Question:
When I took Neko to the vet. the vet ask me what food I feed him, and I said Innova. Then she looked at me and said I never even heard of it before.
So if its a good food why don't a vet even knows about it.
Then she told me I should go to a diet dog food, but Innova does not have diet food.
Answer:
Conventional vets learn to treat illnesses when they arise. They do not really learn about preventitive medicine. Nutrition is one of the things in school that vets really don't learn extensivley. Your vet probably hasn't heard of Innova, because she feeds and sells Hills Science Diet prescription foods, and has never given much thought to what exists beyond that. This is the cases with most vets I've encountered. If they don't have a personal interest in nutrition and take time of their own to extend their knowledge on it, they don't know very much about it. Hold up your bag of Innova to a bag of something she sells at her office and you'll see for yourself that the ingredients on the Innova are substatially better, making it a MUCH better food.
Why did she reccomend a diet food? Is your dog overweight?
Answer:
As Vanillasugar already mentioned your vet never heard of Innova because very few vets take the time to further their education in animal nutrition.
Vets study nutrition for approximately two weeks, this is hardly sufficient time to gain a firm understanding and knowledge of the subject. Most vets consider this two week course to provide them with all the education they need to know on the subject and unfortunately they are missing out on a lot...so many illness' and ailments in our pets are preventable with proper nutrition.
The truth of the matter is that a pet owner with a dedication to learn and study about animal nutrition is more knowledgeable in pet nutrition that most vets...
Your own vet already expressed her ignorance in nutrition by her own recommendation. She asked you what you fed, and after telling you she never heard of that particular food she suggested a dietary change..if she never heard of Innova then how would she know if it is or is not a diet dog food?
What your vet did was venture a guess...if she did not know about the food she could have asked you about it, she could have spent time looking it up and researching it herself, instead pride got in the way and she made a dietary recommendation without even the slightest bit of knowledge...
Your vet may be wonderful but if you are concerned about your dogs diet then you really want to contact a specialist and consult with a vet with a nutritional degree and background.
Answer:
yes my dog is overweight. She never said I should change. she said most dog food out there has a light food. So she told me to change to diet innova, but there is none so. (sorry if I confused you all. I do that a lot.)
Answer:
Overweight can be fixed- it's calories in vs calories out. Feed your dog less, and increase it's level of exercise. It won't take long for it to get back into shape.
I'll echo the other comments, vets do not get a lot of nutrional training, and what they get is usually done by a sales rep for one of the pet food companies, so they get a biased viewpoint.
Answer:
Most diet/"lite" foods are actually not appropriate for weight loss since they contain less protein and fat than regular foods but far more carbs, which isn't going to help.
Your best bet is to feed Innova adult or (if your overweight dog is already fully grown) Innova evo, but only in the appropriate amount to support the target weight. So for example if your dog weighs 55 pounds and should weigh 50 pounds, you'd feed the recommended amount for a 50 pound dog.
The comments about vets and nutrition are generally true - any vets who actually have a decent knowledge of nutrition have done their own research outside of their vet school education. Case in point, one of my cats had surgery for bladder stones recently and my vet didn't even know that there are companies other than Hill's, Waltham (IVD/Royal Canin, owned by Mars), Iams (Eukanuba) and Purina manufacturing prescription foods, let alone how to tweak a home prepared diet to meet specific needs.
Answer:
Yup, yup, yup. They only know of what's in their clinic, what the reps tell them, clinical proven studies, and what's in the grocery store. They'll say Ol' Roy is garabage, then recommend Pedigree or Purina.
Answer:
ok I understand now. thank you for all our help. Yay I learn something new. now I can go to bed.