[Ellie May]

I don't follow on the kickback thing. Somebody, anybody sells a food, they can make a profit. Company can even offer incentives so seller sells more. How is it any different? And vets could sell whatever brand they want to and make money from it. Nobody is forcing them to sell SD or RC. However, they ahve to because it meets medical needs. I'll say it "could" be a conflict of interest. Not all vets are noble. But "most" of the time they will use what works because they are trying to help their patients and rx food works. Then again, they sell drugs too. So that "could" be a conflict of interest. At the same time, no way in this world am I going to not buy a drug just because my vet sells it. I think if people are so concerned that the vet is trying to sell them every last thing needlessly, it's time to move on.

One of my dogs is on an rx diet..which I buy from the vet..which I could get a prescription for. I prefer that my vet makes the money from it though. My other dog eats an OTC - the one recommended by his vet. There were intestinal issues and I was not immediately told to use an rx diet for life. Actually, with the Yorkie, we went through a lot of brainstorming and hard times to find something that works for her. She earned every penny that she now makes off of me buying the food there. I'm quite sure she would have rather not had the headache of such a food intolerant dog that could not eat anything without getting sick. I know what she feeds her dogs. The food oesn't matter right now, but what does matter is yes, she sometimes recommends it to clients "when it is appropriate to do so". She assesses each animal individually and makes a dietary recommendation. And when there is a problem, she sends her clients to a nutritionist because she is not one and does not claim to be.

I'm also pretty involved in the field and what I have witnessed is not a mass effort to sell rx food. Actually, I hear about how it takes up so much space and had to be handled. Some offices would rather not have it there. I also hear discouragement from relying on an rx food by some vets unless that's truly what the dog does best on because it's not as easy to obtain for the owner.

I have seen nothing to support the idea that barley is somehow better than corn for dogs. I mean, either is fine and to each their own, but I continue to try and figure out where all the corn hate is coming from.

I used to be of the same opinion --- because I read that I should hate corn and by-products from dog food websites that are written by the lay public. I was sooooo upset when my dog had to be switched by homecooked to kibble. And back then I probably held out too long because of "death nugget fear". ..fear that SD and Purina were completely unacceptable. Well, I can now say that Purina is likely keeping my dog alive and I will be forever grateful to them for their knowledge about rx dog food, and their wiillingness to make a food that contains no meat and just soy even though people on the internet think such a thing is absurd. I'm also grateful that they use corn starch because it works. So for a few months at least, I haven't felt like my dog was slowly dying from malnourishment. Do I agree with everything these companies do and sell? No way. But they have my respect because they are the ones dumping money into these kinds of things. I don't see the smaller company doing so.