[sascha k]

Thank you.

It’s sad really I couldn’t find it. I should know better.

[sascha k]

EDIT: found the link. Thanks. 🙂

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by sascha k.

[sascha k]

I will! Thanks for the recommendation.

Sorry about the link. Works in US and Canada, but I guess it’s a pay site overseas.

[sascha k]

And in case you were wondering I am following my vet’s advice to a “T” in dog food.
They know more than me so I’m going with his advice.

However I do want my questions answered eventually

[sascha k]

Thanks for writing. I’ll explain my thinking below.

I tend to be skeptical of vast global conspiracies myself but there is something to be said there. While financial ties are natural in any business, why is it the top contributors are the ones being most heavily (and often exclusively) being pushed? They want me to believe out of the hundreds of products available on the market, only 2 pass muster?

I’ve compared the ingredients of Hill’s Science diet and Nutrience Sub zero and while I’m no doctor, nor biologist I can tell the difference between grain filler and meat.

Just compare the ingredients below:
http://www.nutrience.ca/dog-food/nutrience-sub-zero/dry-food/canadian-pacific/
http://www.hillspet.ca/en-ca/products/ib-canine-mature-adult-chicken-and-rice-dry.html

I am not shopping for a vet that will confirm my biases but I’m looking for one that will discuss the differences in ingredients, the mass recall deaths, the research and the financial ties with me without shutting me down.

I understand a vet is a medical doctor who doesn’t have time to cater to every dumb question by an internet “genius”, but my personal feeling is that when someone doesn’t want you to ask questions there’s a problem.

I trust absolutely no one. I want the vet to distill the research to me in layman’s terms on why he/she is making the dietary recommendations. And yes this includes vets recommending the diet I prefer. Right now all I’ve got to go on is authority. It could well be that Hill’s and Royal Canin is the only commercial dog food anyone should feed their dog, but given all the available information detailed above I want an explanation for my objections.

As for the new vet I’m talking to he wasn’t implying there is a vast conspiracy of vets twirling the mustaches in the darkness. Only that there is verifiable evidence of strong financial ties and that some vets perhaps push these 2 diets a little harder than the quality of ingredients warrants.

My source isn’t some naturalnews hippy woo, but the Wall Street Journal:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB878509979865406000

[sascha k]

Thank you for all your posts.

Diarrhea has been going on for 3+ weeks now. She’s on 4 shots, 6 pills, a special diet and picking up one more pill today.

It’s a pretty severe case and the cause is unknown.

Her blood results came back clean though, so that’s a good sign.

Her spirit and temperament are unchanged which is another good sign.

Her morning poop was a little soft. Evening poop like gellato (sorry) and then midnight poop just brown water.

Yesterday’s midnight poop was the first non liquid poop so seems to be getting better.

Vet is recommending against Nutrience Sub Zero and it seems nuts.

I found another vet willing to work with me. He acknowledged the financial ties vets have to Royal Canin and Hill’s.

Then again I do trust my current vet means well and again he is a medical pofessional. I’m just an idiot who has an internet connection.

[sascha k]

Hmmm…I would be interested in a phone consultation.

Thanks!

[sascha k]

Thanks. I already checked and this is an American organization.

They do have links to graduates in Canada, but there are only two hundreds of miles from me.

[sascha k]

thanks for your feedback.

I hate to be that annoying Google University graduate thinking he knows better than someone academically trained but my bullshit detectors go off when he recommends only 2 brands out of a large portfolio of brands.

They also go off when someone refuses to answer questions. On the flip side of the coin I understand every doctor doesn’t have time for every internet conspiracy theorist and listening to their(my) nonsense but at the same time I heard the human MD’s spend something like 2 weeks on nutrition.

If vets spend a similar amount of time then hell, *I’ve* spent more time than that reading papers, websites and speaking with trainers, walkers and pet owners.

At the same time I realize the sheer hubris of me as a layman questioning a medical professional.

I think I will take your advice and get a second opinion, but that second opinion would only be one more vet. What I want is a veterinary nutritionist. Someone academically trained specifically in nutrition and I have no idea how to go about finding such a person and I find if I ask any doctor about a specialist they tend to get offended and blow me off.

Doctors are great people, but they often have huge egos.

[sascha k]

I’ve been feeding her Nutrience and Dogswell up until today.
Right now I’m feeding her Royal Canin prescription diet for GI issues.
The vet supports two brands. Royal Canin and Hill’s Science diet.

It is possible the cat died due to other factors as I don’t know all the details but my friend is a pretty smart person with a science degree. It certainly does not qualify her as a veterinarian of any sort but it does prove she has some level of critical thinking skills.

Regardless of what killed her cat Hill’s Science diet is poo poo’ed in almost every source I’ve read.

You can’t believe everything you read on the internet but I find dogfoodadvisor to be fairly rigorous compared to other sources and I also know that human MD’s are often not super great sources to get human nutrition information from.

So I’m kind of stuck on what to do.

For now I will follow the vet’s advice because well….he’s a vet but I’d like to find a vet that specializes in nutrition but I don’t know where to start.

I know in the US there’s a college graduating veterinary nutritionists with links to their practices but in Canada I’m not sure there’s such a thing.

Thanks for your link as well.

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