This post has actually been a work-in-progress for some time, but a phone call today pushed me to try and finish it. That phone call took place with the internal medicine specialist treating Studley. The specialist has diagnosed Studley with pancreatitis and IBD, based on an ultrasound performed Tuesday. Today he got back the results of Studley’s GI lab, and expressed some confusion that while he KNOWS Studley has IBD (based on the ultrasound results), his GI lab results (cobalamin and folate) were normal.
I do NOT generally openly disagree with most vets (to their face). I’ll express my opinions to my regular vet, who acts very open to my ideas and thoughts – but I’ve learned not to waste my time and breath on many vets who really don’t care what I think about anything. They just want me to do what I’m told. However, today for whatever reason I felt the need to tell this specialist my suspicions on why Studley’s results were normal. I told him I had worked with many cats with IBD, adopted and fostered, and I fed all my cats an “IBD friendly” diet. This diet had eliminated symptoms and normalized GI lab results for the other cats I’d worked with – and my thinking was, if Studley was fed this “IBD diet”, and it’s treated these other cats with IBD, it made sense to me that it’d also treated Studley, without my knowing he even had IBD.
To say the specialist was unimpressed would be a vast understatement. He reiterated that he’s worked with MANY cats with IBD and NONE of them had normal GI labwork. Well, to me, call me crazy, that indicates maybe he is doing something WRONG. Maybe his protocol of prescription diets and steroids isn’t the BEST option. Maybe a more natural diet for a carnivore and some nutritional supplements, with which I don’t NEED to give steroids is preferable? However, I bit my tongue (a bit) but did tell him I would start Studley out on the (horrible) canned w/d the specialist has been feeding him (gag), and transition him slowly back to “my” diet, sticking to leaner meats like rabbit, turkey, chicken, and pheasant, and avoiding the duck that may (or may not) exacerbate pancreatitis. (Note that this attack of acute pancreatitis was likely induced by the use of injectable sterods in the first place!)
WHY would anyone think that a diet of pork liver, pork by-products, chicken, powdered cellulose, corn starch, etc. would be better for my cat with a sensitive stomach than a diet of whole ground rabbit, turkey, or chicken with egg yolks and a few supplements?
The answer I believe, sadly, is that most veterinarians (like most human doctors) don’t THINK about nutrition. I understand they have a lot of other things to think about – with the many animal species they are expected to know about, and the many diseases, and surgeries… really, I do try to understand. But, even if they can’t be bothered to think about nutrition, do so many of them have to be so ARROGANT as to think I cannot? Can they not pull their head out of the BAG to use some critical thinking skills? Do they have to assume these big pet food manufacturers are the only experts there are out there, and as my friend Adrienne says “Hill’s is best, because Hill’s says so”?
I have to say, these large companies, particularly Hill’s, are marketing geniuses. They are! Hill’s has most animal shelters and veterinarians and veterinary students thinking they are the premier pet food manufacturers, in spite of the fact they use some of the lowest quality ingredients possible: corn, sawdust (a.k.a. cellulose), and meat unsuitable for human consumption.
Veterinarians are hardly unbiased because pet food makes up such a huge amount of their own income. The average veterinary clinic makes close to 20% of their income from selling pet food. If I received ONE-FIFTH of my income from selling a product, would I admit that product isn’t the greatest to my clients?
Still, I felt the specialist went above disagreeing with me to being RUDE to me and I honestly don’t know if I could trust him to care for one of my cats again. Studley IS feeling better, and I’m grateful for that – but what if it had been Ralph? I have SEEN what Hill’s food does to Ralph, and it nearly cost him his life. Even bringing w/d into my home for Studley worries me, as I’ll have to make certain Rumpelmintz, Ralph, Jellybean, and Louie don’t get into it, as it would be disastrous with it’s pork, corn, and high carbohydrate content. Studley isn’t exactly “svelte”, either, and I hope the carbohydrates don’t cause weight gain. I really just don’t understand why more veterinarians wouldn’t question why we are feeding these products to cats. (Update: The canned w/d caused a severe allergic reaction in Studley. I came home from work to find he’d licked one front leg bloody and raw. He was anxious and grateful to go back to “real food”.)
“Food” for thought (quotes from others on the subject):
From: catnutrition.wordpress.com
Hundreds if not thousands of communications I’ve seen over the years, through my own website and from years of co-moderating a Yahoo group dedicated to help people with IBD cats leaves me with the very clear impression that the bulk of vets remain strongly resistant to taking a fresh look at the way we’re feeding these obligate carnivores.
From: veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com
Conrad admits there’s a downside to emphasizing pet food sales—sometimes stock winds up in his office. But he just looks at that food and thinks of the new equipment he’ll be able to buy with the revenue, the health of the pets that will eat it, and the satisfaction of clients. After that, a few bags of pet food in his office start to look pretty good.
From: petfood.newsvine.com
Hill’s says its keys to expansion are building and strengthening relationships in the veterinary profession and continuous innovations and improvements in wellness and therapeutic petfood nutrition.
From: www.petfoodinstitute.org
The principal ingredients of pet foods are meat, poultry, seafood and their byproducts, feed grains and meals.
From: www.hillsvet.com
Hill’s Shelter Nutrition Partnership
We believe in a second chance for love. That’s why Hill’s Pet Nutrition supports animal shelters by providing Hill’s Science Diet pet foods for free. The Shelter Nutrition Partnership helps shelter pets be in their best health so they can be adopted quickly.
