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Originally Posted by kalina82 I don't agree with you at all. Just because everything happened to work out fine with your dog doesn't mean that's the case with all dogs in these situations.
Science Diet is made by Hills, which also makes Prescription diet food that is sold in most vets offices. All the vet's i have worked for have sold mainly the prescription diet. If a client asked what to feed their dog, they were first recommended a high quality food like wellness, nurto, or solid gold. If they couldn't afford something like this, science diet was mentioned as another more affordable quality food, Not high quality, but good quality as in better then super market brands, and alot of petco brands. NONE of the vet's i've worked for or know on a personal basis are given a money incentive to recommend or push hills science diet. many people believe that they do get money reimbursment, but sorry to burst your bubble, in most cases this is wrong. I'm not saying there may not be a couple vets that do this because anything is possible. However, i do know that the Hills corportation works every closely with veterinarians. We've had many representatives come to teh hospitals to tell us more about a new food they've developed and the benefits of all their foods. They usually bring lunch and give us a nice presentation. We are not required to purchase anything new from them or give them anything. They are just looking to further educate the people in teh animal health field, and yes, they may get more purchases further down the line for that particular food they showed off, but its not guarenteed.
Next, puppy teeth. Most puppy teeth fall out on their own without any problems. however, sometimes you can get retained k-9's. Sure they 'might' fall out eventually on their own, but who's to say these retained teeth aren't causing any discomfort or pain to the puppy. Dogs have a higher tolerance for pain then humans, and they also have an instinct not to show pain when they are in it. weaker/sick animals showing sign's of pain in teh wild will be attacked and eatten first. So your puppy maybe acting like its fine but it might not be. That's why its recommend that these teeth be pulled out when they puppy is fixed at 6 months. Vets have different prices for this and maybe your vet just charges too much. Though in my opinion it doesn't matter how much it costs, because i know its better for the puppy to have it done then to play the waiting game. A couple people recently have posted that their dogs were scratching their ears alot and it turned out that the puppy had retained teeth and they were bothering him. Its best to take the puppy teeth out instead of waiting to see if they fall out on their own. The teeth can become infected or start rotting in their mouth. why cause more problems when you can prevent them?
LP's are a common problem in small dogs, and HD is a common problem in large breed dogs. They are both genetic and can be prevented with good breeding but since the dogs that are mostly affected are the ones that are very popular, inbreeding and bad breeding occur and these genetic problems get in the lines. While the advise of surgery is good, i don't agree that it should have been done right away at the first sign of LP. But your vet was right when he said the knee will 'pop back into place'. In fact that's the whole problem. The knee will pop in and out at various times. alot of the time they can pop it back into place when they are running around. You'll see a weird little hop and leg flick. But sometimes they cannot get it back into place right away and this causes pain. Your lucky you haven't had any more problems with it, but be on the lookout because it could come back.
I hardly think what the vet is offering you is opinion in most cases. That 'someone else' when through years of undergrad college, medical school, and interships. Its not an easy process, i should know. Vet's have to be better then doctors because they need to know a lot more information about more then one species. They are extremely knowledgable, and I trust mine with my cat and dogs life to the end. I know whatever they recommend is the best thing for my animals and I don't doubt them. Maybe because i have more knowledge in this area myself, i don't know.
Sorry for the long post, but i just get so annoyed when people come down on vet's because they don't like what was said to them, or they don't know all the facts, or they were given wrong information by someone else. I wanted to be a vet since i was 4 years old ( i have the proof lol) and i've been working with dogs and cat (and others) for the last 14 out of my 23 years. |