store, and he never pushed me when it comes to unnecessary shots. For example lyme disease shots. He knows that I know that my town has no history of ticks with lyme (my town has a website and they list any instances of lyme infections) he doesn’t recommend it. But yet the other 2 vets are constantly mailing me “it’s time for your dog to get lyme desease shots”

Even if my vet recommended me his food he knows I would grill him on the ingredients. He knows I am fanatic about eating healthy. We have had animated discussions about raw food and my home cooked food. He is against it but so far my pup is thriving and he is impressed with how healthy my pup is. My vet has seen a lot of malnourished dogs.

So sorry for the long diatribe but if you have a good relationship with your vet and they listen to you and don’t send you mailers in the mail every 3 months that your dog needs this shot and that shot (ha) than I see no reason why you should not trust your vet’s food.

[InkedMarie]

I have no problem with the vet diets for medical conditions but I don’t like the “regular” foods sold at my vets. I asked what was in the dental formula that would magically make the food help teeth; no answer, it’s what the rep said. Okay, I’ll pass.

[goldenstar]

I had a Queensland Sheppard mix who passed a few years ago. But my vet put her on ZD by Science Diet. For this dog and with her problems, it was the right food. I tried many other foods and ZD was the only food she could eat. I wasn’t crazy about the ingredients, but it worked for her problems. I know that my vet was truly trying to help and he did.

[Susan]

Hi Mary,
what did your vet recommend a vet diet for? what was or is your dog health problem?

[Mary N]

@Cannoli

Thank you for a very long reply 😀

That is a very smart thing you did, checking the yelp reviews.

However I didn’t ask about mine or yours veterinarian, my question was generally about veterinarians across the country.

But I see what you are saying. There will always be people (not just vets lol) that are looking to dry your wallet and give a bad service in return. So the wisest thing you can do is check how their previous work did before.

@InkMarie That is exactly what I was talking about. Why are certain formulas “magical” ? If their ingredients are nothing special and are found in other foods as well.

@goldenstar I am so sad to hear that 🙁 I am sure you and your vet did your best to save your doggie..

@Susan My vet didn’t recommend me dog food for a medical condition but for general food consumption.. My dog currently thanks to god has no health problems and I hope it will stay that way forever

[Andrew S]

Quite frankly, I don’t.

I’ve had vets (whom I found to be otherwise perfectly competent) preach about Purina Dog Chow and Royal Canin which, based on the ingredient list, can range from mediocre to pure junk food filler. Their claims that “these companies have been around for decades and employ lots of scientists and who run lots of studies” doesn’t mean a thing to me. I read enough and have seen firsthand what quality nutrition looks like in canines to know that they’re either pushing a product that they carry or their student loans were financed by one of the big manufacturers.

My current vet does carry some condition related food but by and large, they tend to stay out of that part of the business. I’m lucky in that I have a dear friend who is a vet tech at the office who can tell me the difference between what is clinically necessary and what is a sales pitch.

[Clara]

I know this looks like out of topic.

But what are your views on foods sold by popular vets like Dr. Marty?

Do you believe in such products or you will solely go after your vets’ recommendation only.

Recently, I was reading this article ( https://petlovesbest.com/dr-marty-natures-feast-review/ ) and I am confused now.

PS: I will delete this if not relevant.

[anonymous]

I don’t trust homeopathic vets, I believe that they can cause harm.
Example:
Marty Goldstein–
Dr. Goldstein is another celebrity participant, a veterinarian to the stars. He is also a strong advocate of the bait-and-switch known as “integrative medicine.” This means he will sometimes use science-based treatments, but then often gives the credit for any improvement to homeopathy, acupuncture, raw diets, herbs, and other alternative treatments he also employs.
Dr. Goldstein, much like Jean Dodds, is one of those alternative practitioners who is so nice and caring and respected (at least by celebrity clients and alternative medicine advocates) that it is considered almost taboo to point out that much of what he sells is unproven at best and, as in the case of homeopathy, completely useless nonsense.
I’ve talked frequently about the problem with the concept of alternative medicine experts. Being learned and experienced in the use of unproven or quack therapies makes one an expert only in a narrow, and fundamentally misleading sense. An “expert” on homeopathy is like an expert on astrology or a long-dead religion: they know a great deal about something fictional, but this knowledge is only useful to believers, and there is no reason for those who don’t share the faith to take their proclamations seriously. For all his good intentions, Dr. Goldstein charges people lots of money to provide unscientific advice and fake medicine, along with the real medicine and, presumably, sound advice he “integrates” with the snake oil. This does not make him an expert but mistaken and, thanks to his prominence and PR skills, a bit dangerous.

