sugarcatmom - I need to find a holistic vet I can talk to about nutrition. Because I can't have a conversation with any of these vets about it.
I hate feeling like "the crazy conspiracy theory cat lady" when I go to a vet - inevitably when I say, "I prefer not to feed them a prescription diet, I want to feed them a grain-free meat-based diet," they get a look on their face that says, "Oh. One of
them." DH wants me to print out a few papers from peer review journals on feline nutrition - research done by PhDs without grant money from Hills or other pet food companies - and take that with me. His argument is that if the vet still pushes the Rx diet or is dismissive of my feelings about diet that I can give them the papers and say, "Research has shown that cats need to be fed a carnivorous diet without grains or starches - my views aren't radical or uninformed." He feels that if a vet is still resistant after being shown research papers from peer review journals, not just "stuff on the internet", then they're not worth arguing with. His overall feeling is that if someone is a reasonable, intelligent person, they'll back down and say, "Well, let me look into that," or at least be open to listening to your argument when presented with well-respected, scientific studies. If not, if they're just dismissive or get angry, well you can't reason with someone who is unreasonable.
He also said he doesn't think it would be productive to talk to the "nutrition specialist" from their current vet again - she keeps backing herself into a corner and giving me inaccurate information. I believe she has good intentions but when all she can say is, "Well, this Rx diet is the only one I can recommend that is
proven to successfully treat urinary tract and bladder issues, it's the only one that has been studied," then she's not really "getting it" anyway.
Off to the pet food store I go! I actually "read" (attempted to read?
) a few of those papers I mentioned above - and while I did need to have some of it explained to me by DH, it appears to be pretty cut-and-dry when it comes to feline nutrition, i.e. cats need to eat meat.
One last scream:
So frustrating! Thank you for the links and reading suggestions - I'll check those out. What would I do without this forum?! Seriously!!!!
