Saturday started out with a trip to the vet. It was time for George's annual and the puppies needed their firsts check-ups as well and to get on heartworm preventitive. We went to the same vet we had taken Emma to and the minute I walked in I suddenly remembered how much I disliked this Vet. She is the most uncaring, self-reverential vet you can imagine. We ran into a big issue with her this time. At the heart of it, her complete lack of knowledge when it comes to large breed nutrition and her inability to accept that perhaps Brie and I were a little more current and well read on Great Dane nutrition. She said she was a little concerend about the joints in Jack's legs and claimed it was probably due to us feeding him the wrong food (remember Jack had a joint issue known as knuckling when we got him). Her recommendation, put him on Science Diet Large Breed Puppy, I explained that we were feeding him Chicken Soup For The Dog Lover's Soul Adult. I talked about the research we done into Great Dane nutrition and how highly recommended it came from other owners as well as being well within the protein/fat percentages recommended by the noted pet nutrionist the Great Dane Lady. She just got kind of snitty with me and then tried to recommended we get a fecal test based only on the breeder we purchased them from (they were de-wormed before we got them). I wasn't amused so I let Brie escort Zoe in for her exam. The doctor noted that Zoe's joints looked good and Brie mentioned what we were feeding them. She said it's not about the percentages (SDLBP is 26/8.5 way out of line with recommend percentage guidelines) it's about the quality of the ingredients, when Brie informed her that our food contains human grade meat her response was, "well you can feed them what you want, but I know best." Excuse me, but having a veternarian degree doesn't mean that you automatically know what's best. We also mentioned Eaglepack... considered my many to be the absolute best dog food out there for Great Danes. She claimed that was "all hype". The thing is the only food she would recommend was the one food she sold in her office! Maybe she just not use to dealing with realtively intelligent, well informed, pet owners. We will absolutely never take any of our dogs back to her again.

BTW - checked out what was in Science Diet just to make sure, compare these ingredient lists and even a layman would see whay CSFtDLS is a better food.

SDLBP (26/8.5): Corn meal, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, dried beet pulp, chicken liver flavor, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), vegetable oil, L-lysine, L-tryptophan, L-carnitine, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, minerals (salt, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, beta-carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

CSFtDLS (24/14): Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, whole grain brown rice, whole grain white rice, oatmeal, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, kelp, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid

For more information on this subject try:

Great Goldens.com

The Great Dane Lady