Is Science Diet the "best" choice of dog food?

Question

Our dog came from a shelter and that is what they fed him. Now trying to switch (mixing science diet with Iams) is upsetting his stomach. I was wondering if we should go back to science diet or hope he can get over this upset stomach and keep mixing the food until we have him totally on Iams? He is a 2-3 year old Chocolate Lab mix. Thank you

Answer 1

I knew as soon as I READ this question the kind of bullsh*t answers that people were going to post.

Hills Science Diet is a GOOD QUALITY FOOD people. The only people who say it isn't appear to be the ones who have no actual understanding of nutrition. For one thing, having cereals in food is NOT a bad thing, contrary to popular belief. Yes it can be bad for allergy sufferers - so can anything for animals with allergies! Cereals are actually there to replace the indigestible parts of carcasses that animals would otherwise get - i.e skin, hair, cartilage. These things would be undesirable owners to include in food, but are still necessary. People should not try to analyse ingredients if they don't understand them.

Oh well, I'm a veterinary nurse so I suppose that explains my opinion - of COURSE it must just be because I was educated by nutrition companies (!). Actually, I was educated at university and in practice.

Stick with Hills. Changing food can cause stomach upsets, and is unnecessary in your case because you're already on a high quality food.

I do not understand why some people have listed Science Diet and Eukanuba along with the supermarket trash that is Pedigree Chum - what the hell is that?

Trust me on this, Science Diet is high quality. And I'm not sponsored by Hills, I'm sponsored by my interest in proper nutrition.

Chalice

EDIT: Beth L is presumably sponsored by Solid Gold. And those aren't the ingredients listed on any Hills product I've seen!!

Answer 2

The reason I recommend people stay away from Iams, is that it is trash...Eukanuba, nutritionally, is an OK food (not fantastic, either), BUT, the Iams/Eukanuba company treats dogs cruelly, and I won't support them. Science Diet is not the worst food available, but it is FAR from the best. Many vets recommend it, mine does not.

My vet (who also sells Science Diet) discussed three foods: Innova, Orijen, and PMI Exclusive (most easily available in my city, but I did find the Orijen locally...I discussed MY concerns with the vet, and Science Diet NEVER came up...he obviously did not feel it was right for my dogs). 2 of my dogs eat the Exclusive, and are doing very well on it. 2 of my dogs have allergies, and eat Orijen. I am happy with they way all of my dogs are doing on their foods.

Personally, I think most people can do better than feeding their dog Science Diet or Iams. Talk to an animal nutritionist about what your dog needs, and talk to your vet about your dog's breed and lifestyle situation, and most importantly, read the labels and follow your gut instinct. If you don't think it's a good food, it probably isn't. I don't agree with the people who say that ALL grains are bad for dogs, as dogs ARE omnivores, but I do feel that a food should be meat based...the first ingredient should be an identified meat meal, or an identified meat, followed by a meat meal.

Make the decision on your own, don't listen to people who tell you that the food they sell is the best (or the food they feed)...you and your vet need to make this decision together.

Answer 3

I wouldn't feed either. Not after the recent recalls and continued recalls showed many of their food items were contaminated as the result of buying product from third world countries without the regulations on product needed to guarantee health. Not only that but according to their own ingredients listing, by products are prominently used,
"digest" on one product, perhaps both product lines is listed as "animal digest". This does NOT identify the meat source and that is concerning.
Grains that often cause allergies are used. If you go to their sites and scroll around a lot, you can dig up the ingredients list (not that easy to get the full listed ingredients) as well as recall info as late as March 30, 2007.
There are few brands I would trust now, and even then I am wary.
Oversight orgs that are supposed to monitor quality do not tell people the full story of what is in the mix or where they get their product from (reject meats still in the container with shrink wrap?, dead animals from shelters when identified only as "meat" or "animal" meal or by product? Toxic preservatives.. oh but only if in much larger amounts than what a dog would normally eat. >:'P
Nope. Wouldn't buy either and wouldn't feed it unless the only other option would be my dog starving to death.

I'd suggest you research any brand you are considering using and get their ingredients list, recall history and articles from independent sources about the quality of the food. (not a competitor's page, but people that are knowledgable regarding nutrition and who are commenting on it.)
Check out this site:
http://www.itchmo.com

Answer 4

Well.. Think about the shelter.. They get alot of their foods donated.. They aren't concerned about longevity in the dog, they are concerned about getting them fed while they are there, hoping that you adopt the dog and feed them something better..
Science Diet and Iams/ Eukanuba, Purina, Kibbles N Bits, Pedigree, Beneful, Ol Roy Are all GARBAGE... I wouldn't even use them to bait a rat trap..

