PS Wanted to add, our wonderful veterinarian of many decades never pretended/s to know about foods. He told us, "We're Doctors". He's had too much business, too many clients, to have a second to consider selling anything. Too busy diagnosing and treating, like Doctors should.
THIS!!!
OMG... I have a devil of a time trying to convince my friends that,
just like human doctors, veterinarians are NOT nutritionists!Human doctors diagnose and treat already existing problems. Sure, their training most likely includes a short stint on nutrition, but it's understood that nutrition is a field in and of itself. Most doctors will recommend a nutritionist for their patients who need dietary changes.
It drives me batty that Veterinarians consider themselves experts in nutrition based on a class or two taught by corporate pet food professionals (who are not nutritionists). Veterinarians should consider themselves doctors, diagnosticians, and/or surgeons. And animal nutrition should be considered a separate field in and of itself.
I just had a conversation with a friend today whose vet told them that their dog had to go on an essentially vegan diet, because it was allergic to proteins! How the hell does a carnivore become allergic to proteins?!!
Said vet apparently told my friend that protein and food allergies were very common.
I disagreed as nicely as I could, saying that sometimes dogs might be allergic to
certain specific proteins, but I doubted that they were allergic to
all proteins. I also said that "food allergies" were most likely grain and soy allergies.
Then of course, my friend admitted that technically it was the
hormones in the meats that his dog was allergic to, and that the dog was able to stomach salmon (kibble).
Since he was obviously not seeing the contradiction, and held his vet's word to be gospel, all I could do was nod & say, "hmm".