[Ellie May]

I agree with your vet.

We've had tons of conversations (umm debates) about this in health and diet. They might be worth reading.

If there is no statement on the bag saying that an AAFCO feeding trial was done then there may have been no feeding trial at all. It lasts for six months and it is absolutely true that a portion of the dogs can be withdrawn and passing doesn't take much. However, some foods (the worst of the worst) have failed. It's fine to feed a food that hasn't had a trial..but guess who becomes the trial subjects...your dogs. A food can be AAFCO certified by a nutrient profile check for about a hundred bucks or a trial for about twenty thousand. So obviously most companies won't put the money into it. If they won't put money into it then what else are they skimping on? Quality control?

Buy the company, their philosophy, what they have done for dogs and cats nutritionally, who they have on staff, and their quality control procedures before the ingredient list.

This will look different or different people. I like Purina Rx foods. I'm not a huge fan of their OTC foods although I'd feed them much sooner than other foods. I really like Hills and RC. My sorta healthy boy eats Hills.

Purina Rx is keeping my girl alive. Soooo I think they are doing something right. Until some of these small companies start contributing to canine nutrition research and come up with food lines to help sick animals, I'm not really sure that they have a clue what they are doing (or do they not care?).

The bigger companies do the most research. They are far from perfect. Some are better than others. And to each their own when deciding what to feed and what to found as valid research. I'm sure that ninety nine percent of YTers would be thankful for their ontributions to science if their dog was one of the sick ones. Why would I trust a company when my dog is very ill and not when they are healthy?

I think you should do what you think is right based on what your vet thinks (they see dogs on all kinds of foods and there are obvious differences between a few of them) and what your vet guided research tells you.

Not all vets know a ton about nutrition but board certified veterinary nutritionists do. Most seem to agree with your vets stance.