Why do vet recommend dog foods that are not healthy?
All the time I here that vets recommend foods like Science Diet, Iams Eukanuba, Purina etc but why? Every dog smart person knows that these foods are full of fillers and byproducts, so why would a vet who has gone to school for years to study this recommend the product? I heard that they get money from the companies to do so, do you think that is true?
Why do these dog foods try to sound do health when they are not and foods like EVO are not as popular? Even dog shows have these foods sponsoring them…why? Why not a healthy type of food?
APBTs, that’s really odd? Usally the corn and other fillers will effect a dog that way, but purina has all that junk in it and the other brand does not?
There are some cheap food that are still free of byproducts and fillers like Nutra Nuggets or Daimonds Naturals.
Corn vs. Meat, what one are you going to pick to feed your dog? Is all you have to do is look at what makes up the food.
BTW Iams is NOT healthy. Look at the ingredients. It is a fact that byproducts and fillers can harm your dog!
Yes, PMD is right they do test on animals, I forgot about that part.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I’ve wondered that too. My cat eats Science Diet, but it’s a prescription kind. I think it’s like Science Prescription Diet or something like that and he’s done really good on it. I wouldn’t change it, even knowing it has fillers in it.
I think that vet’s get paid for saying that.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:22 am
I have mixed feelings about this. My vet, who is an excellent vet, told me that Purina is fine. Once i found out what was really going on with Purina I switched my dogs over to blue buffalo. Honestly, My dog did horrible on the blue buffalo. She looked sad, she was tired, her hair fell out in tiny little patches, her eyes were dull, and the pads of her feet swelled up. She just feels and looks better on the cheap stuff. I have no problem getting her a high quality food but i just want her to be happy and healthy and Purina does it for her.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:27 am
all foods even people has byproducts. and those brands have money behind him that why ur Evo isnt popular.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I heard it has a lot to do with the fact that the vets sell these products so of course they will push the products.
But to be fair, especially in this economy, not very many people can afford the more expensive, high quality brands out there anyways especially if they have a big dog that goes through food quickly.
Looks like I got some thumbs down. lol I am being a realist. So many people are cutting back on costs for food and everything else for themselves and eventually they may have to with their dogs too.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:52 am
I watched a documentary recently (Canadian) about dog food. They also went to the Vet’s college to find out what they learn. They actually learn very little about dog foods. Many vets go by what salespeople tell them.
I recently attended a talk with a vet she gave to the local K9 unit. When asked her opinion on dog foods, she stated that she knows very little about them and offered to arrange two or three salespeople come in to talk to us. At least she was honest. And to be fair, she was very well researched and knowledgable in other things.
They may not get money, but there are incentives to sell the food. Possibly a higher profit margin for one food over another.
Vets are humans. They have their own opinions and beliefs. Food is something you need to research and learn about. Some vets are really interested and do this. Others don’t do much more than what they learned in school, which here, is very little.
ETA- there was even one vet on the documentary that argued there is very little difference between Ol’ Roy and preminum foods. and that dogs can do very well on Ol Roy, depending on the dog.
November 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I’m sure you’ve gone onto dogfoodanalysis.com and read that these dog foods aren’t any good. To be honest, those are opinions, not facts. I would trust a vet better than any person on that site, my vet says Iams is good.
Hope this helps!
EDIT
Get a real SCIENTIST to test your food, don’t get some dimwit’s opinion on dogfoodanalyis.com
November 15th, 2009 at 3:33 am
Most vets don’t have much training in canine nutrition, and what they do have is usually sponsored by Iams, Hills or Purina. Also, those companies sell special diets for dogs with unusual medical conditions which vets buy to keep on hand, so they have ongoing relationships with these companies.
And, I know I will get TD’s for this, but there are lots of dogs who have done very well on those foods. They are middle of the road foods-not the best and far from the worst. If your dog isn’t intolerant to corn, and many aren’t, they can do just fine on a corn-based food.
