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Why is it that clients refuse to believe my advice on pet foods, claiming that 1) "vets don't take any classes on nutrition or learn anything about it" (untrue in the extreme), and/or 2) I get kickbacks from the pet food companies for recommending their brands (also completely and utterly untrue, unless you count my cool red Purina ballpoint pen) - but will then rabidly devour any advice given to them by the clerks at Petco, in spite of the fact that said clerks 1) are not medical professionals or nutritional/biology specialists and 2) work at a store that exists only to sell you those products - functionally, getting paid to sell you stuff.
And they will believe anything they say without question, even when it is pathologically wrong. In the past two weeks I have had clients come in and tell me that they're feeding their dog an "all-protein diet" (which would rapidly be toxic); that "all-protein" just means that it's gluten-free (incorrect, and gluten is a protein), and that gluten-free means it doesn't have corn in it (incorrect, corn does not produce gluten), and that they were taught all of this by the pet store employees. They have also informed me that the pet store informed them that feeding their senior cat canned food would kill it, and that old cats need dry food (frequently, the exact opposite is closer to truth), and that all dogs are allergic to grain (I don't even know where to start).
Here's the truth, folks - most pet foods are, all things considered, pretty darn good. Being more expensive, or more fancy, or being labeled as holistic, or organic, or natural, does not make it better, at least once you get past the level of no-name, store-brand food. As long as it's AAFCO-certified (Association of American Feed Control Officials), it's a fully balanced diet, and likely more nutritious and balanced than anything you or I eat on a daily basis.
And just so you know, all those fancy words you pay extra for? Not that relevant. In particular, "holistic" doesn't mean anything. It's not a regulated word, when it comes to pet foods - any manufacturer can stick it on any bag of food, and that's completely legal. You're just paying for the prestige of the word, and the image it suggests.
As for food allergies, yes, some dogs are allergic to wheat, or corn. And some dogs are allergic to chicken, and some are allergic to beef, or lamb, or turkey, or soy. An animal can be allergic to any food ingredient. But wheat and corn are no more likely to be the problem than anything else. And unless your dog has allergies, putting them on a diet to treat allergies won't accomplish anything except spending more of your money. In particular, please do the world a favor and avoid putting your pet on novel protein diets like salmon or venison or bison? We use those as treatments for dogs with food allergies - we need to feed them a protein they haven't been exposed to before. And that leads to a perception, somehow, that because we use these foods to make dogs better, that the foods are better. And so people feed them to their puppies. And then, two years later when those puppies develop food allergies, they've already been exposed to all of the existing novel proteins, and we don't have anything left to feed them. Right now, we're resorting to stuff like kangaroo; I don't know what we'll use when that's no longer viable.
And for the record, you can't "cure" your dog's allergies by changing from, say, Iams to Pedigree, or Blue Buffalo to Organix. That's the functional equivalent of changing from Coke to Pepsi - they're still more or less the same thing. Your dog may digest one or the other better, and they're both perfectly good foods, but if there's an actual allergy that's not going to fix it.
Just feed your healthy pet something reasonable, and good. As long as it's not Wal-Mart brand, it's probably fine. But if you have an actual health problem to manage, and you ask my advice, and I tell you that your pet needs a (hypoallergenic/low protein/low residue/whatever) diet and recommend something in particular, please believe that I know what I'm talking about. And please do not come back to me a month later and inform me that the kid at PetSmart told you that Science Diet is poison and you should feed this $40/bag grain-free holistic diet instead, because I might just implode.
And they will believe anything they say without question, even when it is pathologically wrong. In the past two weeks I have had clients come in and tell me that they're feeding their dog an "all-protein diet" (which would rapidly be toxic); that "all-protein" just means that it's gluten-free (incorrect, and gluten is a protein), and that gluten-free means it doesn't have corn in it (incorrect, corn does not produce gluten), and that they were taught all of this by the pet store employees. They have also informed me that the pet store informed them that feeding their senior cat canned food would kill it, and that old cats need dry food (frequently, the exact opposite is closer to truth), and that all dogs are allergic to grain (I don't even know where to start).
Here's the truth, folks - most pet foods are, all things considered, pretty darn good. Being more expensive, or more fancy, or being labeled as holistic, or organic, or natural, does not make it better, at least once you get past the level of no-name, store-brand food. As long as it's AAFCO-certified (Association of American Feed Control Officials), it's a fully balanced diet, and likely more nutritious and balanced than anything you or I eat on a daily basis.
And just so you know, all those fancy words you pay extra for? Not that relevant. In particular, "holistic" doesn't mean anything. It's not a regulated word, when it comes to pet foods - any manufacturer can stick it on any bag of food, and that's completely legal. You're just paying for the prestige of the word, and the image it suggests.
As for food allergies, yes, some dogs are allergic to wheat, or corn. And some dogs are allergic to chicken, and some are allergic to beef, or lamb, or turkey, or soy. An animal can be allergic to any food ingredient. But wheat and corn are no more likely to be the problem than anything else. And unless your dog has allergies, putting them on a diet to treat allergies won't accomplish anything except spending more of your money. In particular, please do the world a favor and avoid putting your pet on novel protein diets like salmon or venison or bison? We use those as treatments for dogs with food allergies - we need to feed them a protein they haven't been exposed to before. And that leads to a perception, somehow, that because we use these foods to make dogs better, that the foods are better. And so people feed them to their puppies. And then, two years later when those puppies develop food allergies, they've already been exposed to all of the existing novel proteins, and we don't have anything left to feed them. Right now, we're resorting to stuff like kangaroo; I don't know what we'll use when that's no longer viable.
And for the record, you can't "cure" your dog's allergies by changing from, say, Iams to Pedigree, or Blue Buffalo to Organix. That's the functional equivalent of changing from Coke to Pepsi - they're still more or less the same thing. Your dog may digest one or the other better, and they're both perfectly good foods, but if there's an actual allergy that's not going to fix it.
Just feed your healthy pet something reasonable, and good. As long as it's not Wal-Mart brand, it's probably fine. But if you have an actual health problem to manage, and you ask my advice, and I tell you that your pet needs a (hypoallergenic/low protein/low residue/whatever) diet and recommend something in particular, please believe that I know what I'm talking about. And please do not come back to me a month later and inform me that the kid at PetSmart told you that Science Diet is poison and you should feed this $40/bag grain-free holistic diet instead, because I might just implode.
