Veterinary Practice News recently posted an article from disgruntled veterinarians wanting to regain their position of being “the authority in animal nutrition.” Borrowing a line from the late Rodney Dangerfield, some veterinarians are saying…“I can’t get no respect.”
The Veterinary Practice News post stated: “Clients relying on internet sources and word of mouth get confused about pet nutrition and health, but veterinarians can be a trustworthy voice of reason. “Dr. Google, by so-called experts, is rampant, and we are no longer the only opinion on animal nutrition and health,” said Joseph Wakshlag, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVN, Dipl. ACVSMR. “We can get drowned out by the white noise on the internet,” he said of veterinarians. “We need to re-establish ourselves as the authority in animal nutrition.”
So who did Veterinary Practice News go to in order to make their point…to influence practicing veterinarians to turn to for pet nutrition and health advise? Royal Canin, Science Diet and Purina.
Royal Canin’s advice to veterinarians…
“Laura Pletz, DVM, scientific services manager at food maker Royal Canin USA, thinks the internet’s fast lane will lead befuddled pet owners to their veterinarians for nutrition advice.”
Fact Checker: Royal Canin’s Dr. Pletz statement is a little misleading. ‘Befuddled pet owners’ are befuddled at why so many veterinarians are selling/promoting pet foods containing ingredients that violate federal law (per their legal definition). Pet owners are ‘befuddled’ why so many veterinarians are recommending highly processed food for cats and dogs when human doctors recommend (human) patients avoid processed food.
Hill’s Science Diet advice to veterinarians…
Dr. Ellen Lowry of Hill’s Science Diet: “Veterinarians should caution their clients to be wary of terms such as ‘gourmet’ or ‘human grade’ on pet food labels,” Dr. Lowery said. “Marketers use these terms to make the product appear healthier and appeal to human appetites, but they don’t have any meaning in regards to safety or quality of the pet food.”
Fact Checker: The statement by Hill’s Science Diet Dr. Lowry is FALSE. Human grade on pet food labels is legally defined by AAFCO and has been verified by FDA for 9 years.
Purina’s advice to veterinarians:
“Misinformation poses a big problem, said Jason W. Gagné, DVM, Dipl. ACVN, senior manager of veterinary technical marketing at Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. “The field of nutrition is continuously dealing with misperceptions regarding the quality of certain ingredients, such as grains and byproducts,” Dr. Gagné said. “Much of this is fueled by inaccurate information on the internet and by advertising that portrays them as negative. It is important to remember that grains and byproducts provide essential nutrients and help complete and balance the nutrient profiles of cats and dogs.”
Fact Checker: The statement made by Purina’s Jason W. Gagné is FALSE. Though some ‘inaccurate information’ to the quality of pet food grains and byproducts may exist, much of the information is true. Most grains in the US are GMO and pet foods have been found to contain the herbicide glyphosate. Pet food byproducts are allowed by FDA to be sourced from dead/non-slaughtered or diseased animals; there is NO “misperception regarding the quality” of these waste ingredients.
World Small Animal Veterinary Association’s advice to veterinarians…
And the Purina veterinarian “recommended tips from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, which has documents that help veterinarians and clients choose food from a reliable company.”
“WSAVA notes that all pet food labels must contain factual information, but clients should be alerted that the label also serves as a promotional tool. That means some label information, such as the use of unregulated terms such as holistic, premium and human grade, “is of little practical value in assisting nutritional assessment” WSAVA states.”
Fact Checker: The statement from World Small Animal Veterinary Association is FALSE. Again, human grade on pet food labels is legally defined by AAFCO and has been verified by FDA for 9 years.
If veterinarians want to become “the authority in animal nutrition”, for starters they should get their facts straight. When false information is provided to educated pet food consumers, your credibility goes out the window.
Next, veterinarians need to stop turning to industry as their sole source of pet food information. Hint to veterinarians: industry is using you. You are little more than a marketing tool to them.
