HOLISTIC PET WELLBEING

WHO ARE THE AUTHORS OF NOT FIT FOR A DOG?

Michael W. Fox, B.Vet.Med., PhD., D.Sc., M.R.C.V.S:  his post-graduate research on animal behavior and development earned him a PhD in medicine and DSc in ethology/animal behavior from the University of London.  He's a well-known author of the syndicated newspaper column “Animal Doctor” which he's written for over 40 years. He's former vice president of The Humane Society of the United States, former vice president of Humane Society International and the author of more than 40 adult and children’s books on animal care, animal behavior and bioethics.  He's a member of the British Veterinary Asociation, the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and an Honor Roll member of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins D.V.M.:  "A feline specialist in private practice in California who had served as director of technical affairs at Hill's Pet Food Nutrition, was one clear voice of truth and reason.  Her testimony documented the pet food industry's lack of effective regulation, oversight, quality and safety controls, adequcy and accuracy of labeling, and verifiability of claimed nutritional value.  She made it quite clear that cats in particular were becoming ill and dying well before the thousands of melamine deaths (2007) because of some of the ingredients and formulations the U.S. pet food manufacturers were marketing to a trusting public."  She currently is Director of Veterinary Services for Ceva Animal Health. She oversees the veterinary services managers who provide technical support to Ceva Animal Health’s sales and marketing groups nationwide.

Marion E. Smart D.V.M., PhD.:  recently retired Professor Emeritus, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Sakatoon,SK.  She taught and practised in veterinary pathology, clinical pathology and large animal medicine for more than 35 years.  Dr Smart taught a small animal nutrition elective course to veterinary students begininning in the 90's — the first of its kind in North America at that time and I was in attendance.  Dr Smart was my small animal nutrition professor and now inspires hope, having transitioned from teaching this program from the the textbook Hills Pet Nutrition' to coauthoring this remarkably honest, integral, in depth look at the corruption and dishonesty in the pet food industry some 15 years later!

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Veterinarians have significant influence on the decisions made by their clients concerning the diets fed to their pets. This relationship is unique within the medical community. Veterinarians not only advise their clients on what to feed their healthy pets and sell these veterinary exclusive life stage diets, but also sell veterinary 'prescription' diets to manage or treat specific health problems, diets that are only available for purchase from veterinarians.

This was modelled over and over in veterinary school and clinics:   if there’s a heart problem - feed the heart diet; if there’s a kidney problem - feed the kidney diet; an allergy problem, the allergy diet... whatever was therapeutic about these diets only the pet food reps knew for sure and the clinics raked in the profits, with typically a 50% markup! 

How did this conflict of interest occur?

In 1976, Colgate-Palmolive acquired ‘Hill’s Pet Products’ and based on its experience with using dentists to promote its toothpastes, it was an obvious move to have veterinarians endorse their pet food line. Since companion animal nutrition had historically fallen through the cracks in most vet colleges, typically with less than 20 hours of lecture provided to students(1)  Colgate-Palmolive offered to fill in the void and their input was welcomed for several reasons:

-free extracurricular lectures and labs which didn’t drain the academic budget

-free or discounted pet foods offered to students, faculty and staff

-free or discounted pet foods to teaching hospitals, with any profits benefiting the college

-free or discounted pet foods for university resource centres to feed the research dogs and cats

-new research monies for small animal clinicians who are traditionally underfunded

-financial support can include sponsoring a faculty chair, special equipment or hospital improvements

-financial support at continuing education events for veterinarians and students

Their input was welcome because they bought their way into the 'hallowed halls' of veterinary colleges!  With contracts guaranteeing exclusivity, the ‘endorsement’ sank to the depths that the textbook for companion animal nutrition at my veterinary college was entitled ‘Hills Pet Nutrition’.  A complete takeover had occured and no one questioned or seemed concerned at all.

“The question arises: How can one justify supporting an industry that reacted to a problem it created through the diets in developed and marketed (ie nutritionally-related diseases) by producing and marketing expensive special diets rather than pulling the offending products off the market?” (1)

A further question arises: How can one justify supporting a professional industry that reacted to a problem (inadequate companion animal nutritional education) by accepting and endorsing a corporation whose only true mandate was profit, rather than providing honest, accurate nutrition education for their keen veterinary students?

Follow the money? Hills sales grew from $40 million in 1982 to US$15.5 billion of net sales in 2017(2). With close to 30,000 american vet practices that revenue translated to nearly $60,000 for the average hospital (3) an estimated 30% of clinic income coming from the sale of 'veterinary exclusive diets'! Companion animal veterinarians were trained in college to become  affiliates of a multi billion dollar corporation all the while standing forward as knowledgeable, informed and unbiased animal care experts to their clients. The client paid but not nearly as dearly as their companion animals did!

(1)Fox,M  E. Hodgkins and M. Smart; Not Fit For a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured dog and Cat Food; Quill Driver Books, 2009

(2)https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/8921-hills-pet-nutrition-pet-food-net-sales-up-8-in-q4-2019

(3) https://todaysveterinarybusiness.com/pet-food-sales-drop-nearly-6-at-vet-hospitals

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Check out some articles Dr Brenda has written for the local paper:

Working with Animals A LifeTime Passion

https://www.lakecowichangazette.com/community/new-columnist-working-with-animals-a-lifetime-passion/

First Do No Harm - Doesn't it Just Make Sense?

https://www.lakecowichangazette.com/news/first-do-no-harm-doesnt-it-make-sense/

Knowing Your Farmer - Vital to a Humane World!

https://www.lakecowichangazette.com/community/bernhardt-knowing-your-farmer-vital-to-humane-world/

Puppies Come First - Life Giving Itself to Life

https://www.lakecowichangazette.com/community/puppies-come-first-life-giving-itself-to-life/

Watch Dr Brenda's Interview with Vaccine Choice Canada here:

https://librti.com/view-video/are-pet-vaccines-safe-effective-dr