Recommendations on veterinaries that endorses raw feeding / minimally processed food in Christchurch
Any recommendations on vets in Christchurch that endorse raw feeding? We are wanting to make a switch to a new vet.
We have a golden retriever (2 years old) who has always been difficult to find a kibble that she will eat. She will love it for the first week and then stop eating and refusing food each day until she was really hungry, in which she would then force herself to eat a little bit.
We have trialled so many different kibble brands and different proteins to see if one would be more enticing then another. We have had to endure the long process of gradual introduction to each new kibble type to avoid any stomach upset. We also notice she will scratch herself a lot on any kibble.
She was losing weight and we took her to the vets. They could not see any related health concerns or issues that could be causing weight loss other than food intake so encouraged us to get her to eat her kibble. We tried mixing vet recommended royal canin canned wet food from the vet and blending the kibble which did help a bit.
We decided one day after a bit of research that we wanted to try a raw diet. We spoke with a nutritionalist at a raw feeding company and began this diet. WOW - she was a different dog. Eating all her food gladly, excited for meal times, and her coat condition had healthy shine to it. Her behaviour had also settled and she was much calmer. We were sold at this point and find a large community of people in the same boat.
The issue is that our vets do not endorse this diet and keep trying to push royal canin. We really have seen the difference this diet change has done and confirmed my personal bias towards this way of feeding and nutrition for animals. I would love to go to a veterinary that also supports this nutrition- but it seems hard pressed to come by a vet clinic that doesn’t partner with royal canin products and would happily endorse his way of feeding which feels crazy to me. I understand that there are risks involved if owners are not handling food safely or giving nutritionally imbalanced meals, but for those who take that seriously, it’s hard to find someone that will endorse this.