Post by lessthansign3 on Nov 20, 2010 23:17:45 GMT -5
Okay, so Dukat went in for his check up at the vet, since you get a free visit within two weeks after you adopt. While there, I spoke with my vet about raw feeding, and she gave me the "I don't think it's a good idea, people post funny things on the internet" line...
It's hard, because I know she's very knowledgeable about ferrets, but at the same time I know that what vets are taught about pet nutrition comes from the pet food industry. Now, as a former student at the University of Minnesota (I dropped out a couple years ago not like that B.A. in English would be doing me any good these days anyway ), which has a large veterinary school, I know why this is - that's the only way they can get funding. They did an article about it in the school paper. The state doesn't give the vet school enough funding, and veterinarians aren't rich so they can't rely on alumni donations or tuition increases, so they have to rely on the pet food industry otherwise there is no more vet school. It's just how things work
I'd mentioned something about the research that Bob Church and others have done (which is what convinced me to switch) in regards to ferret nutrition, but I totally messed up and said adrenal disease instead of insulinoma when I was trying to make my case... Which I'm sure the diet change helps the symptoms of adrenal disease, but I was talking about prevention and my vet was right - all the studies out so far point to spaying and neutering as the cause of that. Anyway, I might have to e-mail her or something, because Dr. Blake has been incredibly helpful with our other pets and I know she means well She said she hadn't seen any recent peer reviewed studies out in regards to ferret nutrition and raw diet, and that if I'd found any I should let her know.
Has anyone else had this experience with their vets? Did you try to convince them otherwise, or did you decide to simply accept the fact that they were going to promote kibble the way it was promoted to them?
Anyway, Dukat got a clean bill of health, got his rabies shot (they'd only done the distemper one at the shelter, I guess), and he got plenty of pets and hugs from everyone there There was even this lady in the waiting room who was telling me all about the ferrets she used to have, but how she just couldn't stand to have them anymore because their lives were so short and it broke her heart She got cats instead, but was frustrated that they "just sat there"! lol!
...But yeah, I'm curious if anyone else has talked about this at all with their vet, as well as what sort of reaction they got.
It's hard, because I know she's very knowledgeable about ferrets, but at the same time I know that what vets are taught about pet nutrition comes from the pet food industry. Now, as a former student at the University of Minnesota (I dropped out a couple years ago not like that B.A. in English would be doing me any good these days anyway ), which has a large veterinary school, I know why this is - that's the only way they can get funding. They did an article about it in the school paper. The state doesn't give the vet school enough funding, and veterinarians aren't rich so they can't rely on alumni donations or tuition increases, so they have to rely on the pet food industry otherwise there is no more vet school. It's just how things work
I'd mentioned something about the research that Bob Church and others have done (which is what convinced me to switch) in regards to ferret nutrition, but I totally messed up and said adrenal disease instead of insulinoma when I was trying to make my case... Which I'm sure the diet change helps the symptoms of adrenal disease, but I was talking about prevention and my vet was right - all the studies out so far point to spaying and neutering as the cause of that. Anyway, I might have to e-mail her or something, because Dr. Blake has been incredibly helpful with our other pets and I know she means well She said she hadn't seen any recent peer reviewed studies out in regards to ferret nutrition and raw diet, and that if I'd found any I should let her know.
Has anyone else had this experience with their vets? Did you try to convince them otherwise, or did you decide to simply accept the fact that they were going to promote kibble the way it was promoted to them?
Anyway, Dukat got a clean bill of health, got his rabies shot (they'd only done the distemper one at the shelter, I guess), and he got plenty of pets and hugs from everyone there There was even this lady in the waiting room who was telling me all about the ferrets she used to have, but how she just couldn't stand to have them anymore because their lives were so short and it broke her heart She got cats instead, but was frustrated that they "just sat there"! lol!
...But yeah, I'm curious if anyone else has talked about this at all with their vet, as well as what sort of reaction they got.