Friend Rodney Habib says it best in a new video…
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 4,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com
The 2016 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here
The Other List
The List of pet foods I would not give my own pets. Click Here
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Pacific Sun
September 29, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Wow. Did you write the article and find the video to compliment it. Or were you inspired by Rodney’s video. Both so well done. Brilliant rational, excellent points, and so articulate. An article like this (full of common sense) gives pet owner’s the courage to stand up to their Vet’s blind PF bias, instead of promoting a healthy diet. The analogy between human and small animal doctors just makes perfect sense.
But perhaps your ultimate point is this …. “Hey Vets, Science, Hills, Royal Canin, Iams and Purina are all using you! You’re just their tool!!”
Tracey
September 29, 2016 at 2:51 pm
Perfect Susan, perfect! If vets want to be considered “experts” on nutrition they need to stop trying to BS us. We are not stupid, we have done our own research and some of us have degrees in Animal Health and Nutrition that equal theirs. We have learned not to believe advertisements on TV (for anything) or on the bags of pet food produced by these big corporations. If Vets would spend a couple hours on this website they’d be a whole lot more knowledgeable and less gullible!
Ian
September 29, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Yes perhaps there is nothing wrong with grains “per se” but I believe there IS something wrong with moldy, mycotoxin infused and vermin and pesticide tainted grains that can’t be sold to people and are diverted into pet food manufacturing. In my opinion, THIS is why grains in kibble makes some dogs sick. Not that it’s grain but that it’s horrible moldy grain that can’t be fed to people. As I recall, your own pet food testing from a few years back found significant and multiple signs of mold toxins in the commercial pet foods you tested.
Brenda
September 29, 2016 at 3:27 pm
For over 50 yrs of taking dogs (and cats) to vets, not one has taken the time to speak with me about my dog’s/cat’s nutrition. So why am I to assume they are the “authority” on nutrition?
guest
September 29, 2016 at 4:12 pm
98% of conventional vets are clueless about pet nutrition and the hour class they take at vet school is by Big Pet Food corporations telling vets to sell their food.
We cannot trust a vet for nutrition and most pet care.
Go to VitalAnimal.com for excellent vet health care or sign up for an actual consultation via skype or phone.
VitalAnimal.com has an excellent course on real holistic and natural care that will save you $1,000’s in vet bills.
DogsNaturallyMagazine.com is helpful too.
Look for a real holistic vet.
Only go to a vet for an emergency. Then look for alternative treatments to heal any health issues.
Mary Marseglia
September 30, 2016 at 4:14 am
Exactly! Veterinarians have absolutely NO nutritional education to speak of and what they do get based on which school they go to, 1-2hrs, and it is ALL taught by the freaken idiots at the Pet Food Industry! This is ALL Garbage food that they expect people to feed their pets which most of us were & way too many are still brain washed into believing this is good food to feed our pets! It’s over processed/over heated/over cooked denatured(sick animals) GARBAGE! Every single dry kibble on the market today around the world is GARBAGE! And most canned foods are as well, although, I do recommend some grain-free “as low in starches as possible” canned foods for people who won’t feed complete raw diets, or are transitioning their pets to complete raw diets.
Raw diets are not new! They’ve been around for MILLIONS of years for our pets ancestors and 30,000+yrs for domestic dogs & 12,000+yrs for domestic cats! the PFI does NOT know what is best for dogs & cats, who are true carnivores.
I had a vet say to me the other day on somebody’s FB post that they are trying to get dogs reclassified as “omnivores” instead of carnivores and I not only ripped her a new butthole, I told her she was a fool trying to tell me that their organs & genes have changed(evolved) as I advised her first off, evolution would have to occur on a daily basis(which it does not) and next, no matter how much a dog or cat evolved from its wild ancestors, I don’t care if there is only one gene that is different or 10(there are not 10 different genes by the way), the internal organs have NOT evolved, WON’T evolve, have stayed the same from the beginning of God creating them(if you are not a believer, then Mother Nature) and even Humans so called evolved, our internal organs have NEVER changed!
