Surprised By Vet's Advice

[RiverStar-Aura]

I was just down at the dog park and had a conversation with a dog owner about her dog's diet. He's a two year old maltese x shih tzu and she's a first time dog owner who admitted to me that she has know idea when it comes to feeding her dog and was looking for some advice.

She told me she's feeding him My Dog (those expensive individual square tins) along with a supermarket brand dry food (she mentioned VIP but I didn't think they made dry food ??) once a day. Now I don't have a problem with her feeding this food because some dogs thrive on it, however, her poor little guy is a little on the porky side (she actually told me she noticed he was getting fat and she'd expressed her concern with her vet). She said she was told by the vet that his diet was fine but to add in a Pedigree Dentastix ONCE EVERY DAY to keep his teeth clean so she's added that to his diet too.

I was shocked that a vet would suggest feeding a Dentastix daily over a nice raw chicken neck/wing. So I told her that if she was worried about his teeth to cut out the Dentastix and give him a raw wing/neck to gnaw on.

She also asked me what I feed my guys so I told her about their Royal Canin diet and she was surprised that they only get dry. I did tell her that they also get natural yoghurt, tuna, mackerel, chicken/turkey wings and brisket bones for treats and she told me she's going to look into getting her guy onto Royal Canin too.

Even if she doesn't make the switch to premium dog food I did tell her that she should look into reducing the amount he's being fed and she agreed that he does get a LOT of treats.

I'm just hoping that I've helped her out a bit because she does really love this little and was really listening to what I was saying so I hope I was somewhat helpful.

Oh and my bubbas and I met and played with our very first Border Terrier. Very cool dogs!! :D

Edited February 26, 2012 by RiverStar-Aura

[Greytmate]

I wouldn't be annoyed by the vet, you didn't meet him. If her dog is fat and she gives it treats, maybe she should cut back on treats? Feeding chicken necks and wings might be best for dogs, but my own vet's dog died suffocating on a chicken wing, no food is without risks. I don't have too much of a problem with a vet recommending a dentastick. They come in different sizes for different dogs.

You don't know if the vet suggested teeth brushing, you don't know what quantity the vet said to feed. You only heard what the lady wanted you to hear. Nice of you to give this lady advice if she wanted to some advice, but no real reason to be annoyed at her vet.

[Danois]

And what's the issue??

I give my dog dentastixs from time to time. They are actually designed (according to the packet) to be fed daily.

A bit of a storm in a teacup methinks.

[Salukifan]

I wouldn't get too annoyed.

Ive seen veterinary advice get very interesting after its been filtered by the owner :laugh:

[persephone]

At one stage my older dogs had dentastix daily ...

I prefer raw to feed.. but a lot of folks don't .. and dentastix are clean if chewed in a house , and have no sharp bits to be of concern...

It's all a matter of balance ;)

[westiemum]

Yes but what are dentastix made of? (Genuine question - I'd want to know first) :)

[aussielover]

Personally I think dentastixs are the safer option. I give my dog a dentastick every few days because she can't eat bones.

I'd be hesitant suggesting a chicken wing or neck as these are bones that more frequently cause problems (blockages etc).

I know plenty of vets who won't recommend bones in this litigious society. Or only recommend bones to select (sensible) clients.

but weight loss is about overall reduction in food intake anyway...

[Christina]

No need to be annoyed at her vet over this. I thought they had done an operation wrong or something similar.

The diet that suits your dog may not suit her dog or every other dog. I hate chicken necks now since my cat got one stuck & was in distress at 1am & my cats & dogs who are not usually fussy eaters wouldn't touch Royal Canin.

If her dog is fat she is feeding it too much of whatever she is giving it. Not the vets fault, he/she doesn't feed her dog.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I can't feed my dog bones, including raw chicken wings - cos she vomits them up. Usually at 3am.

Or has trouble at the other end. Also at 3am.

Not fun for either of us, so she doesn't get bones except very very rarely when she visits some other dog's house and they have some lying around. If you ever want all the bones at your place cleaned up, my dog is excellent at finding every last one.

