Are you familiar with this vet?

[Dawnflight1984]

So I got a complimentary 15 min consult with Dr Peter Dobias because some time back, I was given a Hair Q test and I had it done on Oreo. It's quite interesting. Since Oreo has such an exciting medical history in her short 2 years of life, I thought it would be good to get a 2nd opinion from this vet who speaks so much about feeding dogs well and using holistic/alternative methods to treat all our regular maladies (like ear infections, allergies etc).

This is how it went: It's apparent from the skype consult that he's friendly. After reviewing the test results, first thing, he tried pushing two of the health products, GreenMin (http://peterdobias.com/community/products/greenmin-2/) and SoulFood (http://peterdobias.com/community/products/soul-food/. I'm sure he's sincere that they led to the good health of his dog, but it felt a little like he's just trying to advertise them too. He also advised that I make an appointment for a longer consultation session (which I must say, will cost about as much as 4 sessions with our regular vet, inclusive of any supplements/medication prescribed - in other words, expensive!) because he can't do much with only 15 minutes, and he feels that given Oreo's young age, lots can be done to help make her feel better.

Having said that, when I asked which of the supplements that Oreo's currently on that I can stop feeding her should I start her on his supplements, he reviewed them all and was very objective about it. He wanted her on fish oils and probiotics, but he said what she's getting is good enough and didn't try to push what he sold.

After the consultation, I don't quite know what to make of his recommendations. What's your opinion? Is he just trying to promote his stuff, or is it worth taking up his advice, trying his supplements and making an appointment for a longer consultation?

On a different note, I changed Oreo's diet back to raw chicken instead of the old boiled chicken and potato last night. I could no longer stand the horribly smelly, soft poop, also, she has started displaying weird unwanted behaviours like licking her paws excessively ! Not that her poop has become really good overnight, because this morning, after getting the raw chicken last night, we got fairly odorless poop of pudding consistency. Hopefully it's just because we are restarting the raw, not because I'm making things worse for her!

Opinions, everyone?

[ClareMarsh]

Peter Dobias is an interesting one IMO

I am not at all surprised that you say he tried to push those products, I feel like he does that in some of his blog posts. I find it a bit off putting and to date I haven't seen him write anything compelling enough about them for me to try to understand more or consider them for Ted.

However he does also come up with some very interesting links between illness and lifestyle. For e.g. I remember a post he did about a dog with diarrhea (I think that was it) that turned out to be a result of too much ball chasing too often. Once the excessive ball chasing was minimised the dog returned to health. So for this reason I find his posts interesting as he challenges the accepted norm.

Would I pay 4 times my vet for an on-line consultation, I guess it depends how rich I was and how ill my dog was. At the end of the day you can say no to the supplements and he may come up with something no one else has thought of. However if money isn't in never ending supply you (and lets face it that's the case for most of us) then I'd probably think twice.

Not sure that helps!

Oh and I've sent a hair test of for Ted but it's a £25 test (PD's are much more expensive I think), I'll let you know how that goes when it comes back. http://www.holisticremediesuk.co.uk/info.htm

[Dawnflight1984]

Oh and I've sent a hair test of for Ted but it's a £25 test (PD's are much more expensive I think), I'll let you know how that goes when it comes back. http://www.holisticremediesuk.co.uk/info.htm

Ooh... The website's a little scanty, but I must say, this test sounds good. If money is in neverending supply, I am tempted to get her hair tested on both tests, just to see how they compare and compare that against what I already know from my vet!

But you are right, apart from the diet issue, Oreo's never been better than she is right now. Apart from some dry and peeling skin, she's not itching, not picking up ticks like a magnet and definitely not getting angry patches of rashes. Honestly, I'm in a dilemma because I'm not in too big of a hurry to change anything and fix what isn't "broken", although he sounded so congenial and convincing, to a certain extent.