Dump both the Iams and the Science Diet and go for something like Canidae.. Price is comparable, and you feed less, and it has no corn, no wheat, no fillers, It is NOT preserved by poisonous BHA/BHT or Ethoxyquin, which causes cancer in dogs and people too by the way... It does have Human grade ingredients, and is full of nutrition.. Dogs eat less, they poop less and you spend less on food and you don't go to the vet all the time for chronic health problems, ears, skin, coat, etc...

OH and make sure you take a stool sample in to the vet, get him tested for worms and parasites so that you are feeding him instead of the parasites..

Answer 5

Here are the first 8 in Science Diet Adult Dry Original as obtained from their site

Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal,

These ingredients are put on here in a special order. The largest percentage per by weight are put on first, then the second etc.

Now let us look at the first several Ingredients:

Chicken. . . well that is good. They are listing a meat, with a name ( ie not poultry or meat, but a specific meat) Meat is good for dogs.

Ground Whole Grain Corn. . . . well here is a grain. Ideally we would not like to see a grain so high up on the list. But at least is has more chicken that grain right? . . . or does it...

Ground Whole Grain Sorghum . . . more grain

Ground Whole Grain Wheat . . . more grain

Wow if we added up the weight of those first 4 ingredients, we have mostly grain, not meat.

Chicken By-Product Meal: well not completely bad. Not the best either. This is what it really is "the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice."

Next we have soybeans. . . . all these grains are fillers. They are not really adding to the nutritional content of the dog food. Dogs are not made to eat this much grain. Many dogs have a sensitivity to corn and it is considered a very low quality good to feed to dogs.

Here are the first 5 ingredients of Solid Gold Hunds Flocken

Lamb | Lamb Meal | Brown Rice | Cracked Pearled Barley | Millet

Now we have Lamb- which is a better feed that chicken anyway. Just like corn, many dogs are allergic to chicken

Lamb meal is the dry rendered part from mammal tissues- all this means is that the water has been taken out before is was weighed. Which means there is actually more meat and less water weight than the first ingredient. So this food is mostly lamb, with some more highly digestable fillers- brown rice, barley, and millet

EDIT:
It is correct that you should try to understand what food labels say, which is what I have tried to do here, explain what is not the food label.

I took the list of ingredients right from the web page. . . here is a link if you need to verify it for yourself. http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/products/productDetails.hjsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441760616

Secondly, not I do not work for Solid Gold, actually feed my dogs Timber Wolf Organics, but I thought more people would be able to find Solid Gold.

Now some grains are fine for a dog, but as is listed on the label of the Hill's food is a bit excessive. Last time I checked an animal carcass is not mostly skin and indigestable parts. A carcass is mostly meat and organs. This is what the dogs food should be mostly be made up of.

To compare either of these food to a popular Pedigree
first several ingredients:
Ground Whole Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Flour, Chicken,
Beneful:
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar,

Answer 6

no - science diet is not best (but it's also not the worst). the shelters feed it because they get financial support from the company. you may be mixing too much of the new food too soon?
there are a lot of high quality dog foods available. do some research and read ingredient lists. some people feed raw diets and others prepare their own dog foods.
good luck.

Answer 7

Personally, I think that Science Diet is one of the worst foods on the market.

It's not unusual to get digestive upsets when switching food, keep at it and he'll get over it.

Answer 8

science diet is actually the one of the worst dog foods out there. u need to stay away from brands like iams, purina, science diet, pedigree, ol roy, kibbles and bits, beneful, eukanuba. pretty much anything u see on tv or at walmart is bad. u should be feeding a high quality food. like canidae, chicken soup for the dog lover's soul, innova, timberwolf organics, yes they r spendy but it is worth it if u love ur dog. so go to ur local feed store (best place to go no matter what almost always has what ur looking for) and see what u can find.

Answer 9

science diet is the best option and is recomended in veterinary practices. if your dog is getting an upset stomach from a different food then it is best just to leave him with the food he is happy with at the moment.

Answer 10

try to stay with science diet. My husband and I use that for our dog and all of our fosters.
(btw iams was in serious trouble for animal testing!!!)

thnks for saving a life!


edit* i didnt know that science diet was bad, my vet suggested it...i guess I will have to switch my dogs food!!