Hills Science Diet Dog Food?

[Giselle]

Veterinarians receive very brief, cursory schooling on dog food/dog nutrition. Much of what they learn is pushed by Hill's themselves and some vets receive kickbacks for selling Hill's/Science Diet. So, you can see, it's a little more than biased.

Before I go on my little spiel, you have to keep this in mind: ALWAYS use whatever works best for you and your dog. My neighbor's cat lived to 19 on grocery store kibble. So, the best food is the food that works for you.

NOW, for my little spiel...Here are the ingredients for SD Active Adult Dry:

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, ..vitamins and minerals...

The "Bad": 1) the first ingredient should always be a protein. But in SD, it's ground corn. Corn is also often an alleged allergen 2) "by-product meal" is often frowned upon. By-products refers to the non-muscle-meat parts of the animal, which includes necks, feet, etc. Whether you want to feed that is up to you 3) the ambiguous "animal fat" - what KIND of animal? horse? raccoon? huh? 4) soybean oil - dogs generally don't fare well on soybean products and it can lead to frequent flatulence 5) Dried beet pulp - the general consensus is that dried beet pulp can be beneficial for firming up poops, but there is speculation that dried beet pulp can swell in the stomach and exacerbate bloat.

Now, here's Innova Dry Adult:

Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Rice, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed, Herring, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Pumpkin, Egg, Sunflower Oil, ..vitamins and minerals..

The "Bad": Well.. there isn't too much "bad" in terms of ingredients. The first 3 ingredients are proteins (and quality proteins at that). There is a fair amount of grains and carbohydrates, but all dry dog food contains decent levels of carbs (yes, even the no-grain foods). Instead of SD's "dried beet pulp", Innova uses Pumpkin. Instead of SD's "animal fat", Innova uses Chicken Fat. Instead of SD's "soybean oil", Innova uses Sunflower Oil.

Sooo...the difference in ingredients is pretty significant. But you must always use what works for your dog. If your dog does well on SD but horribly on Innova, use SD.

[Catlady711]

Not ALL vets recieve kickbacks from any of the food companies. We carry several name brands including Purina, and Royal Canin in addition to the Hills. Our hospital only sells prescription diets, not regular foods. Head vet says he's running a vet hospital not a pet food store. To my knowledge, and the lady that does the ordering, the hospital recieves no incentives or kickbacks from any of the sales of the prescription foods.

I do agree with the statement; feed whatever works best for your pet. No one food does great for every single animal. I've seen dogs get horrible diarrhea and vomiting from Canidia (sp?) and do great on plan old Purina dog/cat chow.

If the dog is doing fine on Hills then leave well enough alone. If there's a problem, only then consider switching. Hills is not a bad food by itself, just some animals do good on it, some don't.

[Giselle]

Not ALL vets recieve kickbacks from any of the food companies. We carry several name brands including Purina, and Royal Canin in addition to the Hills.

Verbatim:

Much of what they learn is pushed by Hill's themselves and some vets receive kickbacks for selling Hill's/Science Diet.

Of course not all vets receive kickbacks, but some certainly do.

[Catlady711]

Verbatim:


Of course not all vets receive kickbacks, but some certainly do.

It's possible some do. I have seen some vets who's lobbies reminded me more of a PetSmart than a vets office with food, toys, accessories lining the walls.

Sorry I misread your original statement. I'm so used to seeing/hearing people generalize all vets into the same catagory. My mistake, sorry.

[Amanda+12]

Thanks for the info! Our dogs don't seem to have any problem with Science Diet (I mean, they aren't throwing up or anything)... so, I shouldn't even try to switch? Is it not worth trying?

Our vets office does have a small display of Science diet stuff, like pamphlets, sample food bags, and treats. Not much else, but a few dog and cat name tags.

[Freedom]

There is a grading system which some folks use. It is a guide, a good place to start. I posted about it here:

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=149509

Two varieties of Science Diet are rated (scroll down). They both came up with an "F" score. So, this means that under this system, there are better foods out there.

I used Science Diet for my cats for years. It was recommended by my vet, and I thought everything was fine. Then I found Pet Talk, and ended up doing some research on my own. I now feed Chicken Soup for the Dog / Cat Lover's Soul, and the pets are doing much better.

[Amanda+12]

I have another question... How many cups of food should an 80# Labrador and a 12# Jack Russell mix eat a day?

I keep saying the lab should only eat 2, maybe 3 cups a day. But my family says that the bag tells them to feed 5-7 , which I think is just insanely too much! What do you guys think?