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04-29-2009, 04:53 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: tallahassee
Posts: 19
| Are Vets paid to recommend Science Diet? Are vets paid or receive kick backs for recommending Science Diet food. If so, how exactly does this work? How do they get the kick backs if you buy the food from a pet store? |
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04-29-2009, 05:31 PM | #2 | |
I ♥ Joey & Ralphie! Donating Member | Quote:
This is a popular myth that goes around the Internet. I think competing companies, who wanted to persuade people that their dog food was better, made it up. The pet foods recommended by vets have been scientifically tested, and have been found to be overall safe, and balanced. They may or may not be the best foods for dogs, but they are relatively safe, and have scientific proof to back up the claims made. At one time, Science Diet set the standard, they seemed to be the first company that was against certain additives, and food colorings, and they did lots of their research in vet schools, which is an excellent place to do research. Just because a certain company funds a study, doesn't mean the study is a poor study or the results are inaccurate. Since then, other companies have joined the bandwagon, and overall, dog food has improved vastly, but many companies are making outrageous claims without any scientific proof. People wonder why vets don't all listen to all these new theories, but there is no proof, as yet, to back them up. The problem is we don't know that much about nutrition, human or canine, and the more you study it, you will learn the less we know. There are many self-proclaimed experts in the field of nutrition, who seem to have all the answers. However, science is slow to change, and will not change without scientific studies. Sorting out the truth from fiction is no easy task, however, most studies show that unless diets are woefully inadequate, they don't affect the overall health of a dog. While the average vet is not trained much in nutrition, they are trained to read scientific studies, and that's why there are some foods that they are more apt to recommend.
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04-29-2009, 05:41 PM | #3 |
My hairy-legged girls Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: lompoc, ca.
Posts: 12,228
| Yes, they are getting something. Do you think they would put it in their business if they weren't.
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04-29-2009, 05:49 PM | #4 |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Carolina
Posts: 8,317
| Vet's don't get kick backs from recommending Hills products, but they do invest heavily in veterinary students with awards and scholarships, provide free food for the schools, discounts on foods for the students, etc. Those students go on to recommend Hills products in their practices. Hill's Pet Nutrition Students |
04-29-2009, 06:23 PM | #5 |
Phantom Queen Morrigan Donating Member | thank you LadyMom and Nancy. I repeat this information all the time to no avail. People will believe what they want to believe tho. I was a tech for many years and worked in numerous offices....but what do i know.... Vets do make money off of selling science diet but they will make a big profit off of selling any type of food really. They mostly sell science diet because its the "regular" brand compared to the Prescription diet that they have to provide in their offices. Some of the offices i've worked or volunteered in have sold science diet, but others have also sold Wellness, solid gold, eukanuba, iams, and royal canine. Vets get these foods at a much cheaper rate then stores but sell them for the same price. So yes they will make a bigger profit on them. Its not a kickback, its just retail business.
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04-29-2009, 06:49 PM | #6 |
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Tennessee
Posts: 229
| I have managed a vet clinic for 12 years and I can tell you that vets do not get any kind of kick-back on Science Diet foods. We only carry prescription foods and do special order other brands. Vets do not make a LOT of money off Science Diet foods unless they are marking it up more than the suggested retail from Hills Pet Nutrition. The suggested retail is and always has been 45% which means if we pay $25 for a bag we only mark it up $11.25. That is not much in the retail world. Believe, veterinarians do not make their money off of food.
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04-29-2009, 07:06 PM | #7 |
Wee Winston Wiggles Donating Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Kewanee, Illinois
Posts: 9,666
| I believe you...no kick backs...just basic retail.
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04-30-2009, 03:06 PM | #8 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: tallahassee
Posts: 19
| This is good news to my ears. I was about to switch her vet, because I didn't think I could trust him if he was getting kick backs from science diet. I am so relieved now, because I really like him. I think I will just keep her on Diamond. This is what the breeder was feeding her. |
04-30-2009, 03:37 PM | #9 |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: FL
Posts: 7,651
| There may not be overt kickbacks but there are absolutely benefits offered! For instance, our vet gets a free bag of Science Diet kibble to present to every new puppy owner. It makes the vet look generous, but more importantly it sends a subtle message to the new puppy owner that this is THE food recommended by the vet and they buy more. But most of the sales ploys are at the vet schools, where they offer stipends to students, free and discounted products, free text books, untold $$$ to the school in professorships, products and supplies. They also fund nice little conferences for the vets to attend under the guise of studying nutrition. It all sounds so much like the prescription medicine sales with doctor's office. They even both offer about the same sort of freebie give-aways (post-its, pens, clip boards, etc.) Here is a reprint of an old Wall Street Journal article about the Science Diet in Vet's offices: Why Vets Recommend Designer Chow I wouldn't even care if it wasn't for the fact that every single vet's office I have been in is selling Science Diet. Now you can't tell me with all the Premium dog foods out there, that all those vets just really and truly are selling the brand they think is best. No way! Gotta be the perks.
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04-30-2009, 03:42 PM | #10 | |
Donating YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Carolina
Posts: 8,317
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04-30-2009, 03:46 PM | #11 | |
Puppy Luv Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Canada
Posts: 2,678
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04-30-2009, 04:46 PM | #12 |
Don't Litter Spay&Neuter Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: So Cal
Posts: 9,874
| My vet sells Science Diet in the office & I've seen people buy them freely. She always recommended to get Momo off prescription canned SD when he was prescribed it cuz it was 'too rich'. I've never heard her or anyone else in the office trying to sell or push SD.
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04-30-2009, 05:04 PM | #13 |
No Longer a Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Maryland
Posts: 2,410
| Unfortunately, in our Academic Society the educational requirements to become a Vet, and a doctor as well in some universities, do not include more then 1 semester of a basic nutritional class. Student- physician candidates education, stemmed mainly on fixing the body, not on maintainance. The University of Maryland was one of the first schools to institute a required nutritional science course into their program. If you do have dietary questions, you would be better assisted with current information when asking a nutritionist, rather than any physician about nutritional requirements and diet directives. As this is not their course of study. |
04-30-2009, 09:19 PM | #14 |
Thor's Human Donating Member | The shelter I volunteer is associated with an excellent veterinary clinic, which sells Science Diet. This is ALSO what they feed the shelter animals. The people who work there are wonderful and absolutely do not work with rescue animals for "the money". I do not believe Science Diet is the best possible food to feed your dog, but I think it is probably best of the standard store brands, and is absolutely a reasonable brand to recommend. Science Diet is like any other product, it is sold by a company that has the good sense to invest its marketing funds where they will make an impact. There doesn't have to be anything sinister about it. I agree with Nancy1999 that we have a lot to learn about nutrition for both humans and dogs. I think this can create a lot of anxiety about how best to care for our pets, and fear that we will be misled. All we can do is research, ask questions like the OP is, and do what we think makes sense.
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