The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) has recently announced a certification course regarding “Canine and Feline Nutrition Guidelines”. Quoting their course description page (bold added for emphasis): “Implementing a team-based approach to feline and canine nutrition and weight management is essential to proactively address potential health complications resulting from a poor or inadequate diet. It’s also critical to (empathetically) convince sometimes reluctant pet owners to comply with your team’s recommendations.”
Why would it be “critical” to “convince” a pet owner to comply with a veterinarian’s pet food recommendation?
Perhaps it is because the AAHA pet food course “is generously supported by a grant from Purina Pro Plan.”
Or perhaps it is critical to convince a pet owner to comply with a veterinarian’s pet food recommendation because the Nutrition Course guidelines were “supported by generous educational grants from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., Purina® Pro Plan® Veterinary Diets, and Royal Canin®.”
The AAHA pet food course for veterinarians and staff discusses “a team approach” to convince reluctant pet owners to accept pet food recommendations. In other words, pet owners will be pitched by multiple veterinary staff members.
It makes one wonder if any of the veterinary staff or the veterinarian convincing pet owners to comply understand the difference between human grade pet food and feed grade pet food? Or if anyone is aware that FDA openly allows feed grade pet foods – such as those manufactured by Purina, Hill’s and Royal Canin (Mars) – to source meats from diseased animals and animals that died other than by slaughter?
We can safely assume the Purina, Hills and Royal Canin nutritional training DID NOT include that information.
So…if you get ‘the pitch’…here are some questions you can ask the veterinary staff to see just how much they know about the pet food they are recommending:
Is the pet food you are recommending human grade or feed grade?
What is the country of origin of all ingredients including supplements?
Does the pet food include rendered ingredients? If yes, does the pet food provide any verification the rendered ingredients contain no diseased animals, animals that died other than by slaughter, or condemned animals/animal parts?
When you get ‘the deer in the headlights look’, you can tell them that AAFCO defined the terms feed grade and human grade in 2016. Feed grade ingredients are allowed by legal definition to include adulterated ingredients (such as meats or fats sourced from diseased, non-slaughtered, and/or condemned animal carcasses or carcass parts). A human grade pet food means all ingredients and supplements are human edible and the pet food is manufactured per human food safety standards.
You can tell them the FDA openly states they will allow through enforcement discretion pet foods to source meat and fat ingredients from condemned, diseased, or non-slaughtered decomposing animals with no warning or disclosure to pet owners.
And you can “empathetically” tell the veterinary staff you would never feed your pet a product that contains condemned, diseased or non-slaughtered decomposing animal material – or any other waste ingredient. Tell them when they can make a recommendation of a human grade ingredient pet food, you would be happy to hear more about the brand.
Wishing you and your pet the best –
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Terrie Rolph
November 16, 2022 at 12:41 pm
Love the last four paragraphs. Informing, empathetically. 🙂
Christina K Swanson
November 16, 2022 at 12:42 pm
Even my force free high end vet (who doesn’t have food in store) recommended hills once to me after a surgery. I explained what I’m feeding my dogs oc.
Luckily they look at my dogs (and their blood tests) and agree that I’m doing right by them.
Jeff Flan
November 17, 2022 at 3:33 pm
Christina,
“…I’m feeding my dogs oc.”
What is “oc”??
Thanks…
Bobbi Ames
November 20, 2022 at 11:14 pm
My guess is she is referring to OC Raw
Rox
November 16, 2022 at 1:12 pm
This actually has been brewing in the corporate veterinary medical system for several years so I’m not too surprised at how this is ramping up.I fired a vet clinic 3 years ago for doing just what was described in the article. They pressured me to use the commercially prepared dog food sold at that clinic, a food that I knew very well was a toxic mix of the worst possible ingredients. First the vet insisted I was telling lies about the product yet she could not answer with anything but silence when I asked her if they had read the label. Then despite my informing them that my previous vet – who had retired for (human) health reasons – had designed a very nutritious organic home cooked meal plan for my dog, the new vet threatened me claiming they would “turn me in to the authorities for animal neglect and cruelty” if I did not purchase the dog food they wanted me to use. I countered with fine, go ahead, and as I work for lawyers including one who is a humane society board member, I will see you in court. Then I fired them and filed a complaint with the Oregon State Board of Veterinary Medicine (not that they did anything about the “threats”). The independent vet clinics are MUCH better about not not engaging in such unethical behavior. But BE AWARE AND WARY of corporate-chain vets, the one I fired had just become one of the biggest corporate vet medicine chains – the one based in Texas.
Concerned
November 16, 2022 at 1:12 pm
https://www.aaha.org/about-aaha/aaha-position-statements/raw-protein-diet/
Ozzy
November 16, 2022 at 8:05 pm
Oh please!! I feed raw to my two senior cats and senior dog and have for years. That article is just a scare tactic because there is so much revenue at stake for big pet food. Unfortunately , the article did not induce fear or panic in me and I doubt it will with Susan’s readers either.
Jyoti
November 17, 2022 at 1:04 pm
So please tell me why kibble like food is not given to zoo animals? Why do zoo animals eat species appropriate food which usually is some sort of raw meat. Please don’t spread misinformation!
T Allen
November 16, 2022 at 1:18 pm
Thanks Susan! Your last paragraph is perfect! Although I might not be able to pull off the “epathetically” part with a veterinarian.. 😉
Marybeth F. Marousek
November 16, 2022 at 4:57 pm
Thank you for the heads-up. It helps to be prepared. Whenever I see the name “Hills” or “Purina” or “Royal Canin” my hackles go up. My vet prescribed a “prescription” kidney diet for my cat because of struvite crystals, and when I read the ingredients I refused to use it. That was six years ago and my cat is healthy with no recurance at 15 yrs. of age, because I did my research and learned what to feed (or not feed) him.
KB
November 16, 2022 at 6:24 pm
That’s the worst place to get your nutrition education.
No way am I feeding vet clinic food to my dog.
Thanks for the great tips to have an answer ready.
carole Henry
November 17, 2022 at 12:47 am
This was GREAT advice for a response to your veterinarians recommendation of a pet food👌👌
Marjorie Sovec
November 17, 2022 at 9:32 am
Seriously! they must think pet owners are stupid. I would never feed Purina or Hill’s. Unless I’m misinformed, seems to me these are the 2 companies that started all the hoopla about DCM being related to certain pet foods–none of theirs of course.
Kelley
November 18, 2022 at 12:44 pm
Let’s be realistic, not everyone can afford to feed a high end, human grade food, nor would they ever make their own. They want easy and convenient. Many cats with urinary issues have been helped by (gasp) prescription diets with questionable ingredients. Better that than being euthanized for repeated urinary issues.
Starr Phillips
November 21, 2022 at 6:33 am
We feed completely humane grade Raw Food. Ive been making my own dog food for nearly 4 years now. I have 4 large dogs, 1 lab, 3 Greyhounds. We grind Chicken/with Bone, organs, and a little, veggie/fruit. We rotate with Venison and Beef. This is easy, and a lifestyle my husband and I chose for our dogs. They are all healthy, and happy. Just hope more and more people will continue to discover Raw feeding.