www.oldiedogs.com

[u/Fit-Confusion-1080]

I hope this is allowed, I can't open he community guide or find any rules against it.

I'm working on an educational website www.oldiedogs.com for medical conditions faced by owners of elderly dogs. It is not monetized in any way. It is still being developed. Someday I will hopefully sell supplements although I see that the more research I do the fewer of the supplements we spend money on our older friends seem to really do anything but empty our wallets.

Part of the mission of this website, although someday I will try and monetize it (at the rate I'm going it would be a year plus) is to warn people what NOT to spend money on and when to go to the vet for prescription medications. The pet industry is huge, we do anything for our dogs to what end other than a hit on the wallet but when can some things help.

I got interested when a close friends dog developed cushings disease and we chose to treat with natural products instead of prescription medications and it helped her symptoms. Feedback would be nice but I'm just most interested that people have a resource if it helps to understand a specific condition. the website needs work still so be patient using it..

[u/atlantisgate]

Without a veterinary degree, what business do you have telling people when they don't need to go to the vet?

Treating cushings with "natural products" (aka supplements without evidence backing them as a treatment for this illness) without the advice of a qualified veterinary is just so incredibly alarming and dangerous. You are going to kill someones pet giving advice like this, and I hope they'll sue you when you do.

And trying to earn money selling supplements is like the gold standard "this person is a quack" red flag.

[u/Fit-Confusion-1080 → u/atlantisgate]

when do I ever say dont go to the vet. Wow, some of you people really lack reading comprehension. I'm certain you didn;t visit the site.Thrre is absolutely not one thing on that site for sale, someday there hopefully will be Chewy affiliate links that might help defray some of the cost of mainnting the site and by cost I mean WP subscriptions and such, not "cost" of paying myself. You have a problem with that? Some of you are really nasty people.

[u/atlantisgate → u/Fit-Confusion-1080]

Yes I absolutely have a problem with you offering medical advice when you aren’t a medical professional

“Part of my mission is to warn people what not to spend money on and when to go to the vet”

This obviously implies there will be times when you advise people that the vet is unnecessary. Evaluating when it is and isn’t time for the vet as someone with no veterinary credentials is wildly dangerous.

Being appalled that someone without appropriate education is running a pet health website that provides advice to people that should be coming from a vet is not “nasty” it’s common sense.

And yes, the fact that you eventually plan to make money selling supplements to people is exactly part of the problem and the fact that you haven’t taken that step doesn’t make it less quack-y

I did visit the site and am immediately concerned that you, for example, recommend omega 3 supplementation to dogs with skin issues without any kind of warning about the many things that can go wrong with that. For example, dogs with preexisting susceptibility to pancreatitis shouldn’t do that. Dogs that are overweight shouldn’t do that. Advising on supplements without a disclaimer that one should NEVER add a supplement to their pets diet without their vet okay-ing that addition is irresponsible.

And that’s not even getting into the fact that lots of supplement companies are not selling what they claim to be selling and it’s an unregulated space. So you’re directing people to products that may or may not do what they claim they do and may or may not have third party testing, all under the guise of having authority where you have none.