IME, nutrition is a single finger of a hand. Alone it does very little, but when combined with the “other fingers” (genetics, exercise, toxic load status, etc) it all comes together as a functioning thing.
I firmly believe nutrition plays a large role in the health of any living thing. I feed raw, I’ve fed raw for decades but I still find myself getting extremely irritated when I read people claiming that a raw diet is guaranteed to “prevent” cancer or any disease known to the canine species. It’s bullcrap, I and many others have had raw fed, naturally reared dogs out of raw fed, naturally reared parents that die of a genetic disease (or, a disease with a strong genetic link) at a young age. I simply think, anymore, that diet can bring any living thing up to it’s genetic potential, and that’s the best that we, as owners, can strive for. I do feel the vet is wrong, though, and would encourage your client to feed her dog a so-so food for a month or two, then switch to a good diet for a month or two and see what differences (however subtle) are noticed.
