When we first got Tucker he was on Iamms, which is what the breeder had him on. I asked my vet for food recommendations and he told me that any food I found in the grocery store would be fine. He also felt that people put too much emphasis on food and used the example of raw diets. He basically said that raw diets were horrible for dogs and people who used them were nuts. Of course, having been a member of this board for some time I knew better. I decided to switch Tucker to Eagle Pack (and switch vets too, for that matter). So, I'm just wondering, was my vet the exception or are most vets "under educated" when it comes to nutrition?

I cant speak for any of them besides the one i have and i have to say mine didnt seem too knowledgeable ont he subject. But luckily thats not the reason i take my dog there or else i would find another who actually studied in that area as well.

I'd say vets are mis-educated rather than under-educated. Your vet sounds like an average vet other than I can't believe he didn't try to talk you into buying food from his office instead of directing you to the grocery store!

Many Vets do not get a lot of training in Nutrition...not at all. My Vets also push foods that they sell like Science Diet/Hills Prescription foods. I really like my Vet otherwise, he is an excellent doctor and I wouldn't dream of switching.

I just try to trust my own judgement when it comes to nutrition on what is good for my dogs and make my own decisions based on healthy ingredients and how my dogs look, their overall health and their energy levels.

We also feed Eagle Pack Holistic with very good results. :)

My vet is 100% nutrition. He believes that a lot of problems can be remedied with a good diet and exercise program. Now, the boys have not been back to see him since I have switched to RAW, so we shall see after their check up in a month or two.

I love that my vet admits he doesn't want to get into the dog food debates.

My vet thinks a high quality good is Science Diet. I would have to say he doesn't know as much as Id like him to.

It DOES seem to be the norm. The only time any of the vets we've seen discussed food, he just told us what he used on his dogs...Pro Plan. We used it for awhile after his recommendation with good results...

I brought up "Nupro" to my vet and she knew what it was (a supplement). I was impressed as I'd mentioned it to some others and there were like "whaaaaaaaaa".

No. The vets in the area call me. LOL

The vet that we went to with Cosmo for the first few months didn't know much about nutrition other than to tell us that he was overweight and to push Science Diet food on us.

We moved to a clinic that has holistic as well as traditional vets. They ask us what we are feeding and when they weren't familiar with NB Venison and Brown Rice did a comparison to a prescription venison based food and together we decided that the NB was not only more convenient but not much difference in ingredients. The holistic vet has suggested raw to us more than once. So I would say that they know a thing or two about nutrition.

I work for my vet and NO none of the vets in the practice really talk much about nutrition. They actually have had a client or two come to me to ask questions if they(the client) don't like the stuff they push - Sci Diet/Hills. I call it baby steps! ;)

So, I'm just wondering, was my vet the exception or are most vets "under educated" when it comes to nutrition?Thankfully, yes :dance:. Our traditional/holistic vet had taken (and still takes) many hours of extra training to be one of a few small animal nutritional specialists in our large city.