Vet advice for feedin puppy- i am shocked...

twiggy2

twiggy2

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After 14yrs working with vets I have moved out of the area and needed to use new vets to me.
First visit with an accidental litter of pups saw an older vet, good advice and a raw feeding advocate.
Last night I took my new pup for id chip and first vaccination.
Anyway pup is still a little thin but not too bad. I do have canine nutrition qualifications and am happy with what I am feeding.
The vets advice, wet meaty food (for two meals a day)-I have no problem with that, eggs and shells-fine, potatoes,porridge/rice and pasta cooked for as long as possible, also weetabix and cows milk!!!
He wants 2 meals a day of grain based food and cows milk cooked as much as possible because food is more digestible if it's cooked longer?! He feels this will help the pup put on weight and reduce her slightly dry coat.
He is a young vet who cannot be long qualified- I can't believe what I was hearing.
 
When my oldest was hard fit and needed so much food it was getting silly he got extras of goats milk and lamb or similar made into a mash. He loved it and it did put weight on.
 
Leo Walker said:
I dont take nutritonal advice from vets for this reason! I'm surprised they didnt try and sell you a bag off over priced dry crap to be honest!
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100% +1 on this - I will never take nutritional advice from a vet - they don't get training on feed or what feed is best.

I know my vet works on a commission sort of basis on the feed they sell - which I wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

Excuse the pun but go with your gut and do what you think is right for your little pups - I'm sure they would be better off with the diet you have them on instead of wheetabix and milk!
 
The vets don't sell dry food as they don't agree with it, the owner/partner is over retirement age and promotes raw feeding.
So I have faith in the practice that way.
I have friends with degrees in canine nutrition so when I have feeding issues I thrash them out with them rather than a vet.
When working at the vets I had nutrition 'training', the vets get the same training, it's delivered by the feed companies so about as biased as it can be. And yes if they stock certain foods then everyone in the tactics gets a bonus depending on sales, that includes receptionists, but we don't all follow blindly.
My qualifications are ones I sourced by my own doing to support the dog training I teach.
Leo Walker I have fed goats milk at certain times for various reasons-it can be great for some.
 
That is so funny! I admit we used to feed puppies weetabix and cows milk, but not for 20 years or more now.
Funny but frightenening IMO.
 
My mum's pups came home from the breeder with a diet sheet as long as your arm which included things like a slice of toast with scrambled egg and weetabix (two!) with goat's milk. They were as fat as butter on arrival! You almost expect those weird concoctions of a breeder but unusual to see the tables turned like that.

I've also sat through a heap of lunch 'n learns, never got any bloody bonus for flogging the stuff though!
 
I'm amazed he didn't sell you some breed/age specific (rubbish) dried crap with under 2 stars rating on a decent website!

We fed my dog weetabix 40 years ago! I'm not sure grain is good. To put on weight, I just up my amounts, pretty straightforward.

Dogs tend to react poorly to cows' milk, don't they?
 
twiggy2 said:
The vets don't sell dry food as they don't agree with it, the owner/partner is over retirement age and promotes raw feeding.
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I wonder if this new vet has been told to only promote ‘old fashioned’ feeding by the practice owner hence such dated advice. Doesn’t excuse it though, a vets advice should be indepedent and impartial.

Not going to get into an argument about feeding but...
I am a bit confused about what ‘degrees’ your friends have in canine nutrition though? I doubt whatever diploma they have is that different from vet school teaching of nutrition, and as you witnessed that doesn’t stop people recommending rubbish.

Also what is an accidental litter of puppies?
 
The last vet I spoke to said they got half a day's training on nutrition for ALL species, which is quite concerning. I have no idea if vets go off and do more studying on aspects of nutrition, I guess they must if they specialize in large animals, surely?
 
cinnamontoast said:
The last vet I spoke to said they got half a day's training on nutrition for ALL species, which is quite concerning. I have no idea if vets go off and do more studying on aspects of nutrition, I guess they must if they specialize in large animals, surely?
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Makes me wonder why so many people place so much trust in what vets say !
 
saddleoversofa said:
I wonder if this new vet has been told to only promote ‘old fashioned’ feeding by the practice owner hence such dated advice. Doesn’t excuse it though, a vets advice should be indepedent and impartial.

