Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Dietary Options

Winston has been eating Science Diet Prescription i/d for about 10 months now. His vet proclaims that it is the only option because of his IBD (a general term that refers to inflammation of the colon and rectum found in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.) As most of you know, dog food can range from disgusting to wonderful. (kibbles and bits to raw instinct) I had a feeling the food was not that great, simply because of the ingredients but after discussing this with the SSD staff, we knew we had to find out.
Unfortunately, when we graded Winston's dog food (I will post the test in a later entry) it scored a 53%. This is outragious and completely unacceptable especially when the food costs $60 for a 40lb bag! I had originally decided to take the advice of Head Trainer Cindy Williams and started the pursuit of seeing a holistic vet.
I chose to start out with Kutztown Animal Hospital. After speaking with the manager yesterday, I was incredibly disappointed. The manager was not only rude to me but also the staff of SSD. She argued that Winston was a "real" "working" service dog and insisted on checking with her "friends" to see if SSD was "reputable". She did not thank me for any information I provider her with, nor the phone number or web address. She promptly called SSD to ask them to find another holistic vet for me to see. WHAT?
So I began emailing brands that offered holistic foods to ask their opinnion. To my surprise I got the most delightful email from Solid Gold today. They knew exactly what blend of products to offer Winston as an alternative to i/d! And best of all, they are HEALTHY well balanced options! I am incridibly excited.