I have decided since being on this site that vets are very uninformed with regard to nutrition. There are only a handful of vets compared to the total number of vets that accept raw or possible alternatives to the standard popular dog foods and their favorite--Science Diet. My personal opinion is because they make money from these particular dog food companies, especially Science Diet--or get give-aways. By all means, use him for medical purposes, but I hope you are allowed to agree to disagree with him concerning your pets' nutrition. I studied dog foods at the beggining of this year IN DETAIL and tried 3 or 4 5-star foods with Lulu before coming to and coming back to Ziwi Peak. I know from personal experience Lulu has never been healthier and it shows in her coat and bowel movements. I have had our cat on Ziwi Peak for 2 1/2 months and I wouldn't feed her anything else. She is healthy and her fur is beautiful! Finally, I took an empty bag of ZP to my vet to make him familiar with it, and he was very impressed. That is a vet's opinion--they can all have different opinions. Maybe you could take an empty bag to your vet for him to make himself familiar with. He may be impressed. I wouldn't try to tell him to go to the website--they are not going to take the time. One last thought (After my last finally), Ziwi Peak is a dehydrated raw, not the actual raw. Even though I understand what other say about a dog's digestive system being able to handle the bacteria in raw food it is possible that the bacteria in real raw and dehydrated raw may be different-not a different bacteria but a different amount, as well as, kibble is also known to have bacteria that is passed through the dog or passed to a human that handles it.

Sorry for the long posts, but I hope this helps you to be happy with the food choice, but remain happy with your vet.

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"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished."Dean Koontz

Christie makes an EXCELLENT point. I live with evidence. Both empirical and experimental. A sweet little cream colored dog who had he and his office, pathologists and others he consulted baffled. Meanwhile, she got sicker with each food he recommended and I dutifully tried.

ZP solved her colitis. He has NEVER questioned me on her diet since!

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Okay, now Tina makes a good point (HEY, ASHLEY! Where is a lawyer when we need one?? haha!).

I'd ask him if he is aware how many kibble brands had recalls last year due to salmonella. I stopped counting but it was plenty!

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I have seen my two compared to their cousins siblings etc. My two are muscular shiny coated monsters. One of their cousins had such poor skin quality a micro chip would not stay just kept falling off. She also could not get above 3lbs which is way too small for her frame. I talked her mom into ZP and after a year on it she is 4.5 lbs of muscle and her skin quality is much better. No more dull coat etc.

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Thank you Jan896

Thanks for all these comments...yes, he was peddling science diet and Iams and even suggested Purina One was a good food. I was so disappointed.......I too feel as if I live with evidence that the food is good. Incidentally, I told the breeder I got my pups from about Ziwipeak and now her dogs are on it. She fully understood the nutritional benefits of the food!! She liked the raw idea but it is not practical with all her dogs.

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My daughter was a vet tech for some years. She had much inside scoop on why Vets tend to push certain foods. The perks are legion! The reps from these food manufacturers wine and dine the Vets and clinic owners royally (and sometimes the whole staff) in an effort to sell product. They give gifts and monetary bonuses. They offer every perk they can think of in order to have the clinic use/sell their products over any other manufacturer doing the same thing.

It's no wonder many vets just go with whatever, their decision based entirely on what their favorite perk is from which rep. Too, vets aren't taught much in the way of animal nutrition in vet school, so most are woefully uninformed about what to feed, unless their do their own, independent research, which most don't. It's time consuming just keeping up with advances in the veterinary field, let alone adding to the workload doing a bunch of their own personal studies, and most Vets won't go that extra mile.

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I brought the bag in for my vet to examine. She was very impressed.

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My vet doesn't approve of raw either, but she likes the process of the Freeze dried ZP because it kills any bacteria or contaminants. Vet's don't know everything, so you have to do your research & make the final decision. Sounds like you already know how good ZP is.

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