I know that Vet’s get very little training on pet nutrition, I feel upset that they recommend Iams, Science Diet, Hill’s Science and Medi-cal. They are just recommending the companies that gave them grants in school. These all contain by-products, wheat gluten and corn and not to mention they were all involved in the pet recall of 2007.
Is there a way to find a Vet that knows about pet nutrition beyond what they learned in school? I checked the yellow pages but none of them say anything about healthy nutrition, there was only one holistic Vet.
So I called my current Vet recently and asked them what they recommend, which is the above. I asked the person on the phone what they knew about Wellness cat food, she had no idea what I was talking about. I guess I should talk to the Vet herself.
She is probably a competent Vet in all other aspects so as long as I know what I’m feeding her that is what is important.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought Science Plan payed vet surgeries to stock their food.
My vet stocks them but they never seem to mention them after the tester bag they give you on your first ever visit. I think they know it’s bad but can’t turn down the money.
If your vet seriously thinks that that type of food is good for them, then I’d change vets.
All foods that meet the AAFCO standard nutrition guidelines will provide adequate nutrition for your cats. Vets often do promote certain foods, because they happen to sell them in their practice and make a profit. Trust me. I’m a vet’s ex-wife. Most of the regular brand foods hae the same nutritional standards as the more expensive foods-They meet the required dietary regulations. surprised?
If you want to avoid the glutens, etc, go to a natural food store or look for cat foods at one of the large pet supermarket chains.
For a normal healthy cat, buy what’s in your budget. If you have a cat with a special needs diet, you’ll need to consult a vet for the best food plan.
However, I would avoid generic or inexpensive store brands. Good luck.
Well, if most vets don’t learn about nutrition…I suspect most don’t learn about nutrition! (and most med students don’t either.) And besides, without these grants there would be less vets!
Luckily, you can *learn* about proper nutrition on your own. It’s not that hard. Pick out a high-quality food. Read the ingredients. Take note of your pet’s coat, eyes, and energy level. THAT will be more valuable than anything.
Holistic vets do seem to be better educated in nutrition but of course that may not always be the case. And they are likely to be more expensive. If I were you I’d start there. Do they have a website? If so, look it over and see what if anything they have to say about nutrition. Or just give them a call and ask.
That would be true for any of vet you’re considering. Start by looking at their site if they have one. See if nutrition is mentioned, see if they have a list of foods sold in their office. Failing that, give them a call.
If you’re a raw feeder, for example, mention that when you call and ask how they feel about it. Or just explain that you prefer to feed _____ and ask how they feel about that.
There are lots of people in a group to which I belong who aren’t able to locate vets with proper nutritional training, so they just ignore any advice they receive on that topic. They agree to disagree.
So I guess to answer your question, outside of checking for websites and/or calling them, I’m not aware of any way to find out what they know about nutrition.
I decided to find a better vet 2 years ago and that’s what I did. Another thing to consider is size of the ad. I figure if they have sprung for a spiffier ad, they might have more money which *might* indicate a larger client base. Not always true, but that’s just the order in which I researched them. 1) website; 2) size of ad; 3) experimentation. Last year I took both cats to different vets. The holistic one won, because the “best” cat vet in two still had crappy foods in her waiting room.
I should also mention that unless you have a cat with a problem, your average vet will be fine. My experience has been that most don’t even mention food unless something is going on. Since one of my cats is/was overweight I didn’t want to be fighting with the vet about what to feed her, so I decided to shop around. If it weren’t for that I’d probably stay with the vet who’s closer to home, although if any problems developed then I’d want someone who could fully support the cat with the best possible info.
How do you know that’s the only reason they promote that? Not everyone will feed their pets premium food, maybe the vet has decided that it is useless to suggest the really good stuff, so they compromise with the best of the more affordable brands.
If you are really concerned, just start calling vets and setting up meetings. Ask them about their food recommendations and their motivation.
Corn and wheat are not ideal, but they won’t kill your cat. It is the vets job to make sure the cat is healthy. Sometimes it means balancing reality with an ideal situation. In an ideal situation, everyone would feed their cat great food. It won’t happen, so vets pick the best of what is readily available and prioritize.
The pet recall has nothing to do with anything Even the best companies can make mistakes, it makes sense to be worried but if anything wouldn’t that make the companies more carful now since their reputation has been damaged?
If you want a vet that will tell you the ideal situation for your cat to be in, go for it. The fact that a vet is realistic and cares more about the big issues than making owners feel guilty about something that isn’t really hurting the cat much doesn’t make them a bad vet though.
You can trust your vet. They might know more about feline nutrition than you think. Just ask them. Tell them your concerns and what you’ve heard. If they have been around awhile, they’ll have seen quite a few animals, and they’ll be able to make an intelligent recommendation based on what they know.
I would trust the opinion of someone who has been specifically educated and spends the entire day taking care of animals. Not everyone who has a website is an expert!
Vet: years of school and experience treating animals
Website Owner: five minutes setting up an account on GoDaddy and the ability to google, an ability that anyone who can read and write possesses
It is true that vet’s get very little training in pet nutrition. They only have 4 years to learn about cats, dogs, cows, horses, pigs, sheep, reptiles, rabbits, etc. If a vet is interested in pet nutrition then they usually take continuing ed classes about it, or study it on their own. Some vets let their techs handle the nutrition issues. Even a vet that knows nutrition will sometimes still carry Science Diet. Most clients don’t care enough about nutrition to be informed. If your vet insist you feed the Science Diet that they sell, find another vet. If you feed a good quality food, like Wellness or Innova, and your vet recognizes that it is a good quality food, and doesn’t push the food he sells, stay with that vet. In the end it is up to you what you feed your cat, it is only important that you and the vet agree that the diet your cat gets is a nutritionally sound food.