Above is an excerpt from http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2018/05/whos-behind-the-the-truth-about-pet-cancer/
Click on link for full article and comments, also you can use the search engine there to look up nutrition for more science-based informative articles such as http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2016/07/more-nonsense-from-holistic-vets-about-commercial-therapeutic-diets/

[John P]

It is really nice.

[Elizabeth R]

We went on our vet’s recommendation of the Science Diet canned food and grain. Remember when dogs were being poisoned through their dog food? We had a Rescue puppy at the time which started to throw up along with our 9 y/o Aussie. We talked to the vet and he said to give her little balls of the canned Science diet food. They both continued to throw up. We started to cook eggs for them. They stopped throwing up. Thinking they may have had a stomach issue that had cleared, we gave them the recommended Science Diet. They began to throw up again. Our older dog (Aussie) who went into Liver failure. Because our vet did not take us seriously, we took her to another vet. (Our baby was saved at a specialty hospital, but never fully recover- she started to have seizures). That first vet continues to recommend Science Diet.

So in my opinion- No – Vet’s recommendations Are based on the reps of dog food. Or at least the vet we went to did not research. Maybe the Science Diet is a “good food” but obviously the manufacturer makes the food with the same ingredients as the cheeper ones- as our dogs were poisoned too – and the high dollar Science Diet was not immune from the poisoned ingredients.

We do give our dog a little bit of kibbles “Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance: Limited Ingredients Diets” but mostly we make the food at home now.

After we began feeding our Aussie homemade food ONLY, she lived for 8 more years to the ripe old age of 17💕.

[Steph D]

I trust dog food and treats recommended by vets, but not necessarily sold by them. I found Chews Happiness and love how natural their treats are. Their dog food is meant to help dog’s skin and coat, digestive and wellbeing functions. Check em’ out, it’s called the Barkaron-real cute and healthy. I tend to like smaller private companies versus corporate vets as the more corporate you get, the more you move away from true health. Caring about what your dog ingests starts with the ingredients. https://chewshappiness.com/barkaron-information/

[marv R]

Elizabeth R above—We have had Aussies for years in Portland OR. Our vet says Science Diet is the best. I am not so sure. ALL of our dogs prior to the two still living have died from cancer. Ours are now 13 years old but about 4 years ago we started giving then half dry science diet and half home made. Home made is 5 pounds of ground human grade turkey, 2 cups barley, 5 eggs, 2 tablespoons of olive oil (Im still not sure if that’s good or bad) a light amount of peas and carrots. Its boiled to get the barley cooked and eggs are added at last minute. These dogs are cancer free as far as we know. I don’t think the science diet is any better than all the other commercial foods that cost less but how to tell? We are all in the dark.

[Oliver W]

And it is not surprising that many people do not trust such feeds. It’s just a business from which veterinarians get extra money. I usually trust the foods that my relatives or relatives advise me.

[WondrousPups]

For me, I wouldn’t ask my vets for food recommendations for my healthy pets unless they have degrees on animal nutrition. However, if my dog happens to get diagnosed with some disease that needs diet change, and if I deem the diagnosis to be sound, then I would rather go with prescription diet until I have the time to educate myself on better alternatives. Hill’s prescription diets have gone through feeding trials, so I’m comfortable feeding their prescription diets. I wouldn’t feed any prescription food that hasn’t gone through feeding trials. That seems too risky for already sick animals to me.

[Author]

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