02/24/2026
For all of you who are feeding Hills Science Diet and have bought into the hype from your vets that Hills, Royal Canin and Purina are the healthiest diet you can feed your pets! Wake up!
The only one that benefits from feeding this food is your vet. When we know better we do better.
Why this "prescription diet" should be the last thing you feed your dog with gut issues.
The first ingredient is a filler ingredient that is a carbohydrate. A by - product of the rice milling process.
Whole grain corn: another carbohydrate, one of the most common allergens for dogs, low nutritional value.
Chicken meal is a rendered product, meaning it's cooked at high temperatures to remove moisture and fat. This process will degrade many of the natural nutrients found in fresh chicken, particularly heat-sensitive vitamins and amino acids. Manufacturers might use this ambiguity to include lower-quality meat by-products. You want to see whole, named meats like "chicken" .
Pea protein
Pea protein is a plant-based protein that doesn't provide the complete amino acid profile that animal proteins do. Dogs, being primarily carnivorous, thrive on animal proteins that offer a full range of essential amino acids necessary for their health. It is also generally less digestible for dogs.
The term "egg product" is quite vague and doesn't specify what part of the egg is being used or how it has been processed. Egg also refers to eggs that have been processed. It might just be the shell.
Corn gluten meal-more corn... 🤦🏼♀️
Corn gluten meal is often included in dog food as a cheap way to increase protein content of the food. Corn gluten meal is a by-product of corn processing and has a lower biological value compared to animal-based proteins. It is a potential allergen.
Including "chicken liver flavor" on the label is misleading. It gives the impression that the food contains nutritious chicken liver, but in reality, it may only contain a small amount or an artificial version of the flavor.
Ground Pecan Shells: A cheap way for them to increase the fiber in the diet. The fiber content is why a dog's diarrhea might improve with the diet, but the gut microbiome will be in worse shape afterward, causing the diarrhea to likely recur.
Synthetic vitamins and minerals : the trouble here is the potential of accidental overdosing ( in 2019 Hills pet food killed hundreds, if not thousands, of dogs by overdosing vitamin D in their diets).
Synthetic vitamins and minerals are also absorbed less efficiently than their natural counterparts.
I could go on but I think you get the gist...
There is NOT one ingredient in this diet that actually supports a dog's gut microbiome or gut health.
Check out my blog on how to support the gut and treat diarrhea in dogs. Link is in the comments.