From: www.hillsvet.com
Student Feeding Program
Hill’s donates pet food products at no charge to all the veterinary schools across the U.S. We do this for teaching hospitals’ animal patients and for the pets of students and staff. When these schools sell the food we provide, the proceeds go toward student activities and scholarships. Everyone involved benefits from the right focus on nutrition. Contact your Hill’s representative on campus today to find out how you can get involved in the Student Feeding Program.The New Graduate Feeding Program
Special savings on Hill’s® pet foods for veterinary students does not have to stop after graduation. New veterinary graduates beginning their career in veterinary health care now have an opportunity to continue purchasing Hill’s pet foods at discount prices. Qualifying is easy and the rewards benefit your pet and your practice.
From: laurieatvetschool.blogspot.com
After lunch the first Iams pet food shipment of the school year came in. Iams allows veterinary students to take an online quiz about pet nutrition every month and then lets us select free food from the company.
From: winnielovesus.blogspot.com
Sure, we had our Intro to Nutrition course last year- but any lunchtime seminars outside of our classes are things along the lines of “How do I choose the right food for Fluffy? Sponsored by Purina!”
From: winnielovesus.blogspot.com
Yesterday, the Holistic Club hosted a rep from Natura foods (Innova, California Naturals) to come talk about their foods and to kick off a new free feeding program for vet students. I thought it went quite well, even though the rep got a little torn up by some tough questions (“Who says dogs don’t do fine on by products?” “Why is it not good for dogs to eat a grain-based diet?” “Corn is digestible- why should it not be in a pet food?” etc). She answered them pretty well, basically stating that their company’s philosophy is that fresh, whole foods equals better nutrition, and better nutrition equals healthier pets. Not everyone shares that philosophy, and that’s fine, but she wanted people to be aware of it because we’ll have clients who are looking for a food like that.
From: winnielovesus.blogspot.com
Hills and vets have an interesting relationship. I think their sales line is “The #1 food vets feed their pets,” and that’s probably true.
They also invest a lot of money in vets and vet students. The sponsor a lot of our speakers, both related and unrelated to nutrition, and if we didn’t have their funding we’d have a lot fewer opportunities. They even purchased all of us our copy of Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. So why have I still been so skeptical of them?
Everything in corporate is about CYA (cover your bum) and trying to look good to the public while making as much money as possible. Then don’t do anything really beneficial for anyone but the company until you get caught.
And “pets need nutrients, not ingredients”- meaning that if protein comes from chicken, or soy, or grown in a petri dish, it doesn’t matter because your dog’s body will process them all the same way.
I still have a hard time buying the “nutrients, not ingredients” line. I understand it scientifically- your gut could care less what the source of those proteins are, it just wants to digest and absorb them. But at the same time, I can’t believe I’d be just as healthy consuming a powder that contains all necessary nutrients as I would be eating a well-balanced diet that includes fresh foods (to quote Michael Pollan, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”). Okay, so the body utilizes nutrients rather than ingredients, but ingredient type and source and quality all have to factor in to how well our body can extract nutrients from it, right?
My nutrition text states that to meet a dog’s daily protein requirements, a kibble should have about 20% protein. Beyond that, protein is utilized not to build other proteins, but to provide energy. Carbs provide energy too, so most dog food companies use 20% protein and make up the rest of the energy needs with carbs, because protein is expensive while carbs are not. But who says that carbs are the best choice here? Cheaper yes, but would dogs do better with more protein? Does a high-carb kibble have any unintended side-effects? The Hills guy told us at a lunch talk the other day that n/d, their prescription cancer diet, is low carb because cancer feeds off of carbs. Lower the carbs, starve the cancer. So why not just use a low-carb diet all the time? It won’t keep cancer from occurring, but if you never give it carbs to grow on in the first place…. But oh, carbs are cheap, protein is expensive.
From: catinfo.org
Contrary to what is often believed, many, if not all, of the so-called prescription diets sold in veterinary hospitals are not formulated for optimal health of a carnivore. Many of these products contain corn, wheat, and soy which have no logical place in your cat’s diet and these diets are often very high in carbohydrates. Many of them also contain by-products as the main – and often only – source of protein. It is also important to note that Hill’s – the maker of Science Diet – continues to use extremely questionable preservatives such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin in many of their products. Other companies have abandoned the practice of using these chemicals as preservatives – opting for more natural and safer methods. Unfortunately, many veterinarians are very poorly educated in the area of nutrition. Too often their recommendations are taken from the pet food industry which does not always have your cat’s best interest in mind when formulating their products. In most instances, you will be paying far more money than you should be for the low quality ingredients that many of these prescription products contain.
It’s too bad, but vets and pet food manufacturers are not the best source of info on cat nutrition. It amazes me how many premium cat foods contain corn and soy. You would think that vets would know that cats are obligate carnivores who don’t need all those carbs from grains. No wonder so many cats are overweight and develop feline diabetes!
What a wonderful blog. I totally agree. I have a cat with chronic pancreatitis. She refuses to eat any commercially prepared food, wet or dry. We finally had to get a veterinary nutritionalist from Texas A & M to develop a low mineral, low fat diet which I make at home. I think the key is to feed a variety of foods, so the commercial cat food that contains all those additives is not the be all and end all. In my search for optimal health for my cats, I’ve found there are really no good books that explain the rationale for designing cat food diets, so that the layman can find the solution for his/her pets. Everyone is expected to feed their pets the formulated dry or wet foods whether it works for their pet or not.
[…] For more of my thoughts, see my other blog posts, including Six reasons not to feed dry cat food and Vets and pet food. […]
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