I do occasionally feed dentastix. They come in different sizes. They're not perfect as far as content goes, and I don't know how great they are vs the claims on the packet but my dog likes them a lot and we don't have the early morning problems with them.

I also feed her carrots. She can have about half a day without any problems. And the occasional rawhide chip - which is made out of the same stuff as those rawhide bones but in a smaller piece. If I give her a rawhide bone - she takes about five minutes to make the biggest one (which is 30cm across) disappear - and then we have problems later. It used to take her days to eat one of these, but now - all I get is five minutes.

In fact we tried the dried slice of pork trotter - just the once, after I watched a JRT and a Tenterfield terrier take over an hour to make almost no impression on the ones they had. My dog. Less than 3 minutes to demolish it. Fortunately no ill effects but not real keen to repeat the experiment.

And she likes sticks. Some dogs have trouble with sticks but my dog seems to be fine. You have to supervise to know which your dog is.

As far as dry goes - it's nutro and soon it will be Black Hawk holistic. If the first product listed is some grain product or filler like cornmeal or wheat meal or rice or beet pulp then it's not a great dog food. The first ingredient listed should be some sort of meat or meat product.

I think this dog you met at the park's main problem is maybe not what food, but how much. I had one friend whose dog got quite fat because she did a lot of rewards based training but couldn't bear to reduce his dinner accordingly. So she switched to a diet dinner food which helped a lot. Feeding carrot after dinner might have the same effect. Ie fill the dog up without adding many calories.

I dunno about the my dog stuff. I expect like all commercial dog foods, it might make the dog quite stinky especially the farts. I make my own caserole for the dog. Does not pong like tinned dog food does. And my dog's farts do not smell nearly as bad as mine.

[PuddleDuck]

And my dog's farts do not smell nearly as bad as mine.

My guys can't have bones either. Same problem. I have found beef tendons and cow hooves work well though.

The only thing I'm surprised at with the vets behaviour is that he didn't put the dog on a food that is sold in clinic. But the vets I worked for were very commercially minded

[RiverStar-Aura]

I guess that's where miss spoke (well mis-posted) anyway. Rather than annoyed I think the word I was searching for was surprised. I was surprised at the info given.

The dog is clearly a little overweight however she wasn't given advice (so she said) about reducing its food intake.

And I wasn't preaching to her about the "awesomeness" of Royal Canin as I understand each dog is different. She merely asked what I fed my two dogs and how much they get. She also said she'd been given a sample of Eukanuba and said her boy enjoyed that so I let her know that it's another good quality dry food.

[Whippetsmum]

Whether or not it's correct or good advice, or we agree or agree to use Dentastix over bones, there could be a rationale, that's why the vet gets paid.

e.g. Mother's dog gets impacted anal glands, and also tries to swallow chicken wings whole. Bones for him are potentially dangerous.

[Guest lavendergirl]

Nothing too much wrong with that advice IMO - lots of vets don't believe in feeding bones probably because they see a few obstruction problems in their clinics. A good quality dry food and perhaps switching to packs of Natures Gift if she wants that sort of convenience should be all she needs to do. A Dentastix or Greenie every other day should not hurt either.

[canine fun sports]

The thing to remember about ALL bones, is that their cavity is full of fat. ALL bones are very fattening. So perhpas this why the vet advised dentastix, rather than bones.

Cheers,

[Bluefairy]

I would never feed chicken necks or wings to my dog either. Pugs have a tendency to vacuum their food, and some have died eating these, its not worth the risk.

I also feed Archie My Dog dry food in the morning and My Dog meals (those square foil ones) in the evening. He gets the odd biscuit, cheese, crab, seafood extender, etc....but not all the time. Plus a meat bone when we go out for the day.

A lot of weight gain is mostly to do with the amount the dog is eating vs what it is eating. So if this dog is eating a balanced diet and lots of treats, then its bound to put on weight.

I can easily cut down Archie's weight by reducing the amount of dry food and halving the treats.

Lynn

Edited February 26, 2012 by Bluefairy

[LizT]

...I feed chicken wings on occassion and dentastix....I've never found any remnants of the Dentastix but let me tell you about the shard of bone that went into my foot.....