A lot of the current thinking about dog food is marketing. There’s no standard for terms like human grade’, for example. There’s no proof that no dogs can eat grains that have been ground and cooked. There are a lot of rumors about the 4Ds that haven’t been borne out. Etc., Etc., Etc. Lots of misunderstanding about dog’s actual evolution driving those ideas as well.
At the end of the day, you need a food that your dog does well on, that you can afford, and that you are comfortable feeding.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
#1. I seriously doubt if they get any nutrition education at Vet school.
Drs didn’t either until just recently, its only precursory
#2. Advertising and Salesmen and Samples
November 15th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I trust my vet 100%. He’s been treating my dogs for over 30 years. He told me purina was as good for my dog as anything else.
My dog told me that he’d rather have something else. Got tired of purina. Stopped eating it. Got tired of Pedigree, stopped eating it. We’re currently on Nature’s Choice but I’m throwing in a chicken thigh to keep him interested.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Best Answer should go to Kaper. She is right on the button.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
I wondered the same exact thing but the simple truth is that they are getting paid to endorse those products and get money when you buy them. I wouldn’t feed my dogs any of the above brands if you paid me to. Plus Iams and Yukanuba (I spelled it wrong intentionally) use animal testing on both dogs and cats. I saw the most disturbing video on the internet of what Iams does to animals. Its disgusting. I actually told my vet that I thought it was hypocritical that they were pushing Science Diet which is garbage but yet promoting health in dogs. My furkids get Innova…yes its pricier than the other but it is so worth the extra money and the piece of mind that its 100X better for them and that I’m not endorsing animal cruelty by buying the from the companies I mentioned above.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I’ve always wondered that too.
From what I’ve heard (and researched) vets don’t get much nutrition ed at college. Basically, what I’m saying is that they don’t know much about what goes into Purina, Science Diet, etc. Either that, or they’re paid to endorse these brands.
Also, it’s *all* in the marketing. I was reading Dog Fancy today, and I saw not ONE single ad for Innova, EVO, Blue Buffalo, Origen, etc. However, I saw at least 5 ads for Purina, claiming it was HEALTHY and SUPPORTED IMMUNE SYSTEMS. These crap dog food companies try to come off as the typical All American dog food, but we dog lovers know much better.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I do believe that they are paid to do so! Plus their nutrition classes are funded by Purina Iams etc. companies so what do they learn? Nothing.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:18 am
First to dispell a common misconception..vets do NOT get paid to sell any food. Vets must pay wholesale prices for the food and sell for retail just like any other pet business that sells food.
Vets don’t get a lot of nutrition education. What they get is only general and includes everything from cats to rats, dogs to hogs.
They tend to recommend foods that they hear the most about. Sales reps talk a good game and are pushy.
*****cats should be a fed a good quality wet food as all or most of their diet instead of dry. Cats fed dry exclusively are more prone ot UTI and kidney issues.***********
November 24th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Well, this is about cats, but, our vet recommended us purina, and optimum, because every other food we tried was giving him crystals, even the good brands. It’s a compromise, but atleast it’s not killing him like the crystals were.
November 25th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Honestly, I don’t know. The puppy pack we got from out vet had a bag of Science Diet in there and the whole thing went into the trash (except the measuring cup, I use that for my cat). I don’t know if the vets get money for recommending it the way doctors do but it’s sad.
On the up side my vets office has called me multiple times to ask me about the food I feel my dog and cat – they put notes in the file so they can refer to it when someone wants a better food.
Next time I go in I will ask about the Science Diet thing.
November 27th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
i don’t think vets have as much nutrition education as they should have.
my vet recommends Evo, which is not bad.
i feed Taste of the Wild… i think it’s better to feed dogs what they’d eat if they were wild… i never saw a dog picking corn.
but then again, i don’t eat junk food myself.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I think vets are trained to think in terms of medicating conditions, not preventing them with nutrition. (Human doctors are the same way).
Im sure most of them think they are recommending a good food.