Hills Science Plan?

[G & Oscar]

Hi all,

I'm really confused on the food front... our local pet shop recommended Nutro because it has less artificially incrediants and better quality...

Our vet, however, recommended Hills Science Plan because it is good quality and consistent...

I've heard bad things about both & am really confused.... surely both these brands have got to be a significant improvement over common tinned food or Pedigree Chum right?

Any thought / views?????

Thanks,
Graeme

[Becky]

My opinion,


I don't like either Science Diet or Nutro.

Science Diet main ingredients (Active Adult):
Corn meal, chicken by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid)

First, the food is mostly corn. Second, the meat it does have are by-products... IMO, by-products aren't, in themselves horrible... but, they can be inconsistent in quality and nutrient value and also can be harder to digest than regular meat meals. Third, the fat source goes unamed. I want to know where the animal fat came from... when it just says "animal fat" it could be anything... including a 4D animal.

Nutro Natural Choice main ingredients (Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal):
Chicken meal, rice flour, ground rice, rice bran, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of natural vitamin E)

Nutro's better, IMO, because at least a larger portion is meat.. but I wouldn't be surprised if it was mostly grain as well. It also has an unamed fat source (while a little more narrow, still not that great). What would be nice is if it said something like "chicken fat."

I personally use Innova. But there are other food brands that seem well liked and much more health oriented, such as : Natural Balance, Nature's Variety, Eagle Pack Holistic, Canidae, and Blue Buffalo.

[Cheetah]

Your vet recommended Science Diet because most vets sell it and make a profit from it. Even the vets at Alameda East recommend it, because they sell it there. I personally wouldn't touch it with a 40-foot pole... it's corn city.

I fed Nutro Natural Choice at one time, but it's awfully grainy and Eevee got pretty fat while she was on it. Also,I found out some things about it I disliked and so I switched.

I feed Canidae now. Eevee has slimmed down, and the Canidae has much better ingredients.

[Jake2006]

OK, your vet probably gets 40% profit from sale of products - but - if you want a diet that was devised by a veterinary surgeon, uses products which are roaming free range and do not test on animals - then I'd recommend Burns. After all a vet produced it -

Jake has burns - its not the cheapest but no animals have been put through pain for his food.

Ask you Vet if the diet he recommends is not tested on animals - see what he says!!

[Borzoi mad]

OK, your vet probably gets 40% profit from sale of products - but - if you want a diet that was devised by a veterinary surgeon, uses products which are roaming free range and do not test on animals - then I'd recommend Burns. After all a vet produced it -

Jake has burns - its not the cheapest but no animals have been put through pain for his food.

Ask you Vet if the diet he recommends is not tested on animals - see what he says!!

Ipersonally would not feed Hills Science Diet as I too think its a big con.
Just to add more confusion as to what complete to feed Thought I should let you know that there is a lot of contraversey on another forum over Burns food re it containing Manadione if you want to explore this further pm me and I will give you the name of the forum. Sorry if this complicates it even more for you but felt you should at least be aware of this and make your choice after reading.

[Jake2006]

I would really be very grateful to have the url, thanks.

Took Jake to the VEt today as Jake is losing weight (he was rescued 7 weeks ago, had kennel cough, lost a lot of his coat, and is now on prednisolone. I mentioned Burns and the VEt said its as good as any other! Grrrrrrrr -

If I find out that Burns are involved in any animal testing whatsoever I will take them to court personally as their websiste states that they do not test on animals and they are BUAV approved.

Our animals are getting like us, more allergic, have digestive problems, .......... anyway, we are moving to Scotland soon so I'll feed him Haggis - joke!

[sheltieluver4]

I'm looking at Natural Blance and Candiae, that's what evryone recommended for me, and I like the quality:D



Thanks everyone

[Doberman's]

Look carefully at the ingredients in any dog food you are thinking of trying. It is important not to buy foods that have the ingredients---- " Meat by-product " " Animal By product " Animal Fat " " Tallow "

These are all ingredients that can not be readily identified, meaning they can literally be any kind of animal. You will want to be able to tell what you are feeding, such as Lamb, Chicken, Beef etc etc.

A general rule to follow is the more you pay the better the quality of a commercial dog food.

[skunkstripe]

Let me chime in on the Nutro...there are several types: Natural Choice, Lamb Meal & Rice, Max etc etc so I what Becky posted does nto apply to ALL Nutro products. I am happy with the Max and Lamb Meal & Rice along with raw.
But as you see, your head can start spinning when you start this topic!

[gusfan]

What about Science Diet Nature's Best? It's supposedly an all-natural meat and veggies formula. Anyone had any experience with that?

My sister rescued a dog that had been fed poorly. Upon vet's recommendation, she started feeding Science Diet. He flourished. He gained weight, his coat became soft and shiny, and he had more energy. I just can't believe that it can be that bad--I trust my vet SOOO much...she is absolutely wonderful. I can't imagine that she would recommend something that is not healthy for her clients, because she loves them so much. And it's not an act--she really loves her animal clients.

[Jake2006]

I would know if Science Diet is nutitionally good or not - it should be judging by all the animals they test on - I guess your vet is looking at the bigger picture and doesn't mind sacrificing dogs etc., in animal experiments - in order to produce dog food. its up to you whether you condone animal experimentation or not - some people don't care, some don't want to know, some don't know and change their mind when they do.
Read this an make your own informed choice

http://www.buav.org/campaigns/petfood/facts.html

Vets in practice are business people.

Carole

[dogdaze]

I've been making my own dog food for several months, and my dogs were doing great eating it. Then my vet suggested that at least 5o% of their diet should be a high quality commercial food because they could develop problems 4-6 years down the road, kidney failure, pancreatitis, etc. So, I started feeding them a morning meal of my homemade food and an evening meal of (don't yell at me!) Science Diet Advanced Care. After one small bag of this food, they have both gained weight - about 1 lb each! That's a lot for dogs that only weigh 16 lbs! I hate to keep changing their food. It messes them up and is sooooo expensive!

[Jake2006]

Yell Yell Yell - lol - listen up dogdaze I know that you are more than competent to do your own research on dog food. When I was a baby my mother fed me home made food - she wouldn't dream of getting processed stuff in a bottle. The doctor yelled at me for feeding my baby my own prepared food. Anyway, here I am a few years on with no kidney failure, pancreatitis, etc. My daughter is also very much alive and kicking. The only problem she ever has is if she eats any food containing sunset yellow or junk food - all processed. What does that say?

[skunkstripe]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
"What I feed my dog" is one of those HOT BUTTON topics on dog boards.

That said, my :2cents: on gusfan's sister's dog is that the Science Diet was better than whatever the rescued dog had been eating before.

And dogdaze, did you WANT your dog to gain weight or was this a disadvantage of the dog food from your point of view?

[dogdaze]

They were both the perfect weight before the Science Diet. And the food I make is very well thought out, with added Solid Gold supliments, calcium, milled flaxseed, yadda yadda yadda. BUT, the thought that I could cause serious health problems for my babies by feeding them the wrong thing, well, I can't stand the thought of that, good intentions aside. And then I think, obesity is definately not healthy, so . . . I'm still investigating.

[dogdaze]

When my husband said Cracker was gaining weight, I told him her hair was growing out. So now we have this joke about "she's not fat, she's fluffy". But truthfully she was 15 lbs and is now 16.4 lbs. Not fluffy.