I don't really think vets make all that much profit off selling dog food. Some vets offices may make more than others, but in general, I honestly think it's just a lack of them knowing any better. Honestly, if you ask every vet to explain WHY he's recommending a certain brand of food, and if he can even name the first 5 ingredients in it and what are their benefits, they probably won't be able to tell you. That'd be a good experiment, lol... have people take their dogs to different vets offices and when they recommend a food, ask why, and why are those ingredients important, what will they do for my dog, etc, etc? I truly wonder how many vets would be able to get a good answer. I feel if they are going to sell the food, they should be able to back it up and answer specific detailed questions about it. A while back, I saw a vet site with a page on diet. It said not to feed food that was predominantly corn and then went on to recommend Science Diet, lol. To me, that shows a lot of vets are definitely blindly following what they are being told. Understandable, they are vets, they have a lot of other things to worry about... and I don't think nutrition is one of their main concerns. I don't believe that makes them a bad vet. A vet can be great at diagnosis, treatment, etc and not be very knowledgeable about nutrition - I don't think that makes them a BAD vet. Probably a bad example, but it's what I am coming up with in my head... a teacher can be a GREAT teacher but still be bad at math. Just because one subject may be a little rocky, doesn't mean they aren't a great teacher in all other aspects.
While I think company ethic and practices are probably more important than ingredients, I also think ingredients play some part. And even if a company is trustworthy, I can't get myself to feed my dog soy, sawdust, wheat, corn, un-specified animal sources, etc. I just can't believe that it can be better for my dog, and that's not because I've been brainwashed by online forums or anything of the sort. Anyone I've ever talked to knows that dogs need to eat meat, I always thought it was just a common understanding between people and since a child, it's what I've always thought. It makes sense. For healthy dogs anyways.
Truth is: Hills and Purina DO dominate the vet market... it's all about marketing. All the seminars these vets attend are paid and sponsored by them. Whether or not that is the reason they recommend and sell the foods, is up to you to decide.
With that said, certain foods will look great on paper, but I'd never choose to feed them due to quality control issues and recalls, etc. So in those cases, ingredients don't matter to me, because I wouldn't trust the company enough to even feed their food. Check out Merrick for example. Or Google
Nutro Consumer Affairs. Heck, google
Science Diet Consumer Affairs. Also, check out the FDA website.
Science Diet was also a part of the huge recall in 2007 with their cat food, not dog. But they are not exempt, which I think some think they are.
List of recalls for Pet Food Products from SCIENCE DIET I don't really entirely trust ANY Diamond food after the big recall of 2007 either (so that includes TOTW, 4health, Diamond Naturals, etc).
I guess with this loonnggg post I am trying to say that unless we are there, in the factory, watching where this food is being made and where it's coming from, we're never going to
officially know. And that's with ANY food. We are putting trust in some of these companies, which can be pretty scary, but we do this every day with our own food as well. Ya know, we could get all crazy, and demand to know where the cows came from, or what the cows were eating, or what kind WATER were they drinking? But, well... that would be crazy and who wants to live like that? So, I think it's just a matter of finding what you BELIEVE is right for your dog, what he/she does best on, which company you choose to support, etc, etc.
I prefer smaller companies with great customer service, who reply to my e-mails and questions, who offer to show their entire factory where food is made (view the video here:
http://www.championpetfoods.com/) , ingredients that I agree with, not outsourcing or using another manufacturer to make their products (i.e. has their own factory).
FWIW, every time I've emailed Champion or Fromm, I get very detailed answers back to my questions. And Fromm is fantastic when dealing with customers on Facebook, coupons, etc, etc. I've e-mailed Science Diet three times in the past year, very nicely, respectively written, asking about a certain ingredient and where it came from and why it's used and NEVER gotten a reply.