Yesterday I got a long lecture from my vet who disapproves of my food choice for my kitties. I feed 50/50 Blue Buffalo normal variety with Blue Buffalo Wilderness and wet food daily. I didn't just randomly pick something, I read quite a bit before deciding on this. I have 4 cats from almost 2 months- 7years currently.
My vet STRONGLY suggested I switch to Hill's Science Diet....
My issue is that there is just so much info out there and it is really difficult to get a hold on what is true vs what is lies, half truths or exaggeration, opinion and scare tactics.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes among other things and right away I dove in learning all I could about nutrition and worked really hard to get myself taken off meds through diet. Through it I learned that nutrition is such a difficult topic and even science doesn't have a perfect 100% understanding of it yet. They are always learning new things and changing old ideas. And on top of it everyone has their own opinion. The health world is full of ideas on food/nutrition/diet, some make sense some have alot of followers and some are crack pot. I was just talking in a group about how we get a calorie counter, a vegan, a vegetarian, someone on atkins, primal, and throw in someone who believes in ear stapling and you will have quite a mess of people saying they are right and calling everyone else wrong lol They can all back it up with proof that sounds right on and it confuses the entire mess for someone curious.
*i am not saying any of those choices are wrong in any way. My point is that in every well meaning and even great healthy group a few people will get caught up & end up spreading info as if it were 100% fact when it isn't quite so.
And that is with people. It can be so difficult to get a hold of what is right and what is wrong when you are trying to figure it all out and in the end you pretty much have to just have faith and choose one that makes sense to you. And that is fine when it is me but when it comes to my pets it leaves me in a state of worry that perhaps I am wrong...
When it comes to pet food it is pretty much the same. The food companies even many of the good ones have their top priority in profit and not actually what is best for pets. They can bend the truth so much and confuse us. They can add stuff that is harmful and things not even right for that type of animal.
Yet on the flip side you have alot of opinions from consumers too. And some make rational good points but you wonder are they just repeating things they heard? is there any truth to it or is atleast some of it fears/rumors just being repeated again and again with not any actual proof to back it up either? How much of it is truth and how much is the same thing the pet food companies do with using the good sounding words to make us agree with them? Pet people are super passionate about their pets and can be very strong minded and opinionated about what is best. There is nothing wrong with that & i gladly count myself into that group. Though that being the case sometimes it can lead to open honest discussions being shut down and people being made to feel they are bad pet parents.
Part of this was inspired from me doing alot of research into my rats food. Atleast with cats you have some good options at your local store, they may not be everyone's ideal but there are good options. Sadly almost no pet store actually sells good rat food. Almost every type of rat food on the shelves isn't even something that should be made for rats nutritional needs! It really opened my eyes to how evil the pet food companies are for one. And it leaves so many rat owners just confused on diet that it is pretty much the #1 issue people ask about lol. And it splits rat owners into different categories just as it does with people's nutrition like I mentioned above. This can lead to some debates that can get heated lol
I do believe that there are pet parents who are smart and have done all the research themselves and understand it and how to take that information and turn it into a smart diet. I also believe that the number of people who can & do, do that is not that high. That the majority of people just repeat what they are told because it sounds good to them. The question being how do you sort through it all to find out who is even close to being right. For example and I mean this with zero offense, this forum seems to be highly in support of raw food diet. I have been on alot of cat forums where this is not the case at all. I am not saying one is right and one is not at all, I am just pointing out that there are different groups of people who view it differently.
Anyways I tend to ramble sorry. My point is that I have read and read and read until my mind spins with so much information it is hard to keep it all straight. I am not a vet nor a scientist or even probably all that smart lmao! But I never just take information handed to me blindly, I want to know how, what, where it came from. Anyone can make a fact page and fill it with pretty shiny words that sound great to me but that doesn't mean any of it is actually true or backed up by anything more then opinion. Even if there was a study there is probably another study saying the exact opposite.
Mostly I would always prefer to have sources backed up by partial outside information. And for the most part I am having a very hard time finding this. I know it is difficult in the pet world because alot of the people doing studies and collecting information have their own reasons to protect. But the entire process has me feeling lost and confused and worrying because I want the best for my babies.
It is just so frustraiting and annoying. Mostly this is just a rant on my vet. I have an appointment with a different vet on monday so perhaps I will like that one better. I hope I didn't offend anyone, that was not my intent. I am very much not saying anyone is right or wrong in their choices, just that there are alot of different opinions & I get so frustraited trying to find real answers about any of it that I feel I can trust.
