Quote: Connie Sutherland

Then post the answer, because I am rubbing my hands together gleefully.

She said as she slipped her spanking gloves on...

Good idea. I'll pop over in person and try that!

I thought it was an odd choice of objection - unless it's the egg & biotin thing she means. I sort of expected the bone / bacteria objection or something like that.

What annoyed me was after that conversation she went over the dog for a second time - looking for something wrong. Then said that the ears were a little dirty - so I gets home and had a look, there were a couple of brown flecks on the ear leather but not what I would consider excessive in a 8 week pup.

My normal vet (who the police use) are better, they tend to let me do whatever I want - I haven't asked their position on raw but I'm sure they'll be ok.
I went to the local one because they do primary vaccinations at 8 & 10 weeks. My vet does 8 & 12 weeks. I just wanted to get the puppy shots out of the way, there's places I can't take an unnvaccinated pup. - Then I have a whole year to look into vaccinosis.

Definitely a new vet is required! They are clearly misinformed and would rather motivate you through fear of loss (something will happen to your dog and I'll document it to make sure I shove it back in your face) than through honest and open communication and education.

Baaaad vet!

JM2C

 Quote: randy allen

Hahahaha,
A note in 'your file'. Now it's going to follow you for the rest of your ever living days! LOL

Your vet has been not been studying enough and watching too much Seinfeld instead.

Randy

Its not funny, Randy. This is a very serious situation.

What if she called the principal, too?

Running a blood panel will tell the vet, and you, if you're feeding an unbalanced diet. If something is seriously out of whack you're going to see it in the blood. Waving the arms and making sweeping assumptions about what you're feeding is very easy to do. You stop that conversation cold when your dog's blood (THE Holy Grail for vets) comes back with normal values.

I watched one vet scan my dog's blood results, which she eagerly snatched up after the diet lecture. "His blood looks good" and she deflated like a balloon. Diet ceased to be a topic of conversation after that...heh heh heh.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

 Quote: randy allen

Hahahaha,
A note in 'your file'. Now it's going to follow you for the rest of your ever living days! LOL

Your vet has been not been studying enough and watching too much Seinfeld instead.

Randy

Its not funny, Randy. This is a very serious situation.

What if she called the principal, too?

And what if it was put in her PERMANENT file???

 Quote:

"His blood looks good" and she deflated like a balloon. Diet ceased to be a topic of conversation after that...heh heh heh.

The best satisfaction one can have, I love it Sarah!
What I would love to know, is why can't they actually admit they were wrong, and start to change their perspective?
Is it primarily because it effects their pocket book?
If so, that is the number one reason that would send me looking for another vet.
It should always be about what is best for the animal, period!

 Quote: joyce salazar

... why can't they actually admit they were wrong, and start to change their perspective?

Many many reasons, not least of which is their education, the very tiny nutrition part of which is supplied by Hills at most vet med schools.

For some vets, it's legitimate fear about owners feeding some random and catastrophic raw diet (a pound of hamburger, say, to a growing pup who then has no calcium with which to lay down bone and grow teeth). Yes, people make this and other equally disastrous feeding choices.

And then there is the glossy bag in the waiting room.

But my vet does not try to scare me. She can't quite bring herself to support raw (and I think it's partly #2, because she has said things like, "Well, YOUR dogs eat better than most owners"), but she will at least say "I can't argue with your results." She NEVER tries to sell me crap-in-a-bag, and once when I was standing talking in the waiting room with her, she said that she had just returned from a tour of an SD plant, and she showed me their new Nature's Best food, saying "Look; meat is in top place." So IMHO, she is thinking. I applaud that she is actually looking around and thinking.

Here's my take on it:

I honestly don't think it has anything to do with money. It's more to do with the assumption that all people are morons, incapable of educating themselves and researching a subject thoroughly. The internet, and all the information (both good and bad) has caught a lot of vets, particularly older ones, off-guard.

Raw feeding isn't complicated...but you do need to know the basics or you can screw up your dog. An example: When the food recalls were going on, a lot of people started home-cooking their dog's food. They did it without having any understanding of a dog's nutritional needs and, because most people know cooked bones are dangerous, they omitted bone entirely from the diet. Major deficiency...Major problem.

I would expect a vet, who doesn't know me, to ask a few questions about diet and make sure I know what I'm doing. What I don't expect is to be treated like a simpleton right out of the gate...or to be bullied or intimidated or scared.

The tenor of the conversation between vet and owner needs to change: it needs to be a conversation and NOT a lecture.

 Quote: randy allen

Your vet has been not been studying enough and watching too much Seinfeld instead.

This was my first thought too!