Do vets actually recommend Hill s Science Diet

Why do vets recommend Hills Science Diet / Prescription Diet?

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Why do vets recommend Hills Science Diet / Prescription Diet?

Why do vets recommend Hills Science Diet / Prescription Diet?

Im a qualified pet nutritionist, yet I rate Hills Science Diet, Hills Prescription Diet, and Mars Royal Canin poorly.

Vets on the other hand religiously defend and endorse these brands. Why is that? Why do vets recommend Hills Science Diet, Prescription Diet, and Royal Canin?

Whats the truth about Hills Science Diet?

Take a look at the ingredients on any bag of Hills Prescription or Science Diet dry food. Youll find mostly grains wheat, sorghum, corn, rice.

Shouldnt these animals have a diet mostly of animal or whole prey?

When we consider how much grain is in these foods, and how much carbohydrate for facultative carnivre dogs and factually carnivorous cats, it begs the questions Is Science Diet bad for dogs? How can grains be fed to cats? Is Prescription Diet any better?

In fact youll find much more grain in these products than meat.

Basic animal nutrition 101 tells us how odd it is to feed a dog as a facultative carnivore from the Order Carnivora, and more so a cat as an obligate carnivore, a diet comprising mostly of grains.

Wheres the science in that?

It simply doesnt make sense.

So why on earth do vets recommend these products?

Why do vets recommend Hills Science Diet?

In my experience and communications with many veterinarians, the most common reason may surprise you -> VETS HAVE SEEN THESE PRODUCTS WORK!

But how can they work if theyre stuffed with cereal grains like I mentioned earlier?

This is something Ive found to be rarely considered by veterinarians, if at all. But these are the real questions which should be asked.

If youre a vet, and youre reading this, have you ever considered why these products work?

Why does Hills Science Diet work?

The answer may be simpler than we could ever imagine, with just one simple consideration:

Most pet foods are very poor quality. It doesnt take much to offer a pet food marginally better.

Vets see an improvement in pet health when they are transitioned to Hills Science or Prescription Diet products, very likely for this reason. Pretty convincing evidence, wouldnt you agree?

An animal comes in with an illness and poor blood results, and a few weeks after the transition in diet their blood results show an improvement. Miraculous!?

Unfortunately its a glaring oversight.

Most kibble is absolute rubbish. Junk food. A convenience product designed for profit.

Sadly business is business, and if these manufacturers put your pets before profit theyll never succeed as a business, and the businessmen behind those businesses will never own a Lamborghini (which is generally the driving motivation behind a business).

These simple facts (blame it on Capitalism if you will) are the fundamental reason why most dog foods are unhealthy.

Healthy foods cost money, unhealthy foods make profit.

Why is Hills Science Diet so expensive?

When you read the ingredients, and understand how cheap those ingredients are, you may wonder why Hills Science Diet is so expensive.

So do I.

Hills is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. The reason theyve become so big is they know how to make the largest profits possible from products we believe we should use every day.

Im sure valid arguments include the cost of science, research, safety, quality control, and of course funding large offices and lots of staff, but the end result is a dry pet food product made largely of grains for carnivorous animals.

As pet owners and consumers we implicitly trust what our veterinarians recommend, and because we want whats best for the pets we love were also willing to pay a premium for those recommendations.

Why do people feed Hills and Royal Canin to their pets?

Unfortunately for our pets most people dont realise how dubious these products are, and they feed them continuously to the pets they love, without ever questioning it ever!

Were blindsided by some of the best product marketers in the world from some of the leading conglomerates in the world Mars, Nestle, and Colgate-Palmolive.

Not just us, but veterinarians as well.

We trust products without questioning why we trust them.

For student vets, they trust the syllabus material they are taught, often funded or even provided by pet food manufacturers.

Millions of dogs are fed poor quality kibble and consequentially their health will suffer over time. Obesity, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, kidney disease, IBD, IBS, allergies, and so forth, can all be caused by bad diet. Hills have an answer for all these diet-related health conditions in the form of cleverly-marketed premium or prescription diets. So do Royal Canin.

Hills is a product of toothpaste and shampoo conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive, and Royal Canin is a product of Mars.

The penny drops

Let this simple fact resonate, as it will give you the answer to why vets recommend Hills Science Diet, Prescription Diet, and/or Royal Canin:

If you feed your dog junk food, then replace it with something marginally better, youll very likely see an improvement.

Its not a miracle, and it doesnt mean the expensive premium/prescription diet is healthy or optimal. Its just marginally better than the rubbish fed previously which more than likely caused the illness in the first place.

