Prescription Diet .. A Rant by Pops
To this cotton picking day, I still don't understand WHY a Dog, or his/her Person NEEDS A PRESCRIPTION to purchase the DANG GONE FOOD! I keep Calvin's prescriptions with me (which these folks who's...
Forum Discussion
The point is they really are NOT prescription items. These foods have different ingredients or proportions that add or limit ingredients that serve to treat disease. The major types I've used work with kidney failure, chronic intestinal inflammation/disease, diabetes, food allergy, weight loss and bladder/kidney stones.
Most of these diets are designed for a specific disease and don't cause any short term problems when used in a healthy animal, but long term use or use in pregnant and the young isn't the best choice (absent the disease).
The main arguments that the veterinary profession and manufacturers of these foods have is that without the control people will self diagnose and create a problem using the wrong diet or make things worse without getting a correct diagnosis.
The first recommendation for use of these diets always comes with an exam and often lab work (you've paid for a diagnosis). Subsequent refills of the diet should only require the question - Is it working as it's supposed to? We often have people visiting or on vacation that need some K/D to get through the next week before getting home - never a problem.
Most of these diets are designed for a specific disease and don't cause any short term problems when used in a healthy animal, but long term use or use in pregnant and the young isn't the best choice (absent the disease).
The main arguments that the veterinary profession and manufacturers of these foods have is that without the control people will self diagnose and create a problem using the wrong diet or make things worse without getting a correct diagnosis.
The first recommendation for use of these diets always comes with an exam and often lab work (you've paid for a diagnosis). Subsequent refills of the diet should only require the question - Is it working as it's supposed to? We often have people visiting or on vacation that need some K/D to get through the next week before getting home - never a problem.
