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Vets make this dog food out to be gods gift to dogs. From what I hear this food is no better than the stuff you get at Walmart. How can vets actually do this? Am I wrong?
RawFedDogs said:No you are absoultely correct. There are a couple of reasons vets do this and I'm not sure which reason is most common. One reason is because most vets sell science diet. They make a profit everytime you buy it. It is a good money maker for them.
The other reason is because of the great marketing department at Hill's. The vet first encounters Hill's promotion/sales people when he enters vet school. He is give lots of free goodies as well as free dog food for his dog for as long as he's in vet school. He attends seminars put on by Hill's employees telling the virtues of their products. They have products that supposedly help animals with various internal problems such as digestive problems, kidney problems, pancreas problems and the vet students are told thes "foods" will help those problems.
Once out of vet school, Hill's reps will call on the vet in his office, reinforcing all the things told to him in vet school. They are given reason after reason to recommend or even "prescribe" Science Diet foods to their patients. Because the vets have had basically no nutritonal training in their lives, they have no reason not to believe these reps.
Most vets have one course in vet school on animal nutrition. This course teaches not only dog and cat nutrition but also nutrition for every pet or farm animal around. A good deal of this course is spent learning how to read the labels on pet foods. The text book used in this course is usually a book written by Hill's and donated to the school by Hills. Hill's also donates a lot of money to vet schools and their presence on campus is very strong. The vets kind of "grow up" with Science Diet in their sight most all day every day.
Hill's has a wonderful promotion department. It has made the company what it is. If you look at the ingredients list on any Science Diet product you will see what low nutritional garbage they put in their food. It's a great testament to our dogs that they can survive on such a diet.
Hehe, you are really going to be fun.Ive been a Certified vet tech for over 10 years. I 've worked in holisitc, exotic, general and specialty practice and have seem the gambit of food marketed for pets.
So you are admitting that in all your vet tech training and in all a normal vet's training they take ONE course in ANIMAL nutrition. Thats not dog nutrition, not cat nutrition, but nutrition for all animals all in one course? How much time was spent on canine nutrition in that little course? Maybe 3 or 4 days?Veterinarians and veterinary technicians have to take an animal nutrition course and hills plays a part in education because they have the SCIENTIFIC PROOF to back nutrional related claims.
I hate do disappoint you but you believe too much of what those Hill's reps tell you. Chicken by-products are heads, beaks, eyeballs, intestines, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines. You see, by-products are the cheapest thing that a processing house sells. If something can be used for ANYTHING else, its used for the other thing. ONLY the parts that cannot be sold as anything else are put in the by-product dump bin. It is the part of the chicken that is left after all the nutrition has been removed. Do some actual research instead of reading Hill's marketing brochures and you can verify that.Byproducts are white meat, dark meat, organ meats and vicera at least in Science Diet.
Actually, thats not correct. A perfect diet would include meat, bones, AND organs. Organs would make up about 10% of the perfect diet as that is about the percentage of organs in a prey animal. There are some good nutrients in organs that are not found in meat and bones but they also lack a lot of nutrients also. Where is the meat in SD? Hill's is selling a food for carnivores that is for all practical purposes devoid of meat. It is the lowest of low quality dog foods.Guess what a perfect diet is in the wild? GUTS!
By-products are not bad in and of themselves in a normal diet, but fed in large amounts they are bad. Most of Hill's products are very very very high in by-products to the exclusion of other meats. Meat is the most nutritious item to feed. I havne't found a Hill's product with meat in it. Some way to feed a carnivore, huh?Talk about a marketing group! They push the "no byproducts, human grade, all natural" coins to unwitting customers because they are so misled on what actually constitutes good nutrition in a pet.
There you go again. There is no dog food company that has a better or stronger marketing department than Hill's. They are #1. Even the name is marketing BS. There is nothing scientific about Science Diet.At least science diet dosent succumb to these marketing games.
Yep, he convinced people that feeding a carnivore a diet of corn, rice, chicken by-products, and pig fat is good for dogs with kidney problems. THAT is REAL marketing at it's best. Did you notice that most of Hills prescription "foods" all thave the same ingredients? Did you also notice that they are the cheapest ingredients you can buy?For example, If any of you have ever had to live thourgh a beloved pet succumbing to renal insuffienciency and eventaully renal failure, you may be suprised to know that without the veterinarian who isolated the cause as well as developed the first packaged food to help treat this disease was the founder of Hills, pet owners would not have the treatment options that they do today.
It makes me angry that vets are actually like that. It makes me angry that vets take advantage of their clients ignorance of nutrition.It makes me angry that people think vets are money hungry and are recommending nutrition that people like yourselves are deeming"garbage".
And I want to sell you some prime land in the middle of Nevada. Vets are businessmen first. As a business owner, it is their primary job to maximize profits. They are selling dog food with the cheapest ingredients of any other at premium prices.I am the inventory manager at a large specialty practice and SD makes up a very small portion of our profits. Its not the cash cow that you think it is and vets are not out to get you.