hill's prescription diet food?

[joquendo]

Having just got this last pup over parvo - a vet (not my regular vet) put her on the Hills prescription a/d diet) - for sensitive stomach. I went to my regular vet and he told me to change that as quickly as possible as it might help ease any intestinal upset but as far as overall nutriton goes its very poor. I weaned her off that and gradually put her on the californial natural lamb/rice - as its more mushy and she could licki t up (she only weighs 3lbs) - I will eventually get her onto Canidae until she is ready to eat RAW.

[lblax]

Originally posted by K9-man
That's my definition of 'crap'! ;)

youve missed the whole point of what the food was designed for=====================BLAND DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[K9-man]

I didn't miss any 'point'. Those 5 ingredients that CarolineS mentioned are crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CarolineS]

Originally posted by lblax
youve missed the whole point of what the food was designed for=====================BLAND DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't miss the point either when I called it crap. I fully realize that it is a prescription diet, meant to treat a specific condition. Believe me, since I own a dog with IBD, I know of what I speak when it comes to intestinal diets, commercial or otherwise, and this is most assuredly not an easily digestible, bland diet.

Most grains aren't digested really well by dogs and corn is right up there at the top of the list. This food contains more corn than any other ingredient. When dogs have gastric upset, what is the first thing most people (and lots of vets) suggest? Rice! Why...because rice is the most digestible grain there is and is very easy on a dog's intestinal tract. The amount of rice in this food is miniscule compared to the amount of corn. And the quality of the rice they do use is very poor, instead of whole grain rice, they're using castoffs from the brewing industry.

Do you know why this food has so much corn in it? Because corn is a very cheap protein source. Makes no difference it has a biological value of 50 and an incomplete amino acid profile...on paper it looks like the protein content is there.

Along with rice, what do most people and lots of vets suggest you feed dogs for digestive upset? Lean burger or chicken breast. Why? Because they are both very digestible and quality sources of protein with a biological value around 80 and a complete amino acid profile.

So, since most people realize that ingredients like rice and chicken breast are very easy on the canine digestive tract, why on earth would a food company try to pass off hard-to-digest corn, chicken heads, necks and feet, not to mention possible egg shells, as an easily digestible bland diet? One reason and one reason only, profit. Most dog owners know very little about canine nutrition and they trust because this is called a "prescription" diet and is sold by a vet that it is good. It still looks like undigestible crap to me.

Profit motivates these large companies, not the wellness of your dog. As an example, Hill's z/d is prescribed for a lot of dogs with IBD. Dogs with IBD tolerate very little in the way of fat. z/d originally was manufactured using medium-chain triglycerides as a fat source because they bypass much of the intestinal tract and are far less irritating. One day Hill's decided to switch the MCT oil for vegetable oil which is short chain and exceedingly inflammatory to the intestines. I can only imagine profit margins drove this change because good quality MCT oil is very expensive. Dogs who'd been doing well on this food suddenly started getting very, very ill. When knowledgeable irate owners pushed the company to explain why, Hill's finally admitted they'd changed the type of oil they used. They didn't tell anyone before they did it...they have nutritionists on staff, there's no way they wouldn't have known what effect this would have on some dogs. Was this the action of a company that has your dog's best interest's at heart? I think not.

Gome, a couple of weeks on this food won't hurt your dogs and since you've got it, you may as well try it. You're absolutely right though, it is not a food you'd want to leave your dogs on for any length of time.

[DianaC]

I found my my dogs (not Rotti's) that the mucous completely disappeared when I took them off BEEF! My 2 cannot tolerate other products such as corn by products, chicken, wheat. So I now cook them lamb which they eat with certain cooked vegetables with added fish oil, they also eat fish with vegies, and the only brand of dried food I've found here is Eagle and it doesn't contain corn or chicken. When you read labels it's amazing the ingredients that go into some of these things.