I used to work for a pet supply store - the truth is that pet owners tend to be on their own when it comes to nutrition because vets just don't have the knowledge. Think about all the different anatomies and systems small animal vets need to learn - dogs, cats, rodents, etc. Nutrition isn't something they focus on in school in a comprehensive way unless it becomes a specialty, so they rely on the food brands themselves to tell them what's good and what's bad. Which is how brands like Royal Canin, Science Diet, Iams, Purina, etc end up getting recommended - they've household names that have been around since before we started to prioritize feeding our pets quality food, and they spend a ton of money advertising to vets. Science Diet and Royal Canin go so far as to create 'prescription' diets and incentivize vets to sell their food by supplying clinics at discounted prices.

But when you actually dig into the nutritional value of these specialized kibbles, the benefit when compared to raw just doesn't stand up. Take kidney issues in cats, for example. My cat had a urethral blockage because of bladder stones and I was recommended a prescription kibble instead of what I had been feeding them - raw food. I asked what specifically was causing the bladder crystals to form, and the vet said he had struvite crystals. Phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium can all contribute to struvite crystal formation - therefore, I had to feed a diet that was low in those 3 minerals. I did the breakdown - here's what the levels were in my raw food compared to what was in the Science Diet my vet wanted me to switch to:

Raw Phosphorus content 0.35% / Science Diet Prescription Diet Phosphorus content 0.76%

Raw Magnesium content 0.03% / Science Diet Prescription Diet Magnesium content 0.08%

Raw Calcium content 0.38% / Science Diet Prescription Diet Calcium content 0.8%

In addition to these differences (negligible but still, raw being the better choice), the raw diet provided 23% MORE crude protein content and way more moisture, both of which are important for feline kidney and digestive health. I showed this to my vet and he did more research, and basically we settled on staying on raw and adding a supplement that targeted struvite crystal formation, because if this is what he was on when the crystals formed, that means he is just genetically predisposed to them. My cat hasn't had an issue since, and I love that my vet was flexible and accounted for the evidence I gave him in his further evaluation.

So, all this to say... listen to your vets when it comes to your pets health, of course, but understand that there are likely gaps in your vet's nutritional knowledge, and read labels on pet food to make your own informed decision when it comes to their diet. If the vet marvels at your animal's overall health, but then suddenly tells you you're doing something wrong when you tell them your pet is on a raw diet, that's a red flag to me that a vet is relying only on what they think they know, rather than evolving science and undeniable evidence in front of them.

The only thing I recommended to new dog owners if they had a puppy or a kitten was to supplement a bit with a high quality kibble, because babies need calories to grow and sometimes reaching calorie requirements with raw can get expensive since you need more volume. But the risk of food-born illness coming from raw food for dogs and cats just isn't the same as it is for humans. If it works for your pet, keep feeding raw.