So many questions!

[just mike]

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

IMO, all vets should be locked up in a room with the book "Not Fit For a Dog", and have to read it before being let out

That in itself is quite a broad statement. I will stand by my conviction that if you have a sick animal, you should stick with the vet's recommendations. If you find something you think might work better; discuss it with them. I'm talking about a sick animal or an animal with a condition that a vet's care is required.

For healthy animals and nutritional advice, have at it. I'm all for new ideas on the subject.

 

[bastetservant]

These debates will never end. I think they are good because it gets people thinking about the quality of their pets' diets, and hopefully, their own

My Claude has been on low calorie diet food since December now, and he has lost 3 pounds. He is very active and content, and his coat is so shiny.

My vet, who does sell Hills food, said the ingredients in the Hills prescription low cal food weren't enough different from the Science Diet low calorie food to warrant the expense of buying the stuff from him. However, I'm feeding Claude Wellness and Natural Balance low calorie foods as I like them better.

In the past I fed cats who lived over 18 years a primarily dry diet of Science Diet, or worse. Good cat food wasn't available, and I didn't know any better then anyway. None were obese.

Robin

 

[minka]

Originally Posted by NutroMike

Who is to say who is right or wrong Minka? You claim to be training to become a vet. What is going to happen when you give sound advice to a patient's parent and they immediately go to the Internet and take someone else's advice? The cat does not respond well to said advice and you wind up with a big mess on your hands. It's a catch 22 IMO. Yes, I agree getting information from verifiable sources on the Internet is a great thing, and it's one of the reasons that makes the Internet so useful. It will help the pet owner make an informed decision on their pet's care. However, there are a lot of "arm chair" experts on the Internet that give advice that is at best, ancedotal and their blogs and sites make me skeptical more often than not.

I firmly believe in following a veterinarian's course of action. If I've found something I feel might work better, I discuss it with the vet. I'm lucky to have a really good veterinarian for my cats and dogs. My vet is also very open to suggestion and will investigate what I think might work and then we'll go from there. Not all people are as lucky to have a vet like that. That much I realize. But, if you can't trust the vet you're seeing, change vets.

Personally I just feel like I'm doing the right thing by listening to my vet and not necessarily some anonymous person typing out medical advice on a keyboard.

I didn't say anything about right or wrong. I asked why you would recommend to get information from a source you Know is invalid. Why not recommend them to go to a nutritionalist? There are official ones on the internet you can email/call, or you could set up an appointment with one in real life.

No matter who you are, you can't stop people from going somewhere else for information, so that's kind of a moot point. The best you can do is make yourself seem as reputable as possible.

Once again, you are straying from the topic. We are not talking about medical science. We are talking about nutrition. If you don't trust your vet to sew up your cat, then I agree you shouldn't go to him. However, there is nothing odd about wanting to get advice other than from your general practitioner when you sprain your ankle running. They simply don't have the knowledge a sports medicine doctor would.

Originally Posted by orangeishcat

Ah, well... I seem to have started a debate. Sorry about that!!

As for Peanut, his new diet has been cleared by my vet- and per my own research and what I think is best for my cat, I also asked him about Taste of the Wild since it's available right up the street. He looked the ingredients over and said it would be fine, but if kitty starts packing on the pounds again it's back to the diet food.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!!

Oops, sorry for that.. <__< (done arguing now xD)

Yay, Peanut!

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by Minka

I didn't say anything about right or wrong. I asked why you would recommend to get information from a source you Know is invalid. Why not recommend them to go to a nutritionalist? There are official ones on the internet you can email/call, or you could set up an appointment with one in real life.

I don't know that the "source" was invalid, and neither do you. I did not recommend a nutrition expert right off hand because the cat was under a veterinarian's care for specific issues. There might have been a lot of other factors in the equation.

Originally Posted by Minka

No matter who you are, you can't stop people from going somewhere else for information, so that's kind of a moot point. The best you can do is make yourself seem as reputable as possible.

Who on earth is trying to "stop people from going somewhere else for information"? I'm not.

Originally Posted by Minka

Once again, you are straying from the topic. We are not talking about medical science. We are talking about nutrition.

I did not stray from the original topic Minka. You and several others did. And once again, you are perpetuating off topic thread drift.

Medical Science vs. Nutrition? Interesting statement coming from someone claiming to be preparing for vet school. Don't the 2 work hand in hand to help create a health pet?