Defending Your Choice of Pet Food – Truth about Pet Food

August 12, 2023 Kar-Bay-Inc

In a recent post on a veterinary website, “How to Manage Misinformation from Dr. Google”, veterinarian Sarah J. Wooten gives her colleagues suggestions on how to handle pet owners with a different opinion on pet food.

The post starts off with a pretend situation, a pet owner asking the veterinarian for a pet food recommendation for a healthy 2 year old dog. The veterinarian “suggested a chicken-based adult maintenance kibble made by a well-known pet food company.” The pet owner responds to the veterinarian “she no longer wants to feed commercial food made by any of the big pet food manufacturers because it’s all ‘garbage’ and that veterinarians must only recommend those foods because we’ve been ‘brainwashed.’”

In this scenario, Dr. Wooten recommends veterinarians pose the question to the client “May I share what I know with you?” – trying to “remind the client that she is paying for my opinion and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t share what I know.”

And Dr. Wooten recommends veterinarians to “document your discussion in the medical record to cover yourself legally in case she decides to go ahead and feed raw against your medical recommendation.”

First…if you were in this situation and your veterinarian asked ‘May I share what I know with you?’ – what would you do?

What I (Susan Thixton) would do…

I would answer yes and listen to what the veterinarian tells me. I have great respect for veterinarians even when I do not agree with their recommendations of pet food. I appreciate they know things I do not know, and I also appreciate an opportunity to share with them things I know that they probably don’t.

I assume I would get the Hill’s, Mars, and Purina coached spiel, assuring me that dry/kibble pet food is best from these ‘well known’ brands. I also assume there would be no mention of feed grade or rendered ingredients. After the sharing is complete, I would ask…

…Are you recommending my pet consume solely an ultra-processed diet? Are you aware of the worldwide research evidencing that a diet high in ultra-processed foods is linked to obesity, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer? Kibble pet foods are the perfect example of an ultra-processed food (with multiple fractioned ingredients such as corn meal, pea protein, soybean meal and meat meals). Why is my veterinarian telling me to feed my pet ultra-processed foods when my human doctor advises me to avoid ultra-processed foods?

There are many different arguments against “a chicken-based adult maintenance kibble made by a well-known pet food company”, I would choose the ultra-processed argument because it is the most scientifically researched issue that many veterinarians ignore.

Veterinarians have the right to believe what Hill’s, and Purina, and Mars tells them. BUT, pet owners also have the right to research commonly known science (regarding ultra-processed foods, illegal ingredients allowed by FDA, and more) and apply that research to their pet’s food – without being labeled by our veterinarians as some sort of a trouble maker.

Second…why would it be necessary for the veterinarian to (bold added) “document your discussion in the medical record to cover yourself legally in case she decides to go ahead and feed raw against your medical recommendation”? ‘Cover yourself legally?’ Against what?

What many veterinarians don’t seem to understand is that most pet owners want to trust our vets. We want your advice, we do respect your training. But, when you tell us to feed our pets feed grade, ultra-processed foods…we cannot help but take several steps backwards on trust. And then when you believe you have to protect yourself legally when we choose to feed our pets a minimally processed diet based on worldwide recognized science, we take several more steps backwards.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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