Vet was not thrilled I feed Blue Buffalo...:(

[LuvTaycieGirl]

Ok I have posted this in the sick/emergency section I just wondered what your thoughts were on this.

Today I took Taycie to the vet because she has been having diaherra for the last 12 hours... things went fine and I am waiting to hear back from a stool sample but when talking about food she told me that Blue Buffalo was really pushed as a "healthy" food when she worked in Alabama and she said just DON"T believe everything you hear.

She said Purina, Royal Canine, and Science Diet have had the most studies done and she believed and backed them more then Blue Buffalo because she said it doesn't have all the studies those other foods have.

She also said I am glad to hear you are not feeding raw... I AM not against raw feeding and think some dogs have done excellent on it...

I was neutral about the her belief and I know she did take Taycie's care with her stomach/diaherra in her best intrest I just had a really hard time believing that something like Science Diet is better the Holistic feeding? I just know I would rather feed fresh ingredients instead of by products corn, wheat, chemical preservitatives soy etc... I just felt like something wrong was with this picture...

She also said if you would like recomendations on natural dogs foods I would be happy to give them. I wondered at that point what her recommendations would be. I am not sure I agree with this I feel I take Taycie's nutrition seriously it just bothered me some...

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by LuvTaycieGirl

Ok I have posted this in the sick/emergency section I just wondered what your thoughts were on this.

Today I took Taycie to the vet because she has been having diaherra for the last 12 hours... things went fine and I am waiting to hear back from a stool sample but when talking about food she told me that Blue Buffalo was really pushed as a "healthy" food when she worked in Alabama and she said just DON"T believe everything you hear.

She said Purina, Royal Canine, and Science Diet have had the most studies done and she believed and backed them more then Blue Buffalo because she said it doesn't have all the studies those other foods have.

She also said I am glad to hear you are not feeding raw... I AM not against raw feeding and think some dogs have done excellent on it...

I was neutral about the her belief and I know she did take Taycie's care with her stomach/diaherra in her best intrest I just had a really hard time believing that something like Science Diet is better the Holistic feeding? I just know I would rather feed fresh ingredients instead of by products corn, wheat, chemical preservitatives soy etc... I just felt like something wrong was with this picture...

She also said if you would like recomendations on natural dogs foods I would be happy to give them. I wondered at that point what her recommendations would be. I am not sure I agree with this I feel I take Taycie's nutrition seriously it just bothered me some...

All vets push the food they carry. If I remember correctly, they also get a commission off of what they sell. Also, I haven't seen a vet yet, in all of my life, that was a nutritionist!

[Sweet Apple]

My vet is not on board w/raw, either...And yet, I smell the clean breath, and lack of tartar on the teeth...I see the small, firm, almost odorless stools (better for glands)...I see the shiny coats...But the MAIN thing, is I don't see my Apple's knees pop out, at all! I'm sure it's the raw food...I started Buzz on raw, at 4 months...He's now 14 months, and his teeth are gorgeous (and I don't brush!) He has no tartar, at all...Apple has a little, at almost 2 yrs. old, but I didn't start her on raw 'till she was about 10 or 11 months old...Cha Cha, my little rescue, had horrible teeth, and was only about a year or so old...I've had them cleaned, and now she's on raw, and I have high hopes for her teeth now...The problem w/vets, is the same as w/ human doctors, they learn how to heal disease, not prevent it...

[LuvTaycieGirl]

I guess what I dont understand is how I never went to vet school and all it takes is some googling and you basically know Science Diet or any other food a vet promotes is not healthy and I was a little turned off how that she was basically saying people think Blue Buffalo is a great food but there wrong... I feel good about it because i know what is in it.. it seems to me like the answer is black and white..

[yorkieusa]

Read this:

And why does your veterinarian always want to sell you Hill's Science Diet?

Well, you should know that the associations, in general, have a vested financial interest in many of the products a veterinarian can sell to clients (Veterinary Associations are major shareholders in Hill's Science diet...), and they are paid by the manufacturer for promoting those products... (In fact, the manufacturers often have to bribe those associations to accept at least condoning their product, as the associations have the power to ban their members from using them! There are many examples of this happening, both in North America and Europe.)

