Why You Should Say "NO" When Your Vet Recommends Rx Dog Food

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've been doing a lot of research on feeding dogs for some time now, and people often ask me to help them find a good quality commercial food. Lately, I've had a few people whose vets recommended Hill's "prescription" diets (or similar foods like Purina EN) which can only be purchased by vet prescription. These foods are usually sold directly by the vet and are very expensive.
People can sense by looking at the labels or reading on-line that these foods don't seem all that healthy, and they would like to feed something better, not to mention cheaper. But they have been told that their dogs need these foods because of allergies, chronic diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems, and they don't know what a good alternative might be.
You may already know that most vets don't know very much about nutrition or dog food. That may seem strange to you, but it isn't much different than medical doctors. In each case, they take a rudimentary course in college, the same course that nurses & exercise instructors (or vet techs) take.
In fact, the veterinary colleges have no required nutrition curriculum.  What information is provided comes in the form of seminars conducts by Hills, Purina and Mars, makers of the Rx foods your vet sells. The textbooks are written and published by people who work for these companies, and their advertising is all over the walls. They also give a commission to the vets for selling their foods. Can you say "conflict of interest"? The vets are taught to "prescribe" these foods as if they're medicine. "Dog has diarrhea? Recommend this!", the salesman tells them, and then launches into the sales pitch about how great the food is.
If you brought your child to the doctor because he had chronic diarrhea or was vomiting, and the doctor said, "Here, feed him this", would you accept that? Or would you want to know what was wrong, why the child is ill, what is causing it? Wouldn't you expect some tests? Wouldn't you want a diagnosis, a prognosis, and an explanation of how the food (medicine) will help?
We need to learn to do the same thing with our dogs. Let's take a look at some of these foods the vets are recommending.

[Amy, Kokomo & Killian]

Our 10 wk puppy has had diarrhea off and on since we got him before Christmas.  He has been on white rice and boiled chicken for 1 1/2 weeks.   The diarrhea cleared up until he got his next round of dewormer on Saturday.  Then the diarrhea came back.  The vet said that tells her he has some parasite/worms that are just being missed on the tests...so he has 2 more dewormers now.  In the meantime, she said he needs more nourishment than the boiled chicken/rice and said it would be good to put him on Hill's ID.  I asked what the difference was between that and Blue Buffallo chicken and brown rice puppy food and she said it was more bland.  I honestly don't think she knows.  She said that it is specially formulated to be easy on the stomach so it will be more bland.  When you read the list of ingredients it is pretty similar...although the Hill's main ingrediant is corn meal.  Suggestions?  She said we could certainly use any food we wish, but if he keeps having problems with soft stools she will have us try that 2-3 weeks from now anyway.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Corn meal, as the first ingredient, and the price is three times higher than foods with chicken or meat as the first ingredient. It's scary.

There are lots of limited ingredient foods that might help.He also need probiotics, plain non-fat unflavored yogurt is fine. And maybe some canned pumpkin. He does need more nourishment than white rice and chicken in terms of nutrients. What was he eating before you started the bland diet for the diarrhea?

[Amy, Kokomo & Killian]

I just wanted to update you.  I didn't go with the vet's recommendation.  I started him on Blue Buffalo chicken & brown rice, mixed with real chicken and white rice as he was getting and slowly transitioned him to kibble only.  He is doing well.  He has been taking several pills though as they thought he probably had a parasite or worm going through his system...  So far so good.  We go back for a follow up next week.  Thanks for your help!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I hope things continue to go well! Please keep us posted.

[Shannon & Lily]

I hear what you're saying but what if your vet gives you Hills i/d samples just for few days so your underweight 9 wks puppy with giardia will just eat SOMETHING.  She has refused all kibble + the rice that I made for her (with broth).  She gobbled that i/d stuff right up -- I know that it's nasty, but I'm hoping that it will stop the diarrhea and we can get back on track and transition her to a high quality food.  It's such an awful feeling when your puppy won't eat & everything runs right through her, so I'm thrilled that she's eating this... is there another high quality wet food out there that would be gentle for puppy's tummy & could eventually add a high quality kibble like Orijen (or something similar) to?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

As mentioned throughout this discussion, no commercial food can cure illness, especially Rx food. There is no medicine or anything else in it that will get rid of parasites or diarrhea. The only way to get rid of the giardia is to treat it with Panacur, and make sure that you are disinfecting everything that the poop touches, indoors and out, cleaning her bottom, bedding, etc., and making sure that your pup is not becoming reinfected by supervising her every second in the yard. Did the vet prescribe Panacur, or is she just getting metronidazole?

 What usually works for this kind of case is boiled white meat chicken and rice, 2 parts rice to one part chicken, or you can try using mashed sweet potatoes in place of the rice. Add a spoonful of plain, unflavored fat-free yogurt to her meals, too. You can also try well-drained 93% lean hamburger in place of chicken, or scrambled eggs. 

There are quite a few limited ingredient canned foods, Wellness Simple Solutions being just one. If you have to feed a commercial food to get her to eat, that would be my choice

9 weeks is very young to have already been diagnosed with giardia, or to already be underweight. How old was she when you got her? What was she eating when she came home, and what kind of kibble have you tried?

[Shannon & Lily]

thank you karen!

We picked her up last Friday so she's been with us a little over a week.  One of her littermates tested + for giardia and Coccidia but Lily tested neg.  Vet felt that since she was having soft stools, was underweight, and her sister had it, that we should go ahead and treat for giardia since it's difficult to pick up in the stool culture.  She is on panacur and metronidazole.  Also had to do her heartworm pill and her flea/tick treatment, so I feel like it's been a lot of meds right away which bums me out.  We are taking all of the precautions you recommended regarding the parasites.

