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Originally Posted by 107barney  Also, if your vet is telling you that you SHOULD switch to SD, why don't you listen? When my vet tells me to do something, I listen. Otherwise, why would I go to them?? I don't get it. I certainly won't let someone cut my dog open, diagnose an illness, poke a needle in their veins or bladder, or read an xray if I don't trust their advice on a brand of something so simple as dog food. |
I don't know if I get this logic. I mean, I trust a surgeon to perform an operation on me if needed, but that doesn't mean I'll trust their judgment in my nutrition. Or I trust my dentist to perform a root canal on me but not suggest nutrition, but I still go to him for other things. Because that's their specialty. A vet may be a very good surgeon, but not really have much interest in nutrition. Doesn't make them a bad vet.
In other words, you can like and respect a vet and trust them to take care of your beloved pet, but not always agree on nutrition. You don't have to agree on 100% of one persons beliefs, philosophies, etc.
I happen to have a very awesome vet, who I am so mad at myself for not transferring Jackson to, after he stayed at a different vets overnight when he was sick (I wish I would have brought him to his regular vet, in other words, on Monday) because she explained a lot of things in detail to me and took the time to talk with me and help me understand certain things. She also agrees with me for the most part when it comes to nutrition and was happy to discuss with me. The first time we met her was, maybe almost 2 years ago now? when Jackson came up limping. It ended up being something as simple as Lymes but she was very thorough in finding out the problem, getting us an appt. straight away even though at that point we had never been there before. I've never felt anything she's done was unnecessary. Best of all, Jackson is the most comfortable there than at any other vets he's been to, so that's telling me something.
Anyways, I am rambling and going totally OT. But for me, it's just me going with my head and my heart, along with hours of research and discussion I have had, and doing what I think is best for MY dog. I think it's kind of like with kids. Doctors aren't
always right on when your kid is sick, usually a mother has an intuition and can tell. When my young sister was not feeling well for weeks, my mom KNEW something was not exactly right. They kept sending her home with a common cold. She ended up having kawasaki, or hand/foot/mouth disease, which was easily treatable, but not always obvious because there are many similar signs/symptoms to other things. Does that make her doctor inadequate? I don't think so.
Vets and doctors are humans, they do make mistakes, technology and research is changing every day, there's always going to be the "wrong" way to eat, or the "right" way to eat, and then it changes, and research proves something else. I think we all need to do what we feel is right by our dogs, which I think we
all in this thread ARE confident in what we are feeding our dogs. Bottom line is we are a step ahead most dog owners, who probably don't even read a label, so I think our dogs are very lucky to have us nuts who enjoy researching and discussing such matters.
The fact that we are all here right now talking about this, clearly our dogs are getting a lot of thought into their wellbeing, and that's what matters the most!