Hills Science Diet What Is Wrong With It?

[SueM]

I just read on a couple of threads that people are saying it is garbage what is wrong with it as i feed it to my dogs ???

[rachiie]

Which threads were these? If someone has a reason for not liking a product, in my experience they usually give some sort of reason, as least on here.

I feed science diet as well, so would be interested to know..

I would guess though, that these people's dogs have not done well on the food. As you can see in any dry food topic, the real decider in what food to give your dog is whichever your dog does the best on.

Trying different foods and seeing how your dogs coat is, what their stools are like, smelliness, whether they need to eat a large amount of the food, or whether a small amount fills them up are all considerations in deciding which food.

If it works for you, stick with it. :D

[SueM]

that thread about smelly dogs it was on their, it is the most recommended world wide by vets thought i would be safe with that one and my dogs like it so i think i will stick to it :D

[KOE]

I bought a big bag of science diet when I bought one of my puppies he was fed on it, at thebreeders. He would have nothing to do with it when he came here, so I gave it to the pound and went and fed him the same as Kim. But our vet here sells a lot of it.

[Staff'n'Toller]

My seniors certainly do very well on it....and yes my Vet does feed it to his dogs!

My Stafford has food allergies- both skin and intestinal side effects, and their prescription low allergen is the only food that has greatly reduced her symptoms.

Mel.

[SueM]

i am glad their are some positives for Hills will keep it up :-)

[rachiie]

StaffordsRule - same with my parents' blue heeler. She has a food allergy and shows no symptoms on Hills Sensitive Skin.

I think she is crossed with a staffy honestly. She is the biggest escape artist, and never jumps, just bulldozes the fence. :D

[Staff'n'Toller]

StaffordsRule - same with my parents' blue heeler. She has a food allergy and shows no symptoms on Hills Sensitive Skin.

I think she is crossed with a staffy honestly. She is the biggest escape artist, and never jumps, just bulldozes the fence.

LOL- that's good Rachiie....my Stafford is on the expensive stuff- Z/D :D but hey, I would never begrudge something that works so well for her.

Mel.

[KismetKat]

My elderly cat is on Hill's prescription diet - he's gotten so old 'normal' food has a nasty result.

Mind you, I would not bother with it if I didn't have to. An animal with special dietary needs is one thing - a young healthy animal with no medical/dietary problems - why bother? Much better to feed them fresh stuff imho.

[office bitch]

I have a whippet who is allergic to the preservatives found in most dry dog food. She is fine with Hills Science Diet as apparently the preservative used is a vegetable based one. She does very well on it, glossy coat and has actually put on some weight.

I would like to feed her a BARF diet but she won't have a bar of it.

[KitKat]

Vets do get benefits for recommending Hills...but either way it is indeed a Super Premium dog food and is as good as any of the other Super Premium foods. And i've been led to believe in some pet stores staff are encouraged to promote the food and are given freebies etc if they do so.

I don't feed it to my dogs, but that's purely by personal choice...one slight reason might have been the hardsell from a vet once...not so much that they were pushing it...but how they were doing so...which was with incorrect info and saying that all the other super premiums were crap and Hills was the only 'above decent' food available in Aus

Once again...it comes down to what your dog does well on :D

[Nadia]

Vets do get benefits for recommending Hills

what sort of benefits?? It is the same as stocking any other brand of food, they make a small profit on it. Nothing more.

It is used only for animals with specific medical problems where I work, other than that we do not push any brand of food down the customers throats.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I'm probably one of the members that says HSD is garbage and I have no problem in saying why I feel this way: processed foods are not the best (optimum) diet for our dogs. The lower quality foods in particular, and this includes HSD and many other 'vet recommended' processed foods, are full of artificial everything, rancid fats (they're cheap!), preservatives so the food doesn't go bad too quickly after manufacture, are not healthful and do not maintain well-being. I liken the (usually) cheaper and less desirable dog foods including HSD and other kibbles to ppl eating a staple diet of McDonalds or Hungry Jacks. Sure, it will fill you up and give you energy, but it will also provide you with too much saturated fat, insufficient whole foods and lack of nutrition, and be anything but healthy in the long term.

If you are planning to continue with a processed food diet, why not aim for something of much higher nutritional quality? It costs more "per bag" than the cheaper and lesser quality foods, but you feed much less of the better quality foods AND your dog will be less sick as a result. IMO feeding the best you can afford actually works out less expensive than feeding a "mid-range" food.

I like any of the genuinely super-premium foods, including California Natural, Innova (esp the EVO raw food), and Solid Gold, but unfortunately they're not easy to source in most parts of Australia.

