Quote: Sarah Morris

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.

Seems to be a rampant problem these days.

I'd definitely never go to this Vet again.

 Quote: sarah morris

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.

What kind of blood test do you ask for report about unbalanced diet? Is it costly?

I feed raw and would never, ever, never, never go back to grain.

But, out of sheer curiosity, I would love to know that about my dog. I sometimes worry if she is getting enough variety. However, she looks good (weight, shiny coat), acts good (playful, energetic, hungry).

The only problem, besides being an inadequatae handler/trainer is her flea allergy (which I guess I need to dig out my old thread and get more advice).

Thanks.

ETA: Poop good. If it's a little dry, I add a little more muscle, if it's a little too mushy, I add more bone. She gets occassional organs, yogurt apx 5 x week, fish oil/Vit E everyday.

Nora, a CBC would show up any deficiencies....

The Derm vet did a Chem 25 and CBC on True. The cost was $116. The Chem 25 alone is roughly $80. Keep in mind these are California prices.

It's a comprehensive blood panel showing the levels of calcium and phosphorus, glucose, BUN and creatinine...among other things. It gives a pretty complete snapshot of the dog's health: liver and kidney function, blood glucose, etc. This panel was mostly to check True's liver and kidney function. He's taking Atopica, which can be harmful to those organs.

Personally, I think it's wise to run a blood panel on any age dog about 6 months after you switch to raw. I would run a yearly blood panel on any dog, kibble or raw-fed, 3 years and older. Gives me a lot of peace of mind and gives us a head's up if something is going wrong.

All JMHO.

Jen, I'll have to look it up, but I think he did a CBC when I took her in about 6 weeks ago for flea allergy.

If not, I know they did blood work last year when she was spayed. If the blood work had been off, they would have mentioned it, right?

Always follow up with the vet on test results. Results get lost on cluttered desks, the labs sometimes forget to send the results, doctors forget to call owners...It happens all the time. Don't ever assume that no news means good news.

Same goes for human docs, too.

Good advice.

Thanks.

 Quote:

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.

Sarah, very, very well stated. I agree with everything you said here. Thanks for your post!

You hit the nail on the head, Sarah. Many vets, even the ones that are ok with clients feeding raw are skeptical when people say that they feed a raw diet. Before I even took my dogs to the vet that I use I had a long talk with her about my dogs, their 'work' & their diet. Once we spoke & she knew that I was feeding a 'correct' raw diet to my dogs, she was onboard with it. She did state to me that she doesn't promote a raw diet to clients because she has found that many people come in & say they are feed their dogs raw & are giving the dogs hamberger only everyday to their dogs. BTW she & her husband own the practice & I usually only see them, but have had occasion to see one of the other vets that was not happy to hear that I was feeding raw although she was very impressed with my females healthy muscular look & beautiful shinny coat & had to admit that I must be doning something right. :-) So don't let the vet get to you. Do your research to feed properly & find a new vet that is more openminded to owners that know how to feed raw correctly.

 Quote: Sarah Morris

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.

Five star post!!!