Vet recommending bad dog food?

Question

Okay, so I have two puppies that are currently on Innova puppy food (dry & wet). I just recently got a new puppy and her stool has not been very solid at all, and I was worried that the Innova food might be too rich for her. So I asked my vet if I should switch her food, and to what, and he recommended Eukenuba, Science Diet, and Royal Canin. Now I KNOW the first two are not good foods, but don't know much about the 3rd. I know you can get it at PetSmart, which makes me think it is not so good. I was thinking of switching them all over to California Naturals or Canidae, since one of the older puppies has loose stool often as well. Should I pick one of those, or follow the advice of the vet?

Just to add-- When I got the puppy, I had her on her old puppy food and gradually switched to Innova over a span of about 10 days, so I don't think the switch was a problem.

Answer 1

You also need to take into consideration the puppies themselves. I know I fed a really high quality food- Nature's Variety, and it took me a while to realize my dog had occassional loose stool because she was eating too much. As soon as I cut back her food a little at a time... the stools firmed up. Even dogs from the same litter can have different metabolisms and need different amounts of food. One of my girls is 60 lbs, but she can't eat the close to the same amount my 55 lb girl can. It is all in the metabolism, and with a high quality food like Innova- they will eat less/need less than most kinds of dog food.

Before you get them all messed up...try cutting back a little on the amounts. Sometimes this is the only problem- not the food itself.

Remember these are puppies, so they should be fed 3-4 times a day if they are under 6 months of age and 2-3 times a day until they are at least a year old... Then you can feed 1-2 times a day for the rest of their lives.

Also, don't be surprised if the amount you should be feeding differs from what is recommended on the bag. Those are only recommendations, not set in stone for your dog. Every dog is different.

Good luck.

Answer 2

I had a vet that used to try to push commercial foods that he sold that I KNOW are bad. I did a lot of research when I got my dogs to figure out the best thing to feed them. I would constantly argue with him about the ingredients of these foods (Science Diet, Eukanuba, etc.) and he claimed they were better since more testing was done on them. I ended up switching vets, and my new vet recommends foods I KNOW are good-- my dogs are currently on Canidae and my vet says its an excellent food.

Answer 3

There is NO WAY I owuld ever ever use Science Diet. I actually just fought with my vet over the whole thing. I wanted to know how any vet could recommend that food. they use BHT, BHA, and worst of Ethoxyquin as Preservatives. All three are carcinogens, Any ways I researched all three and Royal Canin is the best by far. I feed Wellness but one of my famly members uses Royal Canin and itis the only food the dog does not have problems on. THeir dog has been on every food known to man and Royal Canin is the only food he likes plus he has had NO stomach problems on it. All the others gave him loose, stool, vommiting and allergic reactions

Answer 4

Vets get extensive training in all sorts of things, but not in animal nutrition - there is just too much to learn - so vets generally follow the advice of pet food manufacturers.

Eukenuba and Science diet are okay diets, not bad, not good. Royal Canin is a much better dog food, but still not the best of the best.

California Naturals and Canidae are excellent dog foods - but before switching, do your research. Also, there has been a lot of research about pet food - and the new thought is that it is better to feed your pet from varied sources, both wet and dry of high quality food - simply because feeding one kind of food for the rest of the dogs life could cause allergies, means you can't switch diet quickly if your dog has to go on a special diet, and is not good mentally (how would you like to eat one cereal for the rest of your life). Also, there is a lot of good things coming from the raw diet people - but as always, do your research first.

Answer 5

vets are not nutritionists. Many of them actually try to push science diet, because its what they sell!

Find out what the new pup was eating before you got it. It could be the suddun switch that is causing the loose stools. Get a bag of that food, even if its crappy food, and slowly switch your pup to something else.

The California natural has few ingredients in it, so its a food I'd reccommend.. I would think that it would cause less stomache upsets. Sometimes its a little trial and error to find the right food. My dog gets loose stools sometimes, but has done excellent since I switched him to Merrick's.

Answer 6

If your dogs are having loose stools you might want to have them wormed that might be the only problem and it might not be the food at all.
Have they ever been wormed??? You should check into that. before you decide to switch food.

Answer 7

vets often dont receive ANY training on ingredients or brands...they often recommend any food that has approached them to sell it. (Science Diet being the perfect example of a crappy food that is commonly reccommended by vets who are paid to reccommend it)...

ignore your vets advice.. do your own reseach....
Innova is VERY good food - I would reduce or remove the wet food from the diet and see how the pup does.. wet food often makes loose stools...

Answer 8

Most vets wll recomend a dog food they sell,but doesn't necessarly mean it is a good food.I feed my pets the IAMs dry food and have never had any problems with using it,as it agrees with most dogs.

Answer 9

Vets get their pet food knowledge by veterinary scientists and nutritionists. They are in 4 years of intensive medical school and get continuing education every year. If your doctor recommends something for your health, would you think he was uneducated and not follow his directions? Not wise! I've raised many dogs on Science Diet and Purina--only use them if you want your dogs to live to be 16 or 17 years old--like mine! I beleive 99% of dog owners have no clue regarding nutrition and ingredient labels and what the labels are really telling you--there is a lot of hidden information. Let's face it, various dog food companies are going to try to make the other ones look bad--dog food is big business and they want people to buy their product, not someone elses.

Answer 10

Vets get their pet food education from pet food stores and also get a pretty good amount of money for the food they sell in their store.

Ignore the vet and do your own research (its illogical to not trust the vet then trust strangers on here, so look up stuff on your own also please).