A former pet industry nutritionist has created a stir in the national newspapers with the launch of whichdogfood.co.uk, a website which dismisses veterinary diets as no different to the "awful" standard pet foods sold in pet stores and supermarkets.
According to reports in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Daily Express, David Jackson says the objective of his website is to change the way people buy pet food because "pet food manufacturers have been able to get away with producing frankly awful foods for our pets."
Explaining why veterinary surgeon sell prescription diets, Mr Jackson trots out some well known arguments which will be familiar to anyone who has followed the propaganda put out by the raw meaty bones (RMB) lobby: that veterinary surgeons are not taught enough about nutrition; that those training modules that exist are largely sponsored by manufacturers, and that veterinary practices benefit from 'massive cash incentives' from the manufacturers and distributors of veterinary diets.
Mr Jackson does say that there are exceptions to the rule, notably those veterinary diets developed to help pets with intolerance, allergies or uroliths.
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Is this the same "nutritionist" who said on the telly that propylene glycol (as seen in some pet foods) was "one of the main ingredients in anti-freeze"? Hmm, I wonder why he's an "ex" pet food industry nutritionist?
Niall
How helpful is it for pet owners to discover that their pet food for senior dogs contains more fibre than average if no one mentions why that might be advisable? That is no expert rating, that is worthless.