Vet thinks grain-free is a fad

[Manue]

I don't mean to start a heated debate, but I recently went to the vet for a checkup and my vet seems to think that grain-free is a fad. She also thinks that many grain-free wet foods are too high in calorie. She recommends Hills dental health dry food. While I agree with giving a bit of dry to keep her teeth clean, I personally don't like feeding ingredients that I avoid in my own food, like meat by-products and corn fillers. I'm going with stick to Wellness grain-free wet mostly because my cat doesn't drink much water even though she has a fountain. Truth is, I've only had my cat for a couple of months she has put on half a pound. She is now a bit overweight at 10 lbs, so at the very least I now have to reduce portion sizes.

How do you guys deal with differences of opinion with your vet? Do you openly challenge him/her? Hopefully I can slowly get her weight back down.

[AaronR1074]

Be careful. Vets and shelters get subsidised by recommending products like Science Diet which is garbage and full of all kinds of fillers and ingreadients nobody can understand.

[CJinCA]

So far my vet hasn't pushed any food on us. I've told her we feed mostly grain-free wet and she didn't argue with that, although Squeek gained about 3 lbs in one year - going from around 10.5 lbs to over 13, so she told us to reduce the amount, but I think it was the excessive treats she'd been getting, so we cut those down to a minimum and try to play with her more.

Their teeth and gums are fine by the way. Dry cat food doesn't keep cat's teeth any cleaner than eating a cracker would for your teeth.

[Manue]

@Aaron, it's a bummer when we can't trust experts. Do you change vet then? Or just disregard their opinion on nutrition?

Originally Posted by CJinCA

Their teeth and gums are fine by the way. Dry cat food doesn't keep cat's teeth any cleaner than eating a cracker would for your teeth.

Lol, I see your point.
I guess if I can get her weight down on grain-free wet, that will speak for itself.

[Blakeney Green]

Originally Posted by Manue

I don't mean to start a heated debate, but I recently went to the vet for a checkup and my vet seems to think that grain-free is a fad.

I disagree with your vet that it's a fad. People are becoming increasingly concerned and knowledgeable about human nutrition, so it follows logically that we would become more concerned about pet nutrition too. It wouldn't make sense to assume that what we put into our pets' bodies doesn't matter, when we know what we put into our own bodies greatly affects our health.

It would actually require a pretty huge mental disconnect to assume our pets' diets don't affect their wellness and longevity, when we know what humans eat affects ours.

I know that feeding my cats a good diet won't protect them from every illness. It may not prolong their lives. Genetics will probably win out in the end. But I see absolutely no logic in not even trying, when the potential benefits seem so clear.

How do you guys deal with differences of opinion with your vet? Do you openly challenge him/her? Hopefully I can slowly get her weight back down.

I thank him or her for his/her opinion, and say I will give it some thought. Which, honestly, I will do - sometimes I'm the one who ends up with my mind changed.

I don't make it into an argument. But at the same time, I remind myself that I am the one responsible for my pets, not the vet. The vet is there to give advice, resources, and medical assistance, but I'm the one who ultimately has to decide what is best for them, because I agreed to take on those decisions when I adopted them.

Ultimately, no one else knows my pets better than I do, not even a vet.

For the weight issue you mentioned, I really think portion control is going to be the way to go, not switching to a lower quality diet.

[AaronR1074]

The problem here is that you have to read the fine print on what is in the food. If the vet says you should feed it a specific TYPE of food because of reason X Y and A then go research that on your own but I wouldn't buy a specific brand just because anybody tells me to. Wellness and Natural Balance and even Newman's Own have great varieties based on your cats needs.

[doodlebug]

I haven't had a vet that was as unenlightened as your seems to be. My former vet and I disagreed initially, but she actually went off an researched based on some of the things I had to say. She wasn't 100% of the way to my way of thinking, but she admitted that I had a point and I certainly wasn't harming my cats.

My current vet is on board 100% with good quality food, including raw. I was talking with her a couple weeks ago and she told me how she ended up being converted. Her daughter had some medical and behavioral issues and as she was working with the doctors and doing her own research they realized it was diet related. She was able to then make that translation to her patients, said it's been about 5 years and she see a huge improvement in her patient base. She only sells Now and Go foods in her practices, along with Primal raw.

A vet that say grain free is a fad is probably someone that I would not go back to. I'm OK with disagreeing based on intelligent conversation, but not cavalierly dismissing it out of hand without any reasonable back up. That tells me that the vet is not open to new information and to me that's a vet I don't want treating my pets.

And yes, portion control is key to maintaining weight. Doesn't matter whether the food has 200 calories a can or 500...giving the right amount is what controls the weight.

[mumof7kitties]

My vet has always been very supportive of my choices of food. I can't afford to give my kitties raw every day of the week but they eat the best kitty food that is locally made and they get raw 2-3 times per week. I don't believe grain-free is a fad, either. People are treating their critters more and more like children and as that happens they want to feed them better quality food to help keep them healthy and live a longer life (if possible).

[MowMow]

Yar, I doubt I could go to a vet who didn't share my cat care philosophies any more than I could go to a human doctor who didn't agree with my philosophies on my own care.

[Marcia]

If it is a fad, my kitties have never looked better or felt better. The barfing has been reduced dramatically. My old babies'coats are smooth and silky, they have good appetites for a change and are more active. My younger ones are beautiful and our new girl Lacey who started out with a horrid, almost untouchable coat is nwt turning into a gorgeous kitty. Fad or not, I'm sticking with it.