[gemy]

I know that we all have our own opinions about the efficacy of Google, there are some very very good sites out there, but they are far outweighed by trash information.


What brought this to the forefront of my mind, I was in at my pet store, buying duck feet treats, and some supplements, and a lady came to the counter and was asking the young gal clerk about the new food she was buying her pup. She bought two small bags of Acana kibble different formulations.


She explained that recently her mix, beagle, jack russel, shistu mix, had begun to chew paws and had some nasty rash on his tummy that he scratched and licked a lot.....


I could not keep my mouth shut. I said has your vet recommended a diet change? She responded that she was feeding Benefull and that her vet was Dr. Google. Where she learnt that these problems could be caused by poor food. She asked me what I thought about Benefull, now mind you I do home-cooking- raw with some small amount of kibble. I said from what I understand that kibble is well pretty well crap food. How-ever some dogs do do well on it.


I said the issue here is this dog really needs to see a vet, the combination of things from mild to serious that it could be is quite vast. Dr Google is not a vet, and save the money from this second bag and get your dog to the vet for an examination. Oh and the helpful clerk spoke up and said well if he doesn't like the food we will take back an open bag of food for refund. I knew I had lost the customer then.


She looked at me as if I was an idiot, she said well thanks but, I will try the food change out first. sigh.......


We have wonderfull articles here in the library and the top of each forum, that talk about what constitutes an emergency, but while some health conditions do not appear to be an immediate emergency they do show some serious concerns that warrant vet attention.


Now if I remember correctly there are skin conditions associated with shistus (sp?) and jack russels as well. But it is a vague memory, and neither breed is one I own or breed so.....