Dogs & cats bodies are designed to eat a complete raw diet, and I advise people to feed “primarily” herbivore/ungulate animals, not poultry, pork or fish since these aren’t even the primary diet of their wild ancestors!(yes fish is eaten, but it is not the primary diet)
I’m tired of the BS from the PFI, allopathic vets, even some Holistic vets(which some state to feed veggies when those actually over work the pancreas to produce more enzymes to break down all the cell walls, carbs, etc and very little to none of the nutrients from veggies are actually not even absorbed into the body – meaning they are not bioavailable. And their wild ancestors don’t eve eat veggies–they do eat 1-2% season fruits, grasses, dandelions, even some herbs, but not veggies )
Mary Marseglia
September 30, 2016 at 4:17 am
The only reason to go to a allopathic veterinarian, yes we do need them, is for emergencies, and for spay/neuter at “appropriate” ages not early spay/neuter(unless you are not going to be a responsible owner) as these vets have ruined all breeds of dogs with early spay/neuter as well!
Homeopathy is the best cure, doesn’t suppress like drugs. Sure some things will not be able to be cured, like some cancers especially caught late, but doesn’t mean medicine cures cancer either because it doesn’t.
Carol D.
September 29, 2016 at 4:50 pm
I agree with you on your subject, but I have a miner correction… In your answer to Purina, you mention the “pesticide” glyphosate – I’m sure it’s mistyped, but it should be “herbicide”.
Susan Thixton
September 29, 2016 at 4:52 pm
You are right Carol – will make that correction. With yesterday’s post, I’ve got pesticides on my mind.
Cindy
September 29, 2016 at 9:59 pm
Actually, I think pesticide is the umbrella term that encompasses both herbicides and insecticides.
Carol D.
September 30, 2016 at 3:15 am
I figured you knew the difference and would want that corrected. 🙂
Cheryl Bond
September 29, 2016 at 5:16 pm
I found it really comical that veterinarians would even think to call themselves experts on pet nutrition! That is a big joke! I would love to know how they would respond if someone said to them how could you consider yourself an expert when you receive two to three hours of nutrition training and that training is sponsored by big pet food companies!!!! Which is a complete conflict of interest!
All of us here know that already, I just had to reiterate that.
Sadly, too many people still ignorantly just blindly believe them. I say this knowing that there are forward-thinking that’s out there that you continue educating themselves and do advocate for a natural more healthy diet for pets but they are still in the minority.
Will Falconer DVM
September 30, 2016 at 10:44 am
The same tired, hopeless advice from the “experts” to the practitioners in the field: “Just spread our (marketing) message, we know how to make the best food out there, and no one making it themselves could possibly know more about nutrition than we do.”
That horse left the barn so long ago that only the most out of touch animal owner is going to succumb to that persuasion. The vets who care to look even a bit more deeply will see they’ve lost their credibility, and won’t regain it as long as they continue to sell the devitalized, often toxic pet foods that these companies are invested in them shilling.
There are, I’m happy to say, so many educated pet parents out there now, that we’re seeing a seismic shift in what’s acceptable as reasonable nutrition for pets. The old story? They’re not buying it!
Susan Thixton
September 30, 2016 at 1:24 pm
Thank you Dr. Falconer for commenting. You set the example for veterinarians out there – one that consumers do listen to.
Deniese
September 30, 2016 at 2:00 pm
I was surprised that human grade on pet food labels is legally defined by AAFCO and has been verified by FDA for 9 years. So I google this and it says otherwise. It says that AAFCO has established a new official feed term. It was accepted by the ingredient Definition Committee at the AAFCO meeting in January 2016. So what is the real truth??
Are you saying it maybe human grade has been around for 9 years?