The pet food manufacturers and the pharmaceutical companies also run "incentive programs" for practicing veterinarians. Those programs are basically giving the vet a nice commission of all sales, but in addition to a plain commission, the vet gets some significant cash bonuses when his/her sales reach certain numbers! This is of course, an excellent incentive for the vet to sell more of that product - whether or not the clients actually need it... (also read this page for more on pushing Hills; SD; Iams and Eukanuba)
Why Your Veterinarian Cannot Afford to Always Tell You the Truth

[LuvTaycieGirl]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

Read this:

And why does your veterinarian always want to sell you Hill's Science Diet?

Well, you should know that the associations, in general, have a vested financial interest in many of the products a veterinarian can sell to clients (Veterinary Associations are major shareholders in Hill's Science diet...), and they are paid by the manufacturer for promoting those products... (In fact, the manufacturers often have to bribe those associations to accept at least condoning their product, as the associations have the power to ban their members from using them! There are many examples of this happening, both in North America and Europe.)

The pet food manufacturers and the pharmaceutical companies also run "incentive programs" for practicing veterinarians. Those programs are basically giving the vet a nice commission of all sales, but in addition to a plain commission, the vet gets some significant cash bonuses when his/her sales reach certain numbers! This is of course, an excellent incentive for the vet to sell more of that product - whether or not the clients actually need it... (also read this page for more on pushing Hills; SD; Iams and Eukanuba)
Why Your Veterinarian Cannot Afford to Always Tell You the Truth

Makes PERFECT sense... completly agree

[dexterandalana]

[QUOTE=yorkieusa;3278979]All vets push the food they carry. If I remember correctly, they also get a commission off of what they sell. [QUOTE]

of course they make money off of what they sell!

the bottom line is that dogs have been eating raw meat and home cooked scraps for thousands of years. kibble was invented about 50 years ago. Dog's digestion tracts are MADE to eat raw diets...just like a human's digestive tract is MADE to eat non-processed veggies and meats. yes, we could live off of McDonalds and boxed foods (and many of us do) but that does not mean that we will live healthily. A dog can live off of kibble, but that is not the optimum food for their health.

[Ellie May]

Well, Ellie's vet feeds and recommends Blue Buffalo. So which vet is right? The thing is, the field of canine nutrition is way more complex than most sites on Google want to make people believe. It's not all about avoiding ingredient A and adding some extra ingredient B. That completely lacks the science behind it which, IMO, is a bad thing. I don't care what X individual who felt like putting up a site has to say about dog food because most of them simply don't have the credentials to teach everyone on the internet about the subject. I used to go by ingredients too, and to an extent I still do. Ethoxyquin and by-products aren't top on my list of things to feed. At the same time, do by-products actually harm dogs? Probably not. So it becomes subjective. I don't like Purina because I've seen what it does to quite a few dogs and there are much better quality foods out there. But then, I don't like very small companies either because they have less money to spend on quality control. Holistic brands are recalled just like non-holistic brands. Like now, BB Wilderness seems to be causing a problem in some dogs. Merricks has been recalled so many times, etc.

And I agree with your vet about raw. The more I learn about it, the more I am very concerned with the feeding method.

Also, not all vets want you to feed what they sell. Some carry it only because they have to. And btw, I know a vet who can get SD cheaper from PetSmart than she can through the office she works at. No great deals for vets who feed these foods here...

[Britster]

I think, in a lot of cases, vets just want to stay 'safe'. And honestly don't know better. They don't want to be the one recommending you to feed a food and then have it NOT work for you, and they only get 1 class in nutrition, I believe, out of all of those years they're in school. Vets are helpful in a lot of ways... but I won't listen to them on food or grooming (lol).

All I can say, as a dogsitter, is every dog that eats SD.... has the most poop I've EVER seen come out of a dog. I am much happier with Jackson's small little firm poops that happen twice daily, his shiny coat, his good teeth, his energy, his non-itchy skin, etc, on Acana.

I just don't see how anyone who could think a dog is meant to eat a diet based primarily on corn, wheat, soy, etc... just doesn't make sense to me.

[JeanieK]

This is a very interesting thread. I would like to hear more about the connection between the different brands and the amount of tarter.

I feed Royal Canin and I am constantly battling tarter.