My vet STRONGLY suggested I switch to Hill's Science Diet....
My issue is that there is just so much info out there and it is really difficult to get a hold on what is true vs what is lies, half truths or exaggeration, opinion and scare tactics.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes among other things and right away I dove in learning all I could about nutrition and worked really hard to get myself taken off meds through diet. Through it I learned that nutrition is such a difficult topic and even science doesn't have a perfect 100% understanding of it yet. They are always learning new things and changing old ideas. And on top of it everyone has their own opinion. The health world is full of ideas on food/nutrition/diet, some make sense some have alot of followers and some are crack pot. I was just talking in a group about how we get a calorie counter, a vegan, a vegetarian, someone on atkins, primal, and throw in someone who believes in ear stapling and you will have quite a mess of people saying they are right and calling everyone else wrong lol They can all back it up with proof that sounds right on and it confuses the entire mess for someone curious.
*i am not saying any of those choices are wrong in any way. My point is that in every well meaning and even great healthy group a few people will get caught up & end up spreading info as if it were 100% fact when it isn't quite so.
And that is with people. It can be so difficult to get a hold of what is right and what is wrong when you are trying to figure it all out and in the end you pretty much have to just have faith and choose one that makes sense to you. And that is fine when it is me but when it comes to my pets it leaves me in a state of worry that perhaps I am wrong...
When it comes to pet food it is pretty much the same. The food companies even many of the good ones have their top priority in profit and not actually what is best for pets. They can bend the truth so much and confuse us. They can add stuff that is harmful and things not even right for that type of animal.
Yet on the flip side you have alot of opinions from consumers too. And some make rational good points but you wonder are they just repeating things they heard? is there any truth to it or is atleast some of it fears/rumors just being repeated again and again with not any actual proof to back it up either? How much of it is truth and how much is the same thing the pet food companies do with using the good sounding words to make us agree with them? Pet people are super passionate about their pets and can be very strong minded and opinionated about what is best. There is nothing wrong with that & i gladly count myself into that group. Though that being the case sometimes it can lead to open honest discussions being shut down and people being made to feel they are bad pet parents.
Part of this was inspired from me doing alot of research into my rats food. Atleast with cats you have some good options at your local store, they may not be everyone's ideal but there are good options. Sadly almost no pet store actually sells good rat food. Almost every type of rat food on the shelves isn't even something that should be made for rats nutritional needs! It really opened my eyes to how evil the pet food companies are for one. And it leaves so many rat owners just confused on diet that it is pretty much the #1 issue people ask about lol. And it splits rat owners into different categories just as it does with people's nutrition like I mentioned above. This can lead to some debates that can get heated lol
I do believe that there are pet parents who are smart and have done all the research themselves and understand it and how to take that information and turn it into a smart diet. I also believe that the number of people who can & do, do that is not that high. That the majority of people just repeat what they are told because it sounds good to them. The question being how do you sort through it all to find out who is even close to being right. For example and I mean this with zero offense, this forum seems to be highly in support of raw food diet. I have been on alot of cat forums where this is not the case at all. I am not saying one is right and one is not at all, I am just pointing out that there are different groups of people who view it differently.
Anyways I tend to ramble sorry. My point is that I have read and read and read until my mind spins with so much information it is hard to keep it all straight. I am not a vet nor a scientist or even probably all that smart lmao! But I never just take information handed to me blindly, I want to know how, what, where it came from. Anyone can make a fact page and fill it with pretty shiny words that sound great to me but that doesn't mean any of it is actually true or backed up by anything more then opinion. Even if there was a study there is probably another study saying the exact opposite.
Mostly I would always prefer to have sources backed up by partial outside information. And for the most part I am having a very hard time finding this. I know it is difficult in the pet world because alot of the people doing studies and collecting information have their own reasons to protect. But the entire process has me feeling lost and confused and worrying because I want the best for my babies.
It is just so frustraiting and annoying. Mostly this is just a rant on my vet. I have an appointment with a different vet on monday so perhaps I will like that one better. I hope I didn't offend anyone, that was not my intent. I am very much not saying anyone is right or wrong in their choices, just that there are alot of different opinions & I get so frustraited trying to find real answers about any of it that I feel I can trust.