banning sale of raw in Illinois?

[pigfoot]

I have a 2 part question-
a) why are most veterinarians 'anti' raw or 'dont believe in it'? I know because many of them are pushing hills and Science Diet on us, but really-does anyone have a valid scientific reason?

and b) I heard that Illinois may be banning the sale of raw meat diets for pets. i HOPE this isnt true-has anyone else heard this?

[sugarcatmom]

Haven't heard anything about banning raw in Illinois (how ridiculous would THAT be?!?!), but I do know that many vets are against raw feeding because they don't really trust pet owners to do it right. They think people will just plop down some raw chicken breast everyday and that's the extent of it. While it's true that a raw diet can go terribly wrong if it's not properly balanced, I tend to think that if someone is that keenly interested in what their pets are eating, they're probably going to do the appropriate research first. The other thing is, many vets have been brainwashed in school by Big Pet Food into believing raw or anything homemade couldn't possibly be as healthy as the "scientifically designed" foods that they're making. Yaaaaa right ! And the idea that raw meat is full of bacteria and other vermin and will cause certain death if consumed is too often used to strike fear in the hearts of pet owners.

[cricket36580]

Keep in mind that there is not a veterinary college anywhere in the US (and I understand in other countries as well), that Hill's doesn't provide SIGNIFICANT financial support. They also provide significant numbers of scholarships and trips and gifts, etc, etc, etc. They have a tremendous amount of money invested in these vets... They also control what little nutritional information that vets get. Seriously, vets only get like, 10 min, of nutritional education overall and around 99-100% of that is provided by Hill's. Answer your question? I've also heard of vets loosing their lic. over advocating raw diet but I don't have anything to back that up with.

As for the banning of raw food??? Unless the entire state is going vegetarian, I don't think they can ban it. Perhaps they're instituting more controls on what is sold as pre-made but I can't see them totally banning it. Personally I would really like to see more criteria for the pre-made markets simply because this is the one area where you can put "whatever" into it and you don't have to disclose the ingredients. 99% of the manufacturers out there are bona fide but it only takes one to screw up a really good product.