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Originally Posted by teacher08  Are vets paid or receive kick backs for recommending Science Diet food. If so, how exactly does this work? How do they get the kick backs if you buy the food from a pet store? |
This is a popular myth that goes around the Internet. I think competing companies, who wanted to persuade people that their dog food was better, made it up. The pet foods recommended by vets have been scientifically tested, and have been found to be overall safe, and balanced. They may or may not be the best foods for dogs, but they are relatively safe, and have scientific proof to back up the claims made. At one time, Science Diet set the standard, they seemed to be the first company that was against certain additives, and food colorings, and they did lots of their research in vet schools, which is an excellent place to do research. Just because a certain company funds a study, doesn't mean the study is a poor study or the results are inaccurate. Since then, other companies have joined the bandwagon, and overall, dog food has improved vastly, but many companies are making outrageous claims without any scientific proof. People wonder why vets don't all listen to all these new theories, but there is no proof, as yet, to back them up.
The problem is we don't know that much about nutrition, human or canine, and the more you study it, you will learn the less we know. There are many self-proclaimed experts in the field of nutrition, who seem to have all the answers. However, science is slow to change, and will not change without scientific studies. Sorting out the truth from fiction is no easy task, however, most studies show that unless diets are woefully inadequate, they don't affect the overall health of a dog. While the average vet is not trained much in nutrition, they are trained to read scientific studies, and that's why there are some foods that they are more apt to recommend.