its in the BLUE bag

Oftentimes, in the course of a veterinary exam, the topic of pet-foods is brought up... what kind is best? what ingredients to seek out? which ones to avoid? what brand is worth the extra money? Many of these questions come from the pet owner... and one of the most common questions is "How much should I be feeding her Doc?" Inevitably, my next question is 'What are you currently feeding?' You see, its kind of like asking "How much food should I eat every day?" without mentioning if your primary diet is Chocolate Cake or Spinach Salad. Most of the time, my clients respond with "Science Diet Senior" or "Purina Pro-Plan Large Breed" ... but often, people forget what brand they buy. So they will say something along the lines of "Well, I think its Eukanuba... or maybe its Beneful... its that one you see on TV all the time. You know, the one in the BLUE BAG!" Each time I receive this answer, I smile inwardly.... thinking to myself 'I wonder exactly how many "blue bags" of dogfood are on the market?' Wouldn't it be nice if it were that simple? Nine kinds of dog-food - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, White, Brown & Black. No fussing with "low cal" vs. "weight control" - no worrying about "urinary health" or "diabetic diets." Just give me the Blue Bag, please. Yes, that would make trips to the pet store easier - and then, I really would know which food my clients were feeding, just by knowing the color of the bag. But, we would lose access to many of the health benefits of Rx veterinary diets.... and I wouldn't have any more fun guessing games to play during the course of my day. So I guess I'm happy with things as they are. I would, however, love it if once - just once - someone simply said "I really don't know" instead of looking at me like I'm crazy when I can't win their guessing game.