Who would you trust more: veterinarians or nutritionists?
- Thread starter ravennr
- Start date
Yup. Crazy!
The pet supply store next to my clinic has been selling the quality foods for a looooong time now (long before Petco broke into the market with some of theirs). It was nice to be able to counsel someone on proper canine/feline nutrition and then have them easily walk next door and buy it.
It's nice because they also have a large variety of the raw products in 2 freezers as well.
It's nice because they also have a large variety of the raw products in 2 freezers as well.
It depends on the vet, and it depends on the nutritionist.
I have a holistic vet, and she focuses a lot on nutrition - she's a big advocate of raw/home-cooked diets, and she draws up home-prepared/raw diet plans for dogs and cats. She knows a ton about all the different commercial foods, and recommends them based on your individual pet. So, yes, I would listen to her, especially if my dog had a health problem that could be managed with diet.
Your average run-of-the mill vet? No way. I haven't met a whole lot of canine nutritionists, but there's one at the U of M that I wouldn't trust either - she thinks Science Diet and Royal Canin are top notch.
I have a holistic vet, and she focuses a lot on nutrition - she's a big advocate of raw/home-cooked diets, and she draws up home-prepared/raw diet plans for dogs and cats. She knows a ton about all the different commercial foods, and recommends them based on your individual pet. So, yes, I would listen to her, especially if my dog had a health problem that could be managed with diet.
Your average run-of-the mill vet? No way. I haven't met a whole lot of canine nutritionists, but there's one at the U of M that I wouldn't trust either - she thinks Science Diet and Royal Canin are top notch.
I trust *my* vet, because she is all about good quality foods and was thrilled that I feed raw. She really knows her stuff, and gives seminars on nutrition.
As far as nutritionists go, the one at the UofM is HORRENDOUS! She advocated supplementing regular food with BENEFUL, for the purpose of FILLER! Uh...whut???? She was also called out by a cat specific veterinarian during a seminar on nutrition, and admitted that she did not know how to properly feed a cat. She even let the cat vet get on stage and tell everyone how a cat should be fed (this guy, BTW has reversed cat diabetes in over 20 cats, he's pretty awesome).
But then there are nutritionists like Monica Segal who are AHHHHHMAZING! There are definitely things that canine nutritionists know that normal vets don't. Like the detailed interactions of all the nutrients and vitamins and thir molecular makeup. Segal has a web chart in her book about this subject, and it really is quite amazing how intricate everything is when you get down to it.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that if Frodo had an issue which required specific dietary requirements (cancer, etc) then I would be going to someone like Monica Segal (Mordy who used to be on this forum also does this) to get a formulated diet for Frodo.
As far as nutritionists go, the one at the UofM is HORRENDOUS! She advocated supplementing regular food with BENEFUL, for the purpose of FILLER! Uh...whut???? She was also called out by a cat specific veterinarian during a seminar on nutrition, and admitted that she did not know how to properly feed a cat. She even let the cat vet get on stage and tell everyone how a cat should be fed (this guy, BTW has reversed cat diabetes in over 20 cats, he's pretty awesome).
But then there are nutritionists like Monica Segal who are AHHHHHMAZING! There are definitely things that canine nutritionists know that normal vets don't. Like the detailed interactions of all the nutrients and vitamins and thir molecular makeup. Segal has a web chart in her book about this subject, and it really is quite amazing how intricate everything is when you get down to it.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that if Frodo had an issue which required specific dietary requirements (cancer, etc) then I would be going to someone like Monica Segal (Mordy who used to be on this forum also does this) to get a formulated diet for Frodo.
Heck. When I was having problems with my cat and his food, where did I go for advice? Here. And he does have "special needs" but I knew his vet would want me to keep him on the Rx diet he was on. And hey, maybe they would have recommended ANOTHER Rx diet for the vomiting that was being caused by the first Rx diet!!
Yeah. No thanks. I feel like a lot of vets only know how to sell rx diets and truth is, that is not the ONLY way to solve an issue. If you're going to tell me that a grain-filled kibble is the best food for my CAT... umm sorry...
Yeah. No thanks. I feel like a lot of vets only know how to sell rx diets and truth is, that is not the ONLY way to solve an issue. If you're going to tell me that a grain-filled kibble is the best food for my CAT... umm sorry...
I've never spoken to an actual canine nutritionist, and I've never asked my vet for nutritional advice. My vet does recommend raw, but his style of raw feeding is not my preference. He sells prescription Science Diet in his office for some reason, but the one time diet was brought up during one of my dogs' appointments with him, he gave me a bunch of raw feeding pamphlets and information and talked about it. That was when I still had Tango, so probably close to 7 years ago now. Back then he was pretty into feeding grain and lots of veggies with raw, so I'm not sure if anything's changed there or not over the years. But in any case, I prefer to do my own looking and learning, and I've learned far more about proper nutrition for dogs that way than any other way.
Meh, they didn't even mention brand name foods in our nutrition course aside from u/d and s/d in the urinary stones section. But they didn't say "yah just give them u/d and that's how you treat bladder stones!" as people seem to think. We went over how you'd treat the obstruction, what to feed in terms of protein, COH, fats, whatever to prevent the condition or treat the condition, anddd then moved onto the next organ system.
Also yah we get a few meetings every semester sponsored by Iams, Purina, etc. but no one really pays much attention to what they say, as we're just studying or reading notes during the meetings (and eating free food, of course). Also they generally just talk about a medical condition. Very few even mention specific products. We know what company they represent, but they don't push anything. The exception to this is the pharmaceutical companies. They'll do a talk about a condition then say something along the lines of "and this is how X product ranks in treating fleas/ticks/heartworms/OEOHFPPEs" and show pretty graphs and what not. But then we get out of the meeting, wind up in pharmacology or physiology or whatever our next class is, and they tell us to take it with a grain of salt.
Our classes are definitely not geared towards brand names. For instance, in pharmacology they rarely mention brand names unless it's the only brand that uses that drug. I couldn't even tell you the brand names of the majority of the drugs we learned unless it was one I knew already going in (IE ivermectin - heartguard, fipronil - frontline, amoxicillin - clavamox, etc.)
Also yah we get a few meetings every semester sponsored by Iams, Purina, etc. but no one really pays much attention to what they say, as we're just studying or reading notes during the meetings (and eating free food, of course). Also they generally just talk about a medical condition. Very few even mention specific products. We know what company they represent, but they don't push anything. The exception to this is the pharmaceutical companies. They'll do a talk about a condition then say something along the lines of "and this is how X product ranks in treating fleas/ticks/heartworms/OEOHFPPEs" and show pretty graphs and what not. But then we get out of the meeting, wind up in pharmacology or physiology or whatever our next class is, and they tell us to take it with a grain of salt.
Our classes are definitely not geared towards brand names. For instance, in pharmacology they rarely mention brand names unless it's the only brand that uses that drug. I couldn't even tell you the brand names of the majority of the drugs we learned unless it was one I knew already going in (IE ivermectin - heartguard, fipronil - frontline, amoxicillin - clavamox, etc.)
