Now we want to tread very carefully here, a good vet is worth their weight in gold. We aren’t here to vet bash, they do an incredibly difficult job, and for the most part really do have your dog’s best interest at heart.
HOWEVER, vets don’t always get it right. And one area where we are willing to challenge that, is diet. And this isn’t necessarily a conscious blind spot, it’s something that isn’t really covered in their studies, and a lot of vet practices will have a blanket brand/food that they say for your dog to trial.
I’m going to speak from experience here to give a real example of this in action.
One of our dogs, Zeus, really struggles with itchy skin. It is really clear that he is in a lot of discomfort 24/7. Upon visiting the vets, we had been advised to switch his diet out from raw, to a ‘vet recommended’ hypoallergenic blend from Purina.
Because of the business that we have and the background knowledge of vets and their studies, when it comes to dog’s diets, we will never take what a vet says as gospel and will want to research for ourselves.
So, let’s take a look into this specific vet advised food on all about dog food (have a look at our about raw if you don’t know about this site).
These are the stats for you:
The blend is 78.4% carbohydrates, 7.7% oil and fats and 14% other. And in the break down of ingredients not one of them is meat.
How on earth can an animal that shares 99% of it’s DNA with a wolf be actively encouraged to change its diet from unprocessed meats, vegetables, and minerals to processed maize starch. With an over all nutritional rating of 22%, it is borderline upsetting that this is the information that is pushed on people.
If you are feeding your dog kibble, delve a little deeper into what that actually means for them or if you are feeding raw, maybe challenge your friends if you see them reaching for the Purina. It could quite literally add years to their companion’s life.
Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns, we are so happy to chat them through with you.
Happy feeding!!