[boopster]

I'd like to see a study of dogs' lifespans and the diets they get. Years ago we used to think a dog living for 10 years was remarkable. My last dog made it nearly to age 17. I have a strong feeling that the food she ate was a large factor in that.

[LuvMySissy]

I am very fortunate that my vet is an advocate of raw feeding (of all kinds) and home cooking and does not like most commercial kibble. She appears to be very informed on nutrition from what I've heard about other people's vets.

If you at all uneasy about feeding raw, The Honest Kitchen is as close as you can get but with absolutely no risk of e-coli or salmonella, and is all prepared in a licensed, human grade facility - not a typical dog food company. They also have never had a recall..................

[MyTrixie143]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

Read this:

And why does your veterinarian always want to sell you Hill's Science Diet?

Well, you should know that the associations, in general, have a vested financial interest in many of the products a veterinarian can sell to clients (Veterinary Associations are major shareholders in Hill's Science diet...), and they are paid by the manufacturer for promoting those products... (In fact, the manufacturers often have to bribe those associations to accept at least condoning their product, as the associations have the power to ban their members from using them! There are many examples of this happening, both in North America and Europe.)

The pet food manufacturers and the pharmaceutical companies also run "incentive programs" for practicing veterinarians. Those programs are basically giving the vet a nice commission of all sales, but in addition to a plain commission, the vet gets some significant cash bonuses when his/her sales reach certain numbers! This is of course, an excellent incentive for the vet to sell more of that product - whether or not the clients actually need it... (also read this page for more on pushing Hills; SD; Iams and Eukanuba)
Why Your Veterinarian Cannot Afford to Always Tell You the Truth

I wonder if this applies to pet stores as well? I worked at a pet store a few years back and we were always told to push Science Diet or Biljac despite the fact that they also carried much better food such as Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, etc.

I wouldn't be able to believe any vet that says Science Diet or Iams is better than Blue Buffalo. I've seen the results first hand. Science Diet is a crappy food.
I've tried many foods out on my furry gang and can honestly say Blue Buffalo had the most positive outcome. Their coats are better, skin is healthier and I even see a lot less tear staining with my maltese since she has been switched over to it.
As for their teeth and tarter goes all of their teeth are in excellent shape. But I don't know whether that is because of the food or just good genetics, etc. The only difference I can say they have is the tarter on their teeth seems to be softer.
I scale their teeth myself every few months and the little tarter that is on them comes right off very easily leaving their teeth pearly white.

[dexterandalana]

Originally Posted by MyTrixie143

I wonder if this applies to pet stores as well? I worked at a pet store a few years back and we were always told to push Science Diet or Biljac despite the fact that they also carried much better food such as Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, etc.

definitely true. unfortunately the world has become a money hungry place. a good portion of people and companies are just out to make the most amount of money possible, no matter who they harm in the process. That's why it is so difficult to know what is the truth.

[LuvTaycieGirl]

I found this article on the Honest Kitchen website and I found it rather interesting regarding their teeth. It also explains why I think many commercial dogs foods may aid in the cause of tarter buildup.. Made me think

And speaking from experience I work for a lady who feeds her boarder collie Iams. He is 2 and his teeth are HORRIBLE! He needs a cleaning badly because every tooth is covered in tarter... I am not sure its the cause of tarter but after I read this article I bet to wager its a high possiblity...


Honest Kitchen Article:

Many pet food manufactures promote their dry, crunchy kibble products as capable of cleaning the teeth. There are a couple of flaws with this claim. The first is that in the majority of cases, dogs and cats don’t actually even crunch up their kibble with their teeth. Have you ever seen your animal companion vomit or regurgitate his kibble? Almost without exception, that kibble returns to the world in the exact same form as it was consumed – round pellets. There’s no way they could have cleaned the teeth because they were never even chewed, and simply got swallowed whole! Secondly, most kibbles are so laden with processed simple carbohydrates, that any that is chewed will actually impact starches and sugars into the gum-line, thus increasing the likelihood of periodontal disease over the long term. In contrast, most home prepared diets do not seem to contribute to the same levels of tartar buildup as processed dry foods and a fresh, minimally processed pet food diet causes almost no tartar buildup in most cases.