You make valid points, Lola. And I don't mean to come off as angry. My experience was 2 cats that vomited/regurgitated their food several times a day, EVERY day, for YEARS. I went to multiple vets. Not ONE asked what I was feeding, or suggested changing their diet. I'm not talking raw, just changing by removing the kibble. I had always heard cats needed both ("kibble cleans their teeth") so it never occurred to me that they could live on just wet food.
I remember when they were kittens, asking the vet what to feed. Wet? Dry? His answer: "Yes."
Years later, there came a time when Pookie couldn't keep down any dry. Not even a couple of pieces. I asked the same vet, How do I get him back on the dry? His answer, "I don't have a clue." That's a
quote. There was a perfect opportunity for him to tell me, it's okay if he can't eat it, he'll be fine on canned only. I went to a different vet. He was willing to try, and eventually I did get Pookie on the kibble again, but that was another vet who could have told me that it's ok to just feed canned, and he didn't. And clueless soul that I was, I didn't stop and think, hey, if he can't keep down the dry, then maybe HE SHOULDN'T EAT IT.
After Pookie was back on the kibble and I was seeing yet another vet, I asked why they had these digestive issues. He blamed genetics (well, yeah, any cat isn't going to tolerate something it never evolved to eat, but I didn't know that at the time) and also made the comment, "A cat'll throw up as soon as look at you." Seriously? So daily horking is acceptable because it's a cat?!?!???
I was appalled when I learned that the PFI provides the so-called nutritional training to vet schools. IMO, that shouldn't be permitted. It's a serious conflict of interest, and as we've seen and experienced, most vets don't think to question this. And they should.
My other rant: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. If you "prescribe" the same food over and over again, and you don't see the pets getting better, or you see them developing new problems, then it's INSANE to keep prescribing it (or for pet parents, to keep feeding it). At some point, you have to ask yourself if you're really helping your patients. If Dr. Hodgkins can do it (and she worked for Hill's at one point), then more of them should. Especially when pet parents, who have researched their heads off, present them with information. IMO, there is NO excuse for ignoring what is being handed to them. The vet didn't have to take the time to do the research -- the pet parent did. So they can't take 5 minutes to read or listen to what's being provided? Sorry, that's inexcusable IMO. This is not about the vet's ego, it's about the well-being of their patients.
Bottom line for me personally: my cats spent 5 years constantly bringing up their food. FIVE YEARS. I went to several vets and it still took five years, and it wasn't even a vet who finally pointed me in the right direction, it was a co-worker. Those are years of a good quality of life that my cats will never get back, and heaven only knows the impact it had on their long-term health. Did it contribute to losing Pookie to cancer before he was 12? I'll never know. But there is absolutely no reason in this day and age for vets to not listen or take the time to learn when there are so many pets suffering. The information is out there if they just open their minds to it. And it's a violation of a pet parent's trust when they come to a vet for help and the vet refuses to educate themselves for the sake of their patients. I'm not saying they all deliberately ignore information, but there are some out there that do.
One more comment.
Zoo nutritionists know what a cat, wolf, etc. should eat. Are they smarter, or just not influenced like the PFI influences vets?
Y'know, it wouldn't shock me if the PFI tried to develop a kibble for them. Maybe they would, if there were more zoos. But there's more money to be made selling pet food to pet parents since there's a lot more of us and our domesticated furkids.
BTW, you are absolutely right that anger turns off people. Believe me, I could sound a lot angrier here than I actually do.
It's an anger born of pain. If a person sees their child suffer, they will move heaven and earth to fix it. Some of us tried, and the people we counted on to help us, failed us. Failed our pets. And it didn't have to happen. And it wouldn't happen if more vets would
think and not just blindly believe what the PFI tells them because the PFI also gave them free pet food while they were vet students, or because they saw the PFI's logos on their textbooks. I give full credit to the ones that do learn and have open minds.
I think they're wonderful. I just wish there were a lot more of them.
Ok, now I'll stop, I promise. And I apologize for sounding angry. I hope I didn't turn off anyone.
P.S. I don't mean to shout by using caps for certain words. It's just much easier to use caps then go back and bold them or put them in italics. Yeah, I'm lazy that way.