In many cases a prescription food is tailored to reducing the symptoms of the specific condition. For example, a kidney diet has reduced phosphorous (and more often than not less meat). A weight loss diet will have lower fat (by reducing meat and increasing grains/legumes).

Corporate pet food manufacturers convince us these foods are optimal when theyre not. In some case they even use the word Optimal in the brand name (Optimum, also by Mars).

A dog or cat suffering kidney problems shouldnt be fed a dry food period. An overweight dog is likely overweight because the previous diet was high in carbs and grains their bodies were unable to process. In cases such as this, reducing their meat intake definitely isnt the optimal solution. A diet with lacklustre meat will likely lead to other health issues over time, even on expensive premium diets packed with grains, even the ones using marketing words like Science in the name.

Most of the time the deteriorating health of our pets (especially pets with a health condition) is attributed to the worsening of the condition or old age, or just plain bad luck, which is far from the whole truth. Diet is so often overlooked as the cause of an initial health condition, and also the cause of subsequent health conditions while the pet is on the premium/prescription food. Its strange how the term We are what we eat is never translated to our pets.

These are fundamental reasons why toothpaste and shampoo company Colgate-Palmolive (makers of Hills) and confectionery company Mars (makers of Royal Canin) make an absolute killing out of expensive premium and prescription diets regardless of whether theyre optimal or not, and completely irrespective of the grains theyre made from.

The mass poisoning of pets by vets 1991 2015 (and beyond)

This is a controversial video by Sydney vet Dr. Tom Lonsdale, a campaigner against the junk pet food industry since 1991.

Hi Kelsey,

Pitlove is right Petfooled is laden with misinformation its too bad really.. anyway here are just a few comments I made about it on the review section

Here is an excerpt from the trailer and the film as an example of misinformation. In reference to corn wheat and soy those are the things that cause overweight, diabetes, arthritis,chronic skin allergies, infections..

The problem is, is that there is just as much evidence to say that beef, lamb, and chicken are the things that cause overweightedness, allergies, diabetes, and infections as there is to say corn, wheat and soy cause those things. In other words there is no basis to be making either statement. It is all fake news

What was presented was very biased. For example in regards to rendering there were pics of body piles and dead stock and road kill but no real discussion that the material used in pet food is usually always from a USDA integrated facility leading the viewer to think that road kill and dead bloated cattle is the primary source for pet food ingredients.

Major blunders in facts ( they couldnt even get the anatomy labeling correct ) and appeal to nature fallacy.

Dr. Becker incorrectly reported that the scientific name of the dog waschanged from canis lupus familiaris to just canis lupus because dogsare essentially wolves vs them being a recognized subspecies.

She reported the change was because the only differences between wolves and dogs is outer packaging

Shesh!!Fact check people, just dont lift garbage off of raw feeding sitesand repeat it! What she said was pretty much verbatim from here https://www.balanced-canine…

What really happened was that the dog was canis familiaris and waschanged to canis lupus familiaris. Similar renaming occurred with otherdomestic animals: separate species names were abandoned in favor ofclassifying under the same species and assigning a subspecies name.

No mention of the Nature journal paper that reported on the geneticadaptation of dogs vs wolves in regards to carbohydrate metabolism.Hmmwonder why.

Implications that major pet food companies wont disclose where they source from because they declined to be interviewed for the film. I understand why they would decline to be interviewed and if the producers of the film were interested in looking at sourcing infothey could have just lifted it from company web pages.

Did they not want the viewer to know that human grade 1 and 2 grains and meat from USDA integrated plants is used in pet foods?

All in all a waste of time. Not worth paying for and not worth watching.

Also, did you know that the average debt for a person graduating vet school is upwards of $167,000 with 20% owing more than 200,000? Therefore this statement, Vets push Science Diet so hard because Science Diet puts them through school. Science Diet is somewhat like a sponsor for the vet. is complete fake news Oh sure they may get a pocket protector and some free pens or a back pack . Vet Students used to get a hard copy of Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. Dont know if they still get a hard copy as you can just download it off their site, (You can too for that matter and if you are interested in nutrition it is worth your time to read it.) and I think vet students can buy their Hills food at a reduced rate. Big deal, nothing that would even make a teeny tiny dent in the cost of their education. Student loans are what puts vets through school not Science Diet.

9 of the Best Dog Food Brands Available, According to Vets

Below, weve highlighted some of the best dog food brands currently available, based on the guidelines outlined by Dr. Kimmelstiel and Dr. Prantil, plus enthusiastic reviews by proud pet parents. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and itll probably take some trial and error (read taste-testing on your poochs part) before you settle on a go-to pet food, but it should provide a jumping-off point for the next time you discuss dog food options with your vet.