She was eating Purina Pro Plan which horrified me but figured we'd stick with the 2 weeks and then transition her to something high quality.  Well, she ate it for a day or two and then wanted nothing to do with it (I'm assuming since we were training her with commercial treats & better kibble (Artemis Puppy).  I tried to mix 2 kibbles but she would just dig around for the good stuff and wouldn't touch the Purina.  Vet said go ahead and give the better kibble & give her rice with it  -- if diarrhea, then skip one meal & feed rice the following meal.  Problem is that she won't eat rice.  Haven't tried to feed her chicken, sweet potatoes or yogurt as you mentioned.  I'm happy to cook for her but I feel like we can't afford any more missed meals, KWIM?

So, if she seems to enjoy the commercial stuff more, you're saying to skip the i/d and feed her Wellness Simple Solutions?

Thanks for reading!  I'm so new at this... my first pet ever!

[Shannon & Lily]

Also... one more question.... Let's say I give her chicken & rice and she'll eat it... Am I stuck with that?  B/c I really don't have time for that with 3 kids, busy household, etc. etc.  I want to end up on a commercial diet, just a high end one.  Thx!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

One thing you have to take away from this discussion if nothing else is that vets receive no nutritional training in veterinary school. None. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true, and it's documented by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of clinical nutrition, in her books. So forget what the vet says about food.

Until the parasites are gone, you are going to have digestive issues, and then you will probably have them for awhile longer, because all of these food changes and meds are wreaking havoc on her very immature digestive system.

I would feed anything before I would feed i/d. So yes, if you don't want to do the homecooked diet, you can try the Wellness canned food. But I would strongly urge you to try the homecooked diet, because this puppy really is too young to have so many new foods introduced all at once on top of meds.

As far as "being stuck with" a home-cooked diet, eventually  you will be able to feed her a commercial diet. There are dozens of members here who fed the chicken and rice diet and switched back to commercial food easily when the giardia was gone. Very common. But the home-cooked diet really doesn't take much time if you do it in big batches, espeically when you're feeding a tiny puppy. I homecook half of JD's food and he weighs 85 lbs, goes through a lb of diced chicken breast a day. Success Rice boils in 10 minutes, a sweet potato cooks in the microwave in 7 minutes and you can mash it with a fork easily. All of it keeps in the fridge for 4-5 days at least.

Even healthy puppies require a lot of time. Training, housebreaking, grooming, socialization, exercising, it all takes time, and has to be worked into your schedule, regardless of how busy the household may be. You really have 4 kids now, lol.

[Shannon & Lily]

I hope you didn't read that as "lazy" b/c I've been working my tail off trying to get this puppy off to a good start and we are committed to doing what is best for her.  I've read a bunch of books, joined sites like these, etc. b/c I want to do a great job with her and because we're so new to this.  But the reality is that our time is limited & we will not be doing a long term home cooked diet (totally open to it in the short term).

It is reassuring to know that others have done the chicken/rice/sweet potato diet and then successfully transitioned.  It just makes me nervous b/c she already seems so picky & it scares me when she refuses to eat... first the Purina and then the Artemis.  But maybe it was because she associated food with tummy aches -- I don't know.  I've never seen her eat like she gobbled down that i/d though -- it was nuts!  Do some dogs just prefer the wet food??

And just a small defense of my vet... she was equally horrified by the Pro Plan and recommended several of the foods that you all recommended on here for once we were able to transition her after the first couple of weeks.  Not saying that she's a nutrition expert, but I certainly wouldn't put her in the category of knowing nothing or of pushing prescription foods for profit (since she wanted us to do this for a couple of days and she gave me free samples).  I think she figured this would calm her tummy & that she was more likely to actually eat it than the chicken/rice (since she had already refused rice).

Thanks again!  I'm hoping that after this week her tummy will be back on track!  I will try homecooked with the Wellness canned food as a backup plan.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Almost all dogs prefer wet food to dry food. Problem is, it's very expensive as the sole diet. A lot of us do feed homecooked diets either for health reasons (some of our dogs have chronic illness) or because we prefer to feed them fresh foods that we can trust. But most do just fine with kibble eventually.

If you look through the discussions here in TFG, you'll see that "picky eaters" are one of the most common problems discussed. Lots of tips for dealing with that. It usually isn't much of an issue unless the dog must eat for health reasons, as in your case. It's also very common for new puppies (and newly adopted dogs) to have a reduced appetite when they first come home. Imagine that a stranger came into your home right this minute and without one word of explanation, took your youngest child away to a strange place where nobody spoke his or her language and nobody and nothing was familiar. He or she probably wouldn't have much appetite, either, and that's without having a parasitic infection in the gut. ;)

It's important to give yogurt if she'll eat it, as that will help put some of the good bacteria that's being destroyed by the drugs along with the bad back into her gut.

It sounds like your vet is more knowledgable than most about nutrition, but my comments were not personally directed at her. My dog has 5 vets, 4 of them specialists, (chronic illnesses) and I don't listen to any of them when it comes to nutrition, either.  

[Shannon & Lily]

Thx!  Yes, she spit up some of the i/d -- that's over.  I'm making chicken, sweet potatoes & I'll give her that with rice tomorrow -- fingers crossed that she'll eat it!

The only canned Wellness that I could find tonight was the puppy (not the Simple Solutions), so that will be my backup plan for tomorrow I guess until I can find the Simple.  But hoping that she'll eat what I cook & heal that tummy!  Thanks again.

We really don't want to end up in the puppy hospital -- this cute little thing is scaring me!