Hill's Science Puppy food , any good ?

~Chameleon~

hethmar wrote: »

Hills seem to be the brand which has cornered the vets sales doesnt it?. They gave me a bag of the stuff when I took my dog to register some years back. I changed to Royal Canin and now I mix two or three different brands to give the dogs a bit of interest.

Not specifically, no. People seem to be misguidedly under that impression as Hill's were the first company to produce Veterinary Diets, so naturally would we stock their products. Then along came Waltham Pedigree and Royal Canin Veterinary diets, so they are also stocked by vets.

In most practices I've worked we were happy to order in whatever the clients wanted, as long as NVS stocked it.

Fire_Fox

Lemony wrote: »

I asked if I could give my dog fresh meat and he said NO. Apparently feeding meat with complete dry food would be too high in protein and it's very important that they get the right nutrients. In the wild dogs eat meat as well as plants, bones and animal faeces which contain plant matter and seeds etc. They do not literally just eat meat and need other nutrients which is why it is important to give them a complete food.

I am not sure if you have misunderstood what has been suggested with a raw diet as it is not only fresh meat: a balanced raw/ BARF/ prey model diet contains meat, skin (fat), bone, offal (green tripe, heart etc.), and for dogs - but not usually cats - also vegetables. Some owners do also add rice or a cereal rich mixer to their dog's food and others do not. There seems to be a US trend for feeding boneless meat plus a huge range of supplements but, for me, that defeats the object of feeding a 'back to nature' style diet!

There are top breeders who have been feeding this way for generations so it absolutely is safe and healthy, providing you do your research. Most vets seem to be happy for a complete commercial dog or cat food to be supplemented with raw chicken wings, necks or carcasses in order to help keep the teeth clean. For my part I feed partially raw as much because Noah adores it as for health.