Today's Vet Comments regarding GSD Digestion

[lrodptl]

Fritz was at the Vet today and the Vet made many questionable comments regarding neutering,food,protein and digestion. I'll only mention the protein and digestion comments here. Please comment and verify/dispel-thanks.

"TOTW's protein levels are too high and could lead to kidney problems as Fritz' activity levels lessen with age." She said Fritz had an "athlete's heart" right now which is no surprise considering the amount of exercise we provide.

"GSD's digestive systems are more closely related to the human digestive system versus the Wolf"

[Lucy Dog]

Sometimes I think vets are worse than those people who come and knock on your door asking you to join their cult.

[Jax08]

I've heard the whole to much protein thing before also. Is there any proof that higher protein level lead to kidney disease? If so, I would very much like to read that. Personally, it doesn't make sense to me. I have heard the phosphorus levels are actually the part that needs to be watched if a person has kidney disease.

[Lucy Dog]

I'd love to see your vet take out a diagram of the digestive system of a wolf, a human, and a dog and see how she explains how the dog is closer to the human than the wolf.

For the high protein and kidneys and like Jax said... prove it.

And as for the heart... what's that all about? What exactly is an "athletes heart" vs a normal healthy heart? Is it better to have an athletes heart than a normal healthy heart? Did they do an echocardiograph and she was analyzing it when she made that comment? Is she a cardiologist too?

[jocoyn]

I dont think so but the ash content is very high in EVO which is why I switched to TOTW which is not as bad an gave my dog good blood numbers. BUt now I am switching to Fromm because I think a low ash food is better in the long run.

When my dog was on EVO his blood levels were off. Now is that
--OFF = not where they should be or is that
--OFF= based on a statistical sampling of normal dogd fed standard lower protein dog food?

I think too many cheap meat meals have too much bone and non meat than the natural diet would be.

My vet said the same about Grim. Steady strong slow hearbeat. That is typically an athletes heart.

[lrodptl]

Originally Posted by jocoyn

I dont think so but the ash content is very high in EVO which is why I switched to TOTW which is not as bad an gave my dog good blood numbers. BUt now I am switching to Fromm because I think a low ash food is better in the long run.

When my dog was on EVO his blood levels were off. Now is that
--OFF = not where they should be or is that
--OFF= based on a statistical sampling of normal dogd fed standard lower protein dog food?

I think too many cheap meat meals have too much bone and non meat than the natural diet would be.

My vet said the same about Grim. Steady strong slow hearbeat. That is typically an athletes heart.

This is what I thought she was referring to. Same as when I'm in shape,my resting heartrate is about 60,when I'm out of shape it's around 76.

[Jax08]

Well, I didn't say "prove it". I said if there is proof out there, I would like to read it because I've heard the same thing.

I was having dinner at a friend's house and a mutual friend was there with her husband who is on dialysis. I think what she said was it was the phosphorus levels that need to be watched carefully more so than protein levels. I can ask her if anyone is that interested.

As far as the comment on the 'athletic" heart, when I lifting weights a nurse told me I had the heartrate of a runner, meaning I had a very healthy sounding heart so I'm sure that is what the vet meant in this regards as well.

[Emoore]

Originally Posted by Lucy Dog

And as for the heart... what's that all about? What exactly is an "athletes heart" vs a normal healthy heart? Is it better to have an athletes heart than a normal healthy heart? Did they do an echocardiograph and she was analyzing it when she made that comment? Is she a cardiologist too?

I don't know the OP's vet, but athletes in general have stronger heart beats and lower resting heart rate than more sedentary individuals. Someone who is used to listening to hearts can tell this with a stethoscope.

[lrodptl]

Originally Posted by Emoore

I don't know the OP's vet, but athletes in general have stronger heart beats and lower resting heart rate than more sedentary individuals. Someone who is used to listening to hearts can tell this with a stethoscope.

I'm sure that's her reference and I've done a little googling about the other comments and they are certainly dated. Her pro neutering stance could be argued but Fritz has no marking/aggression issues,can't wander and I like this link for health concerns.
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longt...uterindogs.pdf

[Rott-n-GSDs]

Many nutrition courses offered in vet clinics are sponsored by Hills (Science Diet). Hills gets to dictate what it taught in the course. They use their own "research" to support their claims.

Hills is the ONLY dog food company out there that still believes high protein is the problem with kidney disease. Hills is the only "kidney diet" on the market that has dangerously low protein. I was given Hills k/d when Apollo was having kidney problems... I looked at it and it contains ZERO meat. None. Zilch. Nada. I decided the risks of feeding a growing large breed dog ZERO protein from a digestible source were way too high. I continued feeding a raw diet (moderate protein, low phosphorus: exactly the right formula for a dog with kidney problems) and his levels stabilized.

Hmm... I wonder why Hills would like vets to believe that high protein is the problem? Perhaps because theirs is the only food on the market that fits the bill?