Not going to get into an argument about feeding but...
I am a bit confused about what ‘degrees’ your friends have in canine nutrition though? I doubt whatever diploma they have is that different from vet school teaching of nutrition, and as you witnessed that doesn’t stop people recommending rubbish.

Also what is an accidental litter of puppies?
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The old vet only.promotes raw feeding, nothing the new vet suggested supports that so they both give very different feeding advice.
My friends qualification is nothing to do with vet school or qualifications-she is not a vet.
My friends degree is very different to the training vets get as is my qualification- to begin with its not delivered by feed companies.
An accidental litter of puppies is the litter that happens because people take their eye of the ball and then livestock emergencies mean you miss the vet appointment to do something about it. Not me but my now partner did the above and just after I moved in an accidental litter were born.
 
twiggy2 said:
My friends qualification is nothing to do with vet school or qualifications-she is not a vet.
My friends degree is very different to the training vets get as is my qualification- to begin with its not delivered by feed companies.
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What is the degrees in canine nutrition your friends have though though? Genuinely interested.

For what it’s worth lectures are not just given by feed companies, nutrition can be an extensive topic. Once qualified vets may attend practice learning which is often run by feed companies, including raw food reps in some cases.
 
saddleoversofa said:
What is the degrees in canine nutrition your friends have though though? Genuinely interested.

For what it’s worth lectures are not just given by feed companies, nutrition can be an extensive topic. Once qualified vets may attend practice learning which is often run by feed companies, including raw food reps in some cases.
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I would have to check with her exactly what her qualification is and can do this eve.
Of course anyone vet or not can expand their knowledge in any chosen subject, one vet local to where I used to work promotes and supplied raw food to the public.
Nutrition is a huge subject, of that I am well aware as I have been studying it for years, having had raw fed dogs for a time as well as currently a dog that has many many food allergies, I used to give feed advice when working at the vets as very few vets were interested in the subject unless it was prescription diets and then they did not think beyond the dry food on the shelf. Some were interested in diet but admitted they did not have the knowledge or the time/drive combination to gain that knowledge as there were other things that interested them more.
 
twiggy2 said:
I would have to check with her exactly what her qualification is and can do this eve.
Of course anyone vet or not can expand their knowledge in any chosen subject, one vet local to where I used to work promotes and supplied raw food to the public.
Nutrition is a huge subject, of that I am well aware as I have been studying it for years, having had raw fed dogs for a time as well as currently a dog that has many many food allergies, I used to give feed advice when working at the vets as very few vets were interested in the subject unless it was prescription diets and then they did not think beyond the dry food on the shelf. Some were interested in diet but admitted they did not have the knowledge or the time/drive combination to gain that knowledge as there were other things that interested them more.
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Id agree with that and still agree that the vets advice about the puppy was poor.

Personally I think dry food has a place. Prescription diets tailored for recurring/chronic disease are very hard to replicate at home, and I have seen animals approve massively on them. However I am not against raw feeding, but I am not an advocate for it. Purely as it requires interest and dedication on the owners part. Something many people lack... I am still convincing people on a weekly basis that grapes/onions/cows milk are not good for their dog!
 
saddleoversofa said:
Id agree with that and still agree that the vets advice about the puppy was poor.

Personally I think dry food has a place. Prescription diets tailored for recurring/chronic disease are very hard to replicate at home, and I have seen animals approve massively on them. However I am not against raw feeding, but I am not an advocate for it. Purely as it requires interest and dedication on the owners part. Something many people lack... I am still convincing people on a weekly basis that grapes/onions/cows milk are not good for their dog!
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Dry food definitely has a place, for most people raw feeding is not practical, storage for one can be an issue, other people feeding the dog and for me travel makes it impractical.
Prescription fits I agree have a place and raw can be tricky to get right.
You can but good balanced raw diets now too that work well for many people though.
 
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cinnamontoast said:
The last vet I spoke to said they got half a day's training on nutrition for ALL species, which is quite concerning. I have no idea if vets go off and do more studying on aspects of nutrition, I guess they must if they specialize in large animals, surely?
Click to expand...

Depends on where you do your vet degree I guess, I had an entire separate nutrition module - about 150 hours of learning!
 
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