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Originally Posted by Chrissybear  anyone know why vets push hills science diet??? Suggested Low Fat Dog Foods look at all the low fat foods that are out there! why do they push science diet? When i talk to my vet tomorrow im going to question her! Gizmo likes Fromm, and she knows that and they even have a low fat flavor... i dont understand these vets! gr |
I would have to disagree with vets pushing a specific brand of dog food (ie Science Diet). When I visit my vet I just cannot imagine his practice making a substantial amount of money from selling dog food. Now if you were to say Petco or Petsmart make a substantiated portion of their profits from pet food I would totally agree. Vet's offer food that is not available to the consumer without a RX for purchase to treat dogs that cannot tolerate foods for whatever health issues. How much could a vet possibly make from a bag or can of dog food $1, $5, $10, $20
What percent of their gross income could possibly come from selling RX foods to a pet owner with a sick dog? As a matter of fact, when I visit my vet the last time he had 3 bags of food on a shelf and a few cans of IBD food.
The last time I was in Petco picking up kibble, I ran into 3 different pet food REPs promoting different foods, handing out coupons and samples of food. I would think compared to your vet's office the big box Pet Stores make far more profits from dog food manufactures than any vet who sells the occasional bag of RX food to a pet owner with a sick dog. Additionally, Petco sends vendor coupons to me promoting whatever food that I regularly feed and I have also seen coupons attached to different treats to encourage purchase.
RX dog food is important and necessary to the well being of many dogs that could not survive without very specific formulations of food to address their medical issues. Of course, Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canine would like "your" vet to prescribe their formulation to address the needs of a sick dog, these companies have spent resources formulating the ingredients that go into their brand of food. But at the same time, the real profits are made from the average pet owner feeding all the other brands of commercially available brands of dog food?