My vet advises against raw feeding?

Well this is not uncommon to hear. In fact many times it kind of goes like this.

One of my puppy owners goes to vet for check up.

Vet raves about the appearance, health and condition of puppy and finally asks “what do you feed”

They say “complete raw diet” and this is where things change. Their vet starts raving about how dangerous a raw diet is, tells them to swap to a commercial diet (kibble) etc.

Even though the dog looks amazing, is 100% healthy, and has been raised on a raw diet, it must now be bad?

Becoming a vet does not mean becoming a nutritionist.

Many vets are aware and comfortable with this. There are of course vets have have invested extra time researching nutrition, holistic feeding etc and gained extra qualifications and experience.

I don’t know any of those that recommend kibble though.

When the vet berates and tries to frighten the dog owner off a raw diet, the result is that the puppy owners seek out a new vet. So if your a vet and you want their business, it would be wise to be mindful that this owner may have done a lot of research and or is working with someone who has.

I know clients that walk into the vet surgery and notice they sell “Certain Brand“. When the vet asks what do you feed, they say “Certain Brand” and the consult goes smoothly.

They lie to the vet because they need medical help and don’t want the confrontation of being challenged by their dietary choices.

If your a vet not familiar with the model they are feeding, instead of telling them how bad it is, perhaps ask some questions and do some modern research on the answers they give. You wont look silly, you will look interested.

Of course if you saw a symptom that you feel could be diet related, your clients want to hear it.

We have had clients see vets for a health problem clearly not related to nutrition and the vet just about say “I can’t help you, it is due to what your feeding“. Amazingly they saw another vet and that vet helped cure the problem, with no diet change at all.

People interested in their dogs health and longevity are doing the research and they are finding that there is a ton of evidence to support raw feeding models.

If your vet tries to tell you that your raw feeding needs to stop in favour of kibble, simply say “thanks I will take this up with a holistic nutritionist“. and do. 

Hopefully they will continue with the reason you went there for.

• I have fed my dogs a complete raw diet with no commercial foods added what so ever for over 25 years
• My current dogs have never even seen kibble.
• We wean the puppies we breed from their mother onto a raw diet, no commercial foods at all.
• All my staff feed raw and all of my performance team (Team K9Pro)
• All of the dogs that board with us for rehab or boarding are fed a raw diet.

Never ever, not once ever have any of my dogs, my staffs dogs, team dogs, boarding dogs or any clients dogs become ill due to a nutritional deficiency in 25 plus years.

I would like to assure that every single meal is balanced nutritionally, every time, but its not. Neither are my meals, or my kids meals.

In fact, the only people I know personally that balance every or almost every meal they eat are athletes, body builders, nutritionists or someone with a health issue that means they have to. I think we will all agree, the minority.

I make sure that there are the correct ingredients going into the dogs meal over all, and as I said, no concerns at all.

If you want to know more about Raw Feeding, I wrote an eBook (https://k9pro.com.au/raw-feeding-made-easy/) that many people have found helpful and there are many resources and books on the subject.

It seems to have become a way of the world to look and or listen to things simply to find what you don’t agree with and say so. Super common on Facebook actually and it also happens in person at times.

I wonder how things would change if that mentality changed to “how can I help”.

If you chooser to feed your dog kibble, I have no problem with that, I would never suggest to anyone happy with what they are feeding to change unless I saw evidence the dog was suffering.

I tend not to offer advice unless I am asked, even on topics I am qualified to comment on. 

I wrote this post to help dog owners and vets understand what I as a third party hear from each group and offer a helpful solution.

So rather than attacking, I guess I thought “how can I help”.

Comments always welcome, please share