Questioning Authority: Your Cat Does, Why Not You?

I've been thinking about this article for some time, but a phone call today pushed me to finish it.

 

That phone call took place with the internal medicine specialist treating Studley. The specialist has diagnosed Studley with pancreatitis and IBD, based on an ultrasound performed Tuesday. Today he got back the results of Studley's GI lab, and expressed confusion that while he knows Studley has IBD (based on the ultrasound results), his GI lab results ( cobalamin and folate) were normal.

 

I do not generally openly disagree with most vets (to their face). I'll express my opinions to my regular vet, who acts very open to my ideas and thoughts — but I've learned not to waste my time and breath on many vets who really don't care what I think about anything. They just want me to do what I'm told. However, today for whatever reason I felt the need to tell this specialist my suspicions on why Studley's results were normal. I told him I had worked with many cats with IBD, adopted and fostered, and I fed all my cats an "IBD friendly" diet. This diet had eliminated symptoms and normalized GI lab results for the other cats I'd worked with — and my thinking was, if Studley was fed this "IBD diet" and it's treated these other cats with IBD, it made sense to me that it had also treated Studley, without my knowing he even had IBD.

 

To say the specialist was unimpressed would be a vast understatement. He reiterated that he'd worked with many cats with IBD and none of them had normal GI lab work. Well, to me — call me crazy — that indicates maybe he is doing something wrong. Maybe his protocol of prescription diets and steroids isn't the best option. Maybe a more natural diet for a carnivore and some nutritional supplements, with which I don't need to give steroids, is preferable. I bit my tongue a bit, but did tell him I would start Studley out on the (horrible) canned w/d® the specialist had been feeding him (gag), and transition him slowly back to "my" diet, sticking to leaner meats like rabbit, turkey, chicken, and pheasant, and avoiding the duck that may (or may not) exacerbate pancreatitis. Note that this attack of acute pancreatitis was likely induced by the use of injectable steroids in the first place!

 

Why would anyone think that a diet of pork liver, pork by-products, chicken, powdered cellulose, corn starch, etc. would be better for my cat with a sensitive stomach than a diet of whole ground rabbit, turkey, or chicken with egg yolks and a few supplements?

 

The answer I believe, sadly, is that most veterinarians (like most human doctors) don't think about nutrition. I understand they have a lot of other things to think about, with the many animal species they are expected to know about, and the many diseases, and surgeries. Really, I do try to understand. But, even if they can't be bothered to think about nutrition, do so many of them have to be so arrogant as to think I cannot? Can they not pull their head out of the bag to use some critical thinking skills? Do they have to assume these big pet food manufacturers are the only experts there are out there, and as my friend Adrienne says "Hill's is best, because Hill's says so?"

 

I have to say, these large companies, particularly Hill's, are marketing geniuses. They are! Hill's has most animal shelters and veterinarians and veterinary students thinking they are the premier pet food manufacturer, in spite of the fact they use some of the lowest quality ingredients possible: corn, sawdust (a.k.a. cellulose), and meat unsuitable for human consumption.

 

Veterinarians are hardly unbiased because pet food makes up such a huge amount of their own income. The average veterinary clinic makes close to 20% of their income from selling pet food. If I received one-fifth of my income from selling a product, would I admit that product isn't the greatest to my clients?

 

Still, I felt the specialist went above disagreeing with me to being rude to me and I honestly don't know if I could trust him to care for one of my cats again. Studley is feeling better, and I'm grateful for that — but what if it had been Ralph? I have seen what Hill's food does to Ralph, and it nearly cost him his life. Even bringing w/d® into my home for Studley worries me, as I'll have to make certain Rumpelmintz, Ralph, Jellybean, and Louie don't get into it; it would be disastrous with its pork, corn, and high carbohydrate content. Studley isn't exactly "svelte" either, and I hope the carbohydrates don't cause weight gain. I really just don't understand why more veterinarians wouldn't question why we are feeding these products to cats.

 

Update: The canned w/d® caused a severe allergic reaction in Studley. I came home from work to find he'd licked one front leg bloody and raw. He was anxious and grateful to go back to "real food."

 

 

Lynette Ackman is a co-founder of Feline Outreach. She is a well-known, dedicated advocate for proper nutrition in cats, and a regular contributor to Feline Nutrition.