The Katzke Dog Diary

I clicked into this link about human grade dog food from Dolittler and it immediately struck a chord with me: My vets displayed the same confusion when I mentioned that I was feeding Wellness Simple to Henry, and the diet change had cleared up his major digestive tract problem. They’d never heard of it, and didn’t know it existed. They couldn’t tell me if baked or pressed kibble was better for a dog, they couldn’t recommend similar products or even understand why I was paying more than $30 for a 50 lbs bag. In fact, my vets didn’t know any details about any food besides the Science Diet that they carry in the store.

I completely understand why that is. Veterinary students are bombarded with Hill’s advertisements and get free food from Hill’s, Purina, and several other manufacturers through their entire time in veterinary school. When they’re out of veterinary school, Hill’s keeps their clinic stocked with anything they could need and don’t put a lot of demands on the vet. They also are sometimes the only supplier of the specialized prescription diets that some pets need… and those foods, in many cases, are the only thing that will work in a particular case. Why would they bother learning anything else

Luckily, my vet is awesome and has invited me to share some of my food research with him. He also examined Henry’s stool before and after … on many occasions, as we were troubleshooting things! … and agreed with me that it really was the good food that helped him come as far as he has. If you’re feeding good food and you haven’t talked to your vet about the benefits, I encourage you to do so.