[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Britster

The whole "vet making money off food" thing is so exaggerated. I used to believe it too. If anything most vets find it to be a pain to stock the food because it's not like it's flying off the shelves and it takes extra time to do special orders and get it shipped. The RX foods are for the dogs who really need it so they need to have them in stock as an option.

In my non-professional opinion, do a majority of vets support brands like Science Diet, Purina and Royal Canin? Yes. The reason for that could be debated. Those companies do often provide literature and free stuff to vets in school as well as vets offices. Is there a bias? Yeah, likely. But these foods, in general, are studied and proven and aren't going to (likely) kill a dog. They have research to back them up. A vet simply does not have time to research *every* brand of food out there and give an opinion on it. Let's say a vet recommended Taste of the Wild and then a dog gets sick from it and dies. The owner will come in and likely point the finger at the vet for recommending the food. I guess, simply put.... they stick with what "works". Maybe it's not ideal (I'm not a huge fan of a majority of formulas of these 3 brands but I can find at least one formula I would feed -- I've also learned reading ingredients is only a small portion of dog food... how they formulate it, balance it, manufacture it is more important).

I am kind of curious to know why people think it's so terrible for vets to make a kick-back on anything they sell in the first place. Why not? They went to YEARS of school, likely took out student loans galore, and are there to help your pet (I believe a majority of veterinarians are not in it for financial gain -- some? Probably are, but most are probably not). But vets need to make a living too and there is nothing wrong with ensuring you can run a business as well.

My vets office sells The Honest Kitchen in their lobby, a food considered much 'higher end' -- would folks perception change if the food was "better"... or would it STILL be bad for the vet to be making ANY financial gain on this food?

That's a great post Britt. I know with Callie's prescription food my vet stocks the normal one but she will only eat the small breed version because she likes small pieces so my vet orders it for us. I notice a lot of time there is dust on some of the bags they have in there. I tried every food type with Callie no joke before the vet said she had IBD and all of them made her throw up and or have diarrhea. The vet said ok this is what she has and these are the foods I recommend you can try them if you would like or not. We talked about the one that would be the best out of the three and I was like ok let's try it. She's been on it for several years and no vommiting or diarrhea unless she snags something she is not suppose to have. She also continues to eat it which is a big thing because normally she would get bored and no eat it. I price checked it too and it's about the same price everywhere. I was in the seminar for my vet assistant class and the one teaching it who is part owner of a vet hospital said vets make a lot less then you think they do and they really do.