A few months ago Camden, our much loved thirteen year old Cat became suddenly quite ill. After a few days with all the symptoms of a nasty tummy bug she refused her breakfast and an hour later we were both sitting in the vet’s waiting room on a bank holiday.
They took bloods, gave her a vitamin injection and packed me off home with a large bill, enough antibiotics for a small pit pony and ten sachets of Royal Canin.
Research
She’s had digestive problems for the nine years I’ve been lucky enough to have her and as a result, I’ve done the usual poking around online reading blogs, reports and research papers on what cats do and do not need in their diet. Sugar as you can imagine is not on the list and yet the sachets from the vet listed ‘various sugars’ as the second ingredient. I knew this before they gave them to me but to be honest, feeling stressed and willing to do just about anything to make sure she’d eat, I caved in.
They certainly went down a treat with Camden. The first ten sachets lasted barely three days – her appetite returned with an ear-piercing vengeance as she howled for her bowl to be topped up throughout the day. A box of twelve lasted just long enough to get her to her follow up appointment but now that she was looking so much better I was determined to get her off the junk food and back onto something more healthful. So, I asked the vet…
The conversation went something like this:
Me: So now that she’s feeling better I’d like to wean her onto a better quality food. Any recommendations?
Vet: The Royal Canin we sell here is an excellent brand.
Me: Really? But it contains various sugars and is made with meat derivatives?
Vet: Sugars? Where did you hear that? <he sniggered at this point>
Me: Er, it’s written on the ingredients list on the packet…
Vet: Is it? Well the Rep always says what a great quality food it is.
As he was just about to take more blood from Camden, I bit my tongue at this point – hard.
Integrity
Now don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful to the vets who have helped all of my animals over the years, they do a job I would never want to do in a million years, but it absolutely beggars belief that such learned professionals seem to have such little knowledge – not to mention such little interest – in diet and nutrition, the one thing that we know has such an enormous impact on health. Even more worrying is the idea that once qualified their source of information on such matters comes from pet food Rep with a vested interest in flogging more products.
Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case. I’ve heard from lots of friends who have had very similar experiences. We’ve since changed vets but although lovely, our new vet freely admits to ‘not knowing much about pet food’ which is a bit like my doctor saying she doesn’t know much about a healthy human diet – it’s just absurd!
Ignorance or a blind eye?
If the veterinary profession really cares about the health of our animals they need to focus on preventative health care for our pets. Just like humans, we know that diet plays a huge part in health and wellbeing which begs the question: why are so many vets still apparently ignorant? Is it a genuine gap in their training or is there simply too much money tied up with the big pet food manufacturers to risk rocking the boat?
What’s your experience with vets and pet nutrition? Does your vet disprove this theory? If so, please share via the comments as I’d love to be wrong on this one, for all our sakes.
Hmmm. Good question 😦
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Our vet is a nice enough chap but your totally right about the ignorance shown when it comes to basic nutrition. It’s shocking.
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It’s a very frustrating and pervasive issue, and I’ve yet to walk into a vet’s office that doesn’t have a prominent Hill’s or Purina display. When I told my vet I fed a high quality diet, she responded that “high quality” unfortunately isn’t backed by research because they don’t have the money that the large brands do. That may be true, but it doesn’t take scientific studies for me to know that corn, byproducts or sugar should not be in the top three (or ten) ingredients.
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Hi Lara, thanks for the comment. I guess the trouble is it’s hard to know whether these ‘studies’ are worth the paper they’re printed on given the obvious bias of their funders.
I read a great piece of health advice the other day for people that is probably equally true for pets ‘Don’t eat stuff they advertise on TV. Good food sells itself.’ Like you I’ll be using my common sense and not the advice of my vet on this one.
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You’ve really hit on something close to my heart (as you probably know!) I only have dogs but the concept is exactly the same whether you are talking canine or feline nutrition. Sadly, as I understand it, vets get less than about 8 hours of nutrition education in their years of vet training so they basically rely on (and seemingly believe) the hype spouted to them by the food manufacturers who “sponsor” them. They seem to be so ignorant to the fact that a good diet is key to good health (or maybe they DO realise this and know that they will lose business if all their patients are too healthy! How cynical of me!) My two hardly ever see the vet and I put that down to good nutrition. In my vets I know that it’s not even the vets who give nutrition advice, it’s the vet nurses. My girl was a bit overweight a few years ago and I was offered a diet consultation with a vet nurse. I politely declined and simply reduced the amount I was feeding her, or chose less fatty minces – not rocket science!!
I admit to being taken in by the hype originally. When we got our first dog from the breeders we came away with a free bag of Royal Canin. We were novices and assumed the breeder knew best about nutrition so continued to feed this. Fortunately, we only subjected our Bella to that for a year or so before being loaned a book on the BARF diet which made so much sense! I now can’t believe we ever thought that feeding brown, dry biscuits rather than meat and bone etc was an appropriate diet for a canine! At least we never fell for the colourful dry biscuits!!
Our second dog, a 13 week rescue was switched immediately to raw and thrived on it. I could not wish for two healthier, fitter dogs!
I do find it frustrating that a raw diet is being ridiculed by many as a “new fad” or a “trend” … commercial dog food has only been around since the 1860s – what do they think dogs were fed for the thousands of years before that? Scraps, bones and raw meat, of course! It’s a bit like saying herbal remedies or homeopathy is a new fad! Yes, the raw diet has been refined and “prettied up” but essentially it’s a species appropriate diet. Dogs and cats were never supposed to eat dried biscuits!
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Thanks Judith for the comment – I know this is indeed a topic close to your heart! Your two lovelies are certainly pictures of health. I still have a few reservations about raw, but the fact that I can’t even have a conversation with my vet about it irritates the life out of me. I know it must be tough being a vet but I work on the principle that if that were my job or yours, we’d do all we could to help our patients.
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Great blog Emma and a subject close to my heart. As you say, it is incredible that vets are not taught even the basics of proper nutrition, nor are they taught about the dangers of over-vaccination. Vet colleges are funded by pet food manufacturers and drug companies who therefore have a big influence over course content. The pet food companies make outrageous profits out of selling `veterinary approved’ junk foods at a premium price. How else could they spend millions on advertising? So sad that our lovely vets have become somewhat brainwashed and blinkered. There, I’ve had my rant! We can only hope that articles like yours will encourage pet owners to do their own research – education is key.
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That’s a really good point Jo and one I’d not considered. It’s a perfect marketing strategy when you think about it. The sad part is that so much research is now commissioned by the big companies that its hard to find independent studies. Hey ho – all we can do is keep on doing our best. Thanks so much for commenting 🙂
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Always good to bring this up. We raw feed, and our vet does too. That’s the final answer, I think, find a vet of like mind. Or try to! Of course, when we have to go to specialists, big sigh. Best to Camden!
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Hi Wendy, thanks for the comment. Great that you’ve found a vet of link-mind – proves that they’re out there at least! My quest shall continue to seek one out. Camden says ‘hi’ 🙂
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