It wasn't them it was me. Seriously our vet was really good- for most people. They care about animals and they try to do the best and have reasonable prices. The problem is that they just were not doing it for me. A few factors really played into it.
- Raw Food. I feed raw and I believe 100% that a home-made diet (not necessarily raw) is good for dogs. There is no way in my mind that processed dry nuggets are better for your dog than whole foods sourced from trustworthy places. At the very least I would expect them to recommend a HIGH QUALITY kibble- not Science Diet or the equally corn filled Purina. I understand that there are a lot of complicated issues when it comes to why vets are against home-made food, but basically it comes down to dog food companies having a vice grip on vet schools and continuing their propaganda campaigns long into vets carriers. I really felt it was time I found a vet who could see why raw feeding was better- and I did. It was getting to the point where I could not remain civil in a conversation about how processed nuggets were better and I was probably killing my dog by not feeding them. I also believe our blood-work was being only glanced over because the vets believed it was a byproduct of what we feed. Unfortunately it was actually a DISEASE slowly killing my dog, not my food.
- Vaccinations. I am not anti-vaccine. I do however have a problem with giving my dogs vaccines every year for parvo and distemper when those vaccines have shown to last for 7+ years. Especially when my dog is fighting a disease that is attacking his immune system. Don't even get me started on bordatella and the guilt trip I got from the receptionist every six months for not giving that!
- Chiropractic and alternative medicine. I am not against western medicine. I also don't see why it is a problem to look at all modalities available to us to achieve good health. The way I see it prevention is always the best medicine and often eastern or holistic approaches are about maintaining good health overall, not just treating problems once they happen. What is wrong with those approaches? NOTHING. That is why we have changed to a holistic-centered vet who also understands you need an ER or some antibiotics every once and a while! Lets use everything we have available to us and keep an open mind. My old vet was not willing to do that. They wanted me to put my 3 year old dog an an NSAID for the rest of his life and feed him glucosamine filled kibble (they never could come up with a good answer about how my giving them joint supplements would be any less effective than a kibble company doing it). I can only imagine what Copley would have looked like after 2 years of NSAIDS, kibble and Lyme disease. I don't think he would see his 6th birthday in that scenario. (I don't mean to say NSAIDS- or long term use of them- is always bad. It makes a lot of dogs comfortable and with proper monitoring it is often the best choice. For us it was putting a band-aid on a degenerative disease.)
- Tick Borne Disease Literacy. I needed a vet who had treated and seen TBDs before. They are tricky and the symptoms are subtle and seem like other things. Every time I went in it cost me $200 and they told me it was nothing. The new vet looked at our whole picture and came up with a solution.
- Fear Mongering. I started getting stuff in the mail about putting my dog on flea/tick/heart worm meds and how I was doing them a horrible disservice and killing my dogs by not having them on monthly frontline and de-wormers (for the record I DO test for heart worm and think people in areas with it should use preventatives). This bothered me for two main reasons. First it was propaganda made by a pharmaceutical company but was disguised as a meaningful letter from my vet. Secondly WE DON'T HAVE FLEAS or TICKS or MOSQUITOES HERE!!!!! They are literally just ripping people off at best, and tricking them at worst.
For now I guess that's it. My did this turn into a rant. I guess it is like all bad breakups- I am a little bitter. Seriously though- my old vet isn't that bad. If you don't mind standing up to them about the food thing and your dog doesn't have a TBD they are one of the best vets in the city.
Enjoy this picture of what really matters- a happy, healthy Copley enjoying a romp in a field of swamp cabbage.
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This is almost exactly why I'm currently on the hunt for a new vet. Every single time I stepped foot in my old vet they'd try to push kibble on us, knowing full well that Nola has both corn and soy allergies. As soon as I mentioned I make Nola's food they went on a rant about how I was slowly killing her and she was lacking everything vital in her diet (oh, like the allergens you're pushing on us). Ug.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like over vaccinating; Nola got all her puppy shots and the 1 year booster but from now on she's getting the three year rabies (mandatory obviously), parvo/distemper/other core every 3-5 years I haven't exactly decided which.
Biggest reason I left our old vet was the continued pushing of Trifexis (spelling?) for heartworm preventive, when that product is so iffy and is still very new and I am NOT going to give that to my dog.
It took me a long time to find my new vet- I was thinking about leaving my old ones for a while- but they are so good at so many things that I just needed the perfect vet to make me switch. Luckily I think I found it. Our current vet splits her time between a conventional practice where she primarily practices conventional medicine and an alternative practice where she primarily practices holistic medicine. She also does house calls and that is super cool. It is so hard for me because so many holistic vets are just as close minded at conventional vets. It is like their way or the highway- and their way often is a little too radical for me! And the vaccine thing- we feel you! We are keeping UTD on rabies of course- but as far as everything else we really had some disagreements even after they admitted to me annual vaccines only were there to keep clients coming back every year.
DeleteI think home made diet is not good for pets.Because everybody don.t know about pets nature and about his diet making.
ReplyDeleteDog Vaccines