Founded on a whole food approach to nutrition, Natures Logic makes complete-diet pet foods without synthetic vitaminsall the nutrients your pup needs come from the meats, veggies, and fruits that make up the brands tasty recipes. In addition to traditional wet and dry dog food thats suitable for all life stages (from puppies to senior dogs), Natures Logic makes frozen meals, with both raw and lightly cooked options available.

Nature's Logic Canine Beef Meal Feast Dry Dog Food

Nature's Logic Canine Chicken Feast Canned Dog Food

With balanced diet recipes free of preservatives and fillers, company-owned canneries and factories, and a team of nutritional experts, its little wonder why Merrick is consistently a top-rated brand. Its vast catalog of foods include kibbles made with high-quality proteins, produces, and whole grains; limited-ingredient meals for dogs with dietary restrictions; and high-protein dry and wet dog foods. In other words, from large breed to small breed dogs, from sensitive stomachs to undiscerning palates, pups of all stripes will be well fed.

Merrick Classic Healthy Grains Dry Dog Food

Merrick Limited Ingredient Diet Canned Wet Dog Food

Before a Royal Canin meal hits shelves, its gone through a rigorous development process with an in-house team of veterinarians and nutritionists. They formulate each recipe with age, size, and breed in mind when testing at the brands own research facilities. So, you can trust that its been checked for nutrition and quality by the time it lands in your dogs bowl.

Royal Canin Size Health Nutrition Dry Dog Food

Royal Canin Adult Canned Dog Food

In addition to beef and lamb, Taste of the Wilds ingredient lists often feature unique protein sources like bison, salmon, duck, venison, and wild boar, in a nod to the type of game that modern-day dogs ancestors hunted (said proteins are always the first ingredient in the recipe). This family-owned and operated brands team of experts make and test its foods with the aim to meet dogs nutritional needs, while also providing digestive and immune support with added species-specific probiotics

Taste of the Wild Ancient Mountain Dry Dog Food

Farmina might not be as well-known as some others on this list, but this 50-year-old brand out of Italy has the bona fides we look for in our dog food brands. Its high-quality ingredients include premium proteins, low-glycemic carbohydrates, and wholesome fruits and veggies, which come in both dry and wet formats. And the Farmina Vet Research team works with independent veterinarians to ensure it develops recipes on the cutting edge of pet medicine.

Farmina N&D Ancestral Grain Dry Dog Food

Farmina N&D Prime Lamb & Blueberry Canned Dog Food

Its likely youve seen Hills Science Diet available for purchase at your vets office, and thats because this brand has a long-standing reputation for following the highest standards in nutrition and quality control set by the AAFCO and WSAVA. Over 200 scientists work out of its Global Pet Nutrition Center to fine-tune every recipe and push forward research on nutritions role in an animals overall health.

Hill's Science Diet Adult Dry Dog Food

Hill's Science Diet Adult Canned Dog Food

As far as widely available dog food brands go, Purina Pro Plan will give your dog the biggest bang, health-wise, for your buck. And there are a sheer number of recipes available to shop. In addition to options for adult dogs, puppies, seniors, big breeds, and small breeds, Purina Pro Plan offers recipes made to suit different activity levels, food allergies, and specific medical needs like urinary tract health, cognitive function, and digestion.

Purina Pro Plan Shredded Blend Dry Dog Food

Purina Pro Plan High Protein Pate Wet Dog Food

If youre interested in less-traditional dog food options, consider Spot & Tango, one of several popular dog food delivery services. It offers its own version of dry food called Unkibble, as well as fresh dog foods made in small batches using healthy meats and grains like lamb and brown rice. Both varieties are made by veterinary nutritionists and go on to be evaluated by a team of vets before heading out to your door (using handy two-day shipping).

Cost: Unkibble plans start at $1 per day, fresh-food plans at $2 per day, and snacks at $12 per bag. You can request an exact quote for your dogs personalized plan here.

Open Farm makes no bones about its foods quality, auditing its third party-vetted farms and other food sources for animal welfare practices, selecting antibiotic-free meats, avoiding artificial flavors and fillers, and offering several different formats to satisfy even the pickiest eaters. From dry kibble to canned food to freeze-dried or gently cooked meals, Open Farms dog food is an excellent choice for the CSA-loving fur parent.

Open Farm Homestead Turkey & Ancient Grains Dry Dog Food

Open Farm Grass-Fed Beef Rustic Stew Wet Dog Food

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