Science Diet

[ScantyNebula]

I just decided today to switch my furkids food. I am feeding them Friskies right now, and I have been doing my research and I'm going to dish out a little more for healthier food. I bought Hill's Science Diet .. has anyone else used this? Would you recommend this food .. or any other brand?

[Uabassoon]

It's just like any other food, some people like it and some people don't. I feed my cats science diet and they both seem to be doing really well on it. They have beautiful soft fur, bright shiny eyes, they aren't overweight or underweight. And it is a much better food than friskes. And if cost is an issue, usually every few weeks I find coupons in the booklet that somes in the Sunday newspaper for $3 off. I usually stock up on those coupons which really helps cut the cost of the food down.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I know there are some people that have a problem with Science Diet but I don't remember exactly why.

All I know is that this is the only food T & P have gotten their entire lives with me, and as you know they are both a healthy 17 and almost 15 years old, so whatever is supposed to be wrong with Science Diet can't be that bad.

I started Tubby on it shortly after I got him because he had dandruff. The vet said a "premium" food has more oils in it than the "store bought" brands, and the extra oils would be good for his skin and help the dandruff. Well, since he has had dandruff his entire life, I can't say as it helped in that department, but then again, I don't know how bad the dandruff would have been with a "store" brand.

But even though it didn't stop the dandruff, I continued to buy the Adult formula for quite awhile. Then I switched to the Feline Maintenance Light for many many years to keep Tubby's tubbiness under control - and it worked because he never gained anymore weight after that. He didn't lose any (I think), but he didn't gain it either. Then, just a few years ago, I switched them to the Senior formula.

When Tubby was diagnosed with his early stages of kidney failure, the vet asked me what I fed him, and he said the Senior formula was "perfect," so that's what it's been ever since.

So, I've never done any research or anything like that, just went on the Vet's recommendations, and I have 2 healthy senior cats to show for it.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by Uabassoon
And if cost is an issue, usually every few weeks I find coupons in the booklet that somes in the Sunday newspaper for $3 off. I usually stock up on those coupons which really helps cut the cost of the food down.

Yes, I do that too. And I found that with two of them, I can buy the big 20 lb bag. It cost more up front, but if you add up how much you go through in a year, you will save money over buying the smaller bags. I usually buy a new bag once every 1 1/2 months or so, and I think I figured it out once that I would save about $100.00 a year over buying the 10 lb bags. So once Lily can eat adult food, this might be something to consider also.

[Uabassoon]

I also buy the big bags and store it in an air tight container so the food won't go stale and so Corkscrew won't rip open the bag. His bowl can be full, but if there is a bag of food around he will rip it open and tear it apart. LOL but sometimes I can be so cheap last week I went into Petsmart with one of my coupons and saw a giant bag with a small rip and a sticker on it saying 10% off because of the rip. I ended up saving around $5 on just that one bag! Very exciting for a poor college student, I used the extra $5 to buy myself a burrito.

[ScantyNebula]

Thanks for the info ... I've been trying to find some posts about why people dislike Science Diet .. I will read into, the guy at the pet store recommended other brands as well, one which looked very good and natural, but I would have to spend $45 on food approx. every 21 days!! I'm searching for cheaper alternatives, but I want my cats to be eating high quality food.

[moosmom]

I've tried a couple of different brands on my cats. Max Nutro, Science Diet Nature's Best, Felidae. I have always gone back to Science Diet. They like it the best. They even like the SD Nature's Best.

Out of all of the brands, SD is the only one that they don't waste. I don't buy the cheap brands because my cats have a tendency to get UTI's from them. Especially my male cats.

[Former User]

We've tried a bit of everything and always ended up going back to Hill's as all the cats love it. We give Hill's dry food for the cats and once a week wet food as a treat, it's by Nutro. I've noticed that with Hill's the cats coat have changed into a smooth, soft and shiny, with something else we tried, the fur always felt as if it was dirty...

[carole]

I am wondering if you get EXCELLENCE in your country, this is a cheaper product available here in our supermarkets, but it has all the good stuff in it,and no added colours or preservative, and my cats love it, it cost around 4.75 in nz dollars for a 500kg bag.

looks rather unusual, and comes in hairball control as well, in flavours duck , poultry and herring I think and another.

I have heard good and bad about science diet on pet-talk, some swear by it, others not, so it really is up to you, but try and get the EXCELLENCE if you can, I strongly recommend it, especially if finances ares somewhat limited.

[ScantyNebula]

Thanks, I haven't seen that brand Excellence around .. I will double check next time I'm at the store though.

What is so bad about Science Diet anyway? I mean I'm feeding my cats Friskies now, It can't be worse than that can it?

I'm curious to know the bad things you've heard about Science Diet..

[Former User]

I once asked about Hill's food too ---->Thread about Hill's food

[Miss Meow]

We were giving our cats Friskies for a while during the play tunnel promotion, and they started porking on the weight. This happened to a friend's cats also, which made us think that Friskies has more fat or cereal-based carbohydrates than other brands. It's only a guess as I don't have any boxes at home to compare the nutritional info.

We tried Science Diet oral care last week and the cats seemed to like it, so we'll try a bigger bag with their dried food mix (Jasmine likes the crunchy bits in Dine, Mini and Tabasco get some hairball mix, and Pickles loves the Whiska's Dental Treats - something for everybody!)

[Soledad]

I don't remember PTers having problems with Hill's SD, but with IAMS because of animal testing.

Boo and Bettie are on SD and LOVE it. I get a lot of people telling me that Boo is the softest kitty cat they've ever felt.

[Steffi N]

Lovable eats the Science Diet Savory Chunks chicken and seafood. He does have very soft fur. Also I recently started him on Purina ProPlan indoor cat formula. He seems to really like it.
I did have an unsatisfactory experience recently with some Nutro dry food and moist food that comes in pouches. Lovable would not eat it, so I gave it to my neighbor for the group of outdoor town cats that she feeds. They did not like it either, so she gave it to our local shelter.

[ScantyNebula]

Thanks again.

I think I am going to stick with the Science Diet, for now anyway. I will do a bit more research to see if there is any better foods for the same price at my pet store.

Either way I am going to stick to buying only premium foods and not store brand anymore. I would cringe when I looked at the price, but today when I looked at the feeding suggestions, I noticed that 1 bag would last for a month! They will eat a lot less!So I pay 33 dollars a month on the premium food. I will be spending an extra 10-15 dollars a month, but its worth it!