Sign of a good Vet?

(1) Hill's Science Diet dry on one side

(2) Royal Canin dry on the other

I presume they were all prescription.  Is this a common thing in Vet. offices? Do the Vet's get a kickback of sorts, perhaps some of the building rent paid off?   I'm not kidding...but I'm a pessimist and have little experience in a Vet. office waiting area. 

I wandered over while waiting for my appointment and looked at the ingredients of the first bag of Science Diet I picked up  - corn and corn gluten...one after the other.  I mean...come on, kiss my arse I'm not paying a premium price for prescription corn, haha. 

Heck, last time I was in PetSmart, a Hill's rep was there slowly pacing the canned goods area looking to educate people on the value of their foods.

Maybe there's limited options available when it comes time for a cat's diet change. 

all of the vet offices in my area sell those two brands of foods, so I'm not sure how good it is as a barometer

My vet has a small store filled with Hill's, too, so I can only think they must get some sort of bonus for selling it.  I wouldn't feed it to my cats - the corn and gluten being one reason.  I don't think of myself as a pessimist but it's pretty obvious there's some sort of relationship going on!

Big profit margins is one reason they push these brands. I think Hills science diet is also one of the companies that sponsor the nutrinal portion of vet schooling. Due to this, it is pushed has the best during the course

Vets do not know much about animal nutrition. The course they take at vet school for this is very short. Few days at best.

Yea, most vets carry RC and Hill's in their offices and it is  not really a barometer on how good or bad they are,  but I think it gives a sense though.

I chose a vet who is specialized in cats and rabbits. She owns 5 cats herself  so she is profoundly familiar with cat's behavior, nutrition questions etc etc. (There is not a single bag RC or Hill's in her office. )  

But I'm convinced there are also great vets who do offer RC/Hill's in their offices.

My recommendation would be to search a vet who is specialized in cats and to read their reviews online. Not every single review is trustworthy, but the sum of reviews may give you an idea what to expect. 

That's a pragmatic view point, well said. 

Just realized - I didn't mean to say my vet was bad.  He's wonderful but like Shaheena said, probably not very versed on nutrition.  One vet in his practice pushes dry food; the other says "only wet, only wet."  So Sheheena is correct; most vets don't know very much about nutrition.  (Just like a lot of doctors - they may be very good surgeons, general practitioners, etc. but know bupkus about nutrition).

It's fairly common for vets to carry some kind of food. Perhaps the food reps come around with it? None have ever tried to push it on me though.

Well, my poodle had cystitis and that was over 30 years ago and I can't remember that one! Maybe once...That was also in NJ where they had more specialized vets.

I know what you mean. We went to Petco to get better food for Buttons and the Blue Buffalo woman got us and I ended up with a bag of it and she didn't even like it much.

The vet clinic that I go to has Hills Prescription Diets but other than the A/D for my kitty when he had fatty liver and a feeding tube I have never had the food pushed on me.  That same kitty has IBD and recently developed a chicken allergy, the prescription foods for those conditions have never been mentioned to me.

Vets not necessarily get their rent paid but they do get some nice things from hill's, they have specific bags of food made just for the staff to buy that they give an nice discount on so they don't pay retail price for it, these bags of food aren't availabe for retail sale.  They give the staff coupons like $10-$15 off.   They also have a nice markup, of at least 25-30% on most foods.   Hill's reps will provide 'educational' lunches for the staff where they provide lunches and such and teach about food.  Most vets don't have all that much nutritional education so they learn what Hill's, Purina and Royal Canin give them literature wise.....which isn't always a good thing.  The vet I work for sells Hill's and unfortunately sells a crap ton of it.  I want to cringe sometimes when I sell the food to people.  I quit feeding hill's about 15-20 years ago after being a lifelong supporter, their food caused cancer in several of my very young dogs and not just any cancer it was rare forms of cancer, and the dogs weren't even 5 years old yet, quit feeding Hill's and haven't lost a dog to cancer, okay I lost my 13 year old Standard Poodle to mammary cancer......but I think that was legit, she was never ever fed any form of Hill's.  Now granted I think the vet I work for is pretty awesome, but she just needs to learn a little more on why corn isn't an appropriate ingredient.  My dad who is now a retired vet was very open to other foods and quit selling prescription diets and such.  Even animals with health concerns we were able to find alternative foods to feed them.  I myself have 2 bladder kitties who have never been on a prescription diet for it and went 4 years without a flare up.  I think that's pretty good.  Okay I think I have said enough. 

Unless things have changed dramatically, it's not so different from what happens at your doctor's office.  I worked at a government agency so it wasn't quite the same, but the drug company reps did come around and sometimes sponsored educational seminars with paid lunches for the nurses. I've always looked around the doctor's office for the "freebies" to see who's been handing out stuff so I can take any recommendations for the latest and greatest medication with a healthy grain of salt.

I've never seen R/C here. It must be regional for the vet trade.

I don't know how much profit they get, but they do get something off selling Hill's. One vet I went to pushed the Hill's. I later found out that particular chain of vet offices put their vets on commission, so both the corporate office and the vet himself got profit.

Like other posters have said, vets typically get very little nutrition training, and what they do get is provided by pet food companies. So a lot of them may be falsely thinking that it's a win-win situation - the cat/owner gets better health, and they get a constant cash flow.

Something else that should be pointed out is that some pet owners are not willing to go much further with their pets' care. I can't tell you the number of times people have asked me about raw and if it night help their cat/dog, only for them to later say, "That's too much trouble. I'll just see what food the vet sells." And if the food doesn't fix the problem, often the owner will simply shrug their shoulders and say that they tried. So I can see why vets would sell it. It's a better option for someone to feed the prescription formula sometimes than any old bag from the grocery store.

I do understand what you're saying about ingredients and I absolutely agree. I just wanted to mention what vets deal with too.

peaches08 said:

Something else that should be pointed out is that some pet owners are not willing to go much further with their pets' care. I can't tell you the number of times people have asked me about raw and if it night help their cat/dog, only for them to later say, "That's too much trouble. I'll just see what food the vet sells." And if the food doesn't fix the problem, often the owner will simply shrug their shoulders and say that they tried. So I can see why vets would sell it. It's a better option for someone to feed the prescription formula sometimes than any old bag from the grocery store.

Click to expand...

This is very true and you're right, Peaches.  Better the SD food than some of the stuff they sell elsewhere...