Cat food question

...My question is why are these big brands so prominent in pet stores and vet clinics? I understand the advertising and money they probably pump into the franchises and vets. But 1 google search will tell you these brands are pretty much killing your cats with corn and other additives. Are they really that bad? And what evidence are they using to claim these big brands are the best? I remember years ago people were generally positive towards Purina, Hills and Royal Canin.

AugmentedElle:

I went into some of the details about it here and engaged in recent discourse about it here

Really, it comes down to research. "These brands do lots of research on their product" is the biggest reason, which then gets them the “vet recommended” label. However, there’s a few factors to consider:

1. Brands that don't fund/conduct research can still access and accurately utilize the research
2. Brands that fund/conduct research can neglect to utilize it (for example, Mars Petcare found in 2018 that inorganic phosphate salts have significant negative effects on renal and kidney function, yet multiple Royal Canin formulas contain these exact salts)
3. Research directly associated with a product has a high risk of bias
4. Product A being found to be better than Product B does not mean that Product A is the best product (they would have to test on a much wider variety of nutritional compositions)
5. Research (and, honestly, the veterinary field as a whole) did not really care about cats for a long time and much of what we "know" about cats is generalized from studies on primarily dogs. Most cat-only studies I've found have been conducted within the past 15 years. Dogs are opportunistic carnivores/omnivores have different digestive systems
6. Lack of research does not = thing not being true (ex. we have research on adequate cat nutrition, but have a substantial lack of research on optimal cat nutrition)
7. Nutrition education in vet schools can be extremely limited. The AVMA only requires one broad nutrition course, and only some schools have nutrition electives (example). Vets can get additional nutrition education if they choose to, but that is up to the individual and not guaranteed. This education might be different in Australia, but since these are US brands the AVMA is still relevant
8. For some reason many vets believe that only these brands have veterinary/PhD nutritionists formulate the products, own their manufacturing facilities, regularly analyze the nutritional composition of their products, and utilize research, which is just not true

Also: Why do vets recommend Royal Canin so often?