Susan Thixton
September 30, 2016 at 2:16 pm
I was on the AAFCO committee that worked to write the legal definition of Human Grade pet food. In 2007, the Honest Kitchen Pet Food Company through a lawsuit with Ohio Department of Agriculture was provided with the first FDA verification of a human grade pet food. From 2007 to 2015, FDA was the only agency to verify human grade claims on pet food labels. In 2015 FDA made the not-so-public announcement they are turning the verification process of human grade pet foods over to State government (State Department of Agriculture). https://truthaboutpetfood.com/fda-pulled-the-rug-out-from-under-pet-food-consumers/ AAFCO then had the duty to define human grade for this verification duty states had been given. So yes, human grade pet foods have been official since 2007.
Elisa Chaplin
October 1, 2016 at 2:19 am
I have been verbally abused by Vets when I told them I make my own pet food. (mostly raw diet)
They have said I am killing my animals and ought to be reported.
I wonder why my animals are so healthy if I’m killing them..lol.
Scott george
October 1, 2016 at 10:15 am
My kitty enjoys beef (steaks ) I started her on hamburger and I do feed some dry and canned food as well.
Reader
October 1, 2016 at 1:20 pm
What proof did he have that you’re abusing your pets? And if there wasn’t any (and obviously not!) then your Vet should be reported! No, the AVMA won’t do anything. But lodge a complaint anyway, and one with the BBB. That way if another consumer is researching, there will at least be negative comment on file.
I’m sorry, but NO professional (for any reason) should be verbally abusing his clients, unless you’re about to be arrested. You’re paying top dollar, expecting top notch services. And not only is your Vet IGNORANT, he could be negligent in that he is not willing to work with you, for the best interest of your pets.
I think it’s time for all of us to start thinking about that “science formulated” carp as sales ploy! With all that supposed (and I do believe it) research that Hill’s does, going into the formulation of food, then why can’t they take all that “knowledge” and translate it into a whole food, balanced, equivalent for consumers who need another answer? Some dogs (like one of mine) couldn’t eat any Poultry or Pork. That meant no prescription diets. The solution, “boiled meat and rice” which was hardly a long-term optimal plan. So I had to find answers for myself.
The bad Vets take our money for a dozen tests, tell you what’s wrong with your dog, then leave you hanging, beyond prescribing a pill, if they can’t push that commercial stuff!
Rebecca
October 1, 2016 at 8:06 pm
Four dogs over 20 years fed exactly how the vet said they should be fed. AND… We also spent a fortune on vet visits, pills, drops, sprays, washes, ointments, salves, dips, shampoos, steroids, antibiotics, injections, etc. for very itchy dogs with multiple skin issues, who required regular dental cleanings. These dogs all came from the shelter, were all the same breed (probably) and they all were fed kibble.
I started to hear about raw feeding and was determined to start our new very itchy dog on raw and whole foods; the same sort of thought process I use when feeding the people in the house. I found a local holistic dog food store that educated me, taught me balanced recipes, and answered the million questions I had. I switched. Cold turkey. My vet’s opinion what that raw would increase her “blood lust”. [insert eye roll]
In a week the itching stopped. Our thin dog gained lean muscle. Her coat filled out and became softer. No more goopy eyes or ear issues. No more hot spots. Instead of monthly vet visits, we see a new raw-friendly vet once a year for her annual physical. My gawd, THIS is what dog ownership is supposed to be like, not owning a pharmacological experiment whose scratching keeps us up at night.
Sami Thompson
June 17, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Rebecca said, “My vet’s opinion was that raw would increase her ‘blood lust.” That’s simultaneously funny & sad – how ridiculous that a vet would say anything so foolish, and how sad that he could possibly believe it. Who knew vet classes included Old Wives’ Tales 101?
It’s wonderful that she escaped that “Wheel of Ignorance” with her new dog, and is determining her dog’s healthy future – sans hidden poisons in commercial pet food.
Susan, the work you do is so very important.