Vets sell and recommend what they do b/c they're trained with these products around them. Most vets believe that the products they sell are adequate nutrition and perhaps for some dogs, for some of the time, that's true. But as a feeding solution over the life of your dog, IMO you can (and should) do better. I am biased towards feeding whole, raw foods, for dogs AND people! I do not believe in processed foods for myself, so why would I inflict this style of "food" on my dogs?

I do feed using a BARF diet philosophy - I feed myself using the philosophy that humans are designed to eat plant matter NOT animal matter. So, my dogs eat RMBs (raw, meaty bones) as the bulk of their diet, and DH and I eat a vegetarian diet with a slow progression to vegan.

Molly is the only dog in my family to eat a "processed" food on a regular basis. And that food is Innova EVO which is a raw food in kibble form. The reason I do this is b/c she's so tiny - - - she has to eat breakfast every day, and if I gave her a RMB, it would take far too long for her to finish the meal. So, she gets EVO for breakfast and a standard BARF dinner. EVO also comes in handy when travelling etc, b/c it's still a raw foods diet, just more convenient. I normally feed BARF even on the road, but it IS more difficult and this time, we'll try the EVO for the one night we're travelling and return to BARF as soon as we arrive in Q'byn.

I know it's a long post, but my reasons for objecting to processed foods deserve a reasonable explanation. I'm sure that many ppl and their dogs do OK on processed foods, but food is designed to be healthful and nutritious by nature. Why do ppl think they can do a better job by cooking the heck out of everything, using GM ingredients, raising cattle on other dead animals (cattle are not carnivores!), and there won't be any 'cost' associated with this action? Sorry but at some point, there is a cost. Whether that be mad cow disease, heart disease, cancer, or bird flu, it's a cost. Whether it be the "obesity epidemic" or the "diabetes epidemic", it's a cost.

As always, JMHO.

[Buster's Mum]

Just curious, does anyone choose not to feed HSD because they are owned by Colgate Palmolive who do animal testing on their products? I know the HSD web site says it only keeps and treats animals in a humane way but they are still owned by CP so I'm just wondering if anyone boycots them for that reason.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I live as cruelty free as possible, but I thought that would have been obvious b/c we're vegetarian...perhaps only some ppl make the link between shunning meat and animal cruelty?

Anyway, I also happen to despise multinationals on many fronts, including human rights abuses, animal welfare/cruelty, and corporate greed. They like to squash the little guy by whatever means is most effective, and the little guy includes other animals too. :D

[SueM]

I have a 8 yr old chihuahua that has been on hsd as long as i can remember and has never had any health problems, i thought it was one of the higher priced kibbles

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

"Higher priced" doesn't necessarily indicate "better quality". I have no idea what HSD sells for, but as a guide, I have a 1.5 kg bag of Innova EVO (raw food in kibble format) that costs $19.95.

The analysis of this food is:

"Crude Protein (minimum) 42.0%, crude fat (minimum) 22.0%, crude fiber (sic) 2.5% moisture (maximum) 10.0%, linoleic acid (minimum) 4.2%, vitamin E (minimum) 300 IU/kg, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (minumim) 500mg/kg, omega-3 fatty acids (minimum) .50%, total microorganisms (minimum) 90 000 000 CFL/LB (lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium thermophilum, Enterococcus faecium in equal amounts).

What this means is that this food is very high in protein and fat, low in fibre and moisture b/c it's not full of cereals and grains like most processed foods, and it is full of naturally occuring omega oils and flora that helps to protect the gut from infection (that's the microorganisms, i.e. yoghurt by-products).

The main ingredients are:

turkey, chicken, potato, herring, eggs, chicken fat, garlic, apples, carrots and tomatoes, plus some cheese, as well as alfalfa sprouts, chickory root, lecithin, and rosemary. It contains added supplemental vitamins and minerals.

For a toy breed, that is a chihuahua or similar that weighs between 1 and 5 kg, you feed between 30 and 90 grams per day.

I wonder how HSD stacks up against the above? I'd be very interested to see its statistics and feeding guide. :D

[SueM]

Not as good as that that is for sure and a similar price tag as well, where do you get it from Lillysmum :-)

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Unfortunately, the only place I can find EVO is Pets Paradise. I've tried to get it from another supplier that doesn't sell puppies in their shop, but they don't have the demand for it and won't special order it for me.

I really dislike having to support PP, b/c they sell puppies, but when you can only get your special food from it, what else do you do? <sigh>

It's generally the only reason I go into PP (and where I usually overhear ppl wanting to buy pups go on about how "cute" said pups are...).

[Sayreovi]

I feed my dogs whatever they do well on, Science Diet isnt one of those things.

Doesnt mean it doesnt do wonders for other dogs.