Why Vets recommend Hills?

Question

My Vet (like many others) recommended I feed my dog a Hills Precription diet. I did for a couple months and my dog hated it. I felt good though thinking I was giving my dog the best food available. Why would my vet recommend anything else?

I then decided to do some research and found a couple websites that rate dog food. Guess what? Hills is at the bottom of the barrel, the very bottom. I also found out that vets recommend Hills because they get a kickback from the Hills company. I found out that for the same money, or just a little extra, there are many superior dog foods.

I now feed my dog Merrick dog food (the top of the barrel). My dog gobbles it up, and now I know I'm feeding my dog the best.

http://www.rateitall.com/t-353-dog-food-brands.aspx?age=&zipcode=&gender=&sort=0&pagenum=2

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

P.S. For those that think there dog does well on Hills, read the websites I posted. Hills uses inferrior ingredients.

How can I trust a person to treat my dog if he/she recommends garbage for food?

Answer 1

Well done. You are very fortunate to have had the wisdom and common sense to check out the truth about Hills. Its purely a money spinner. The curriculum of vets is in their 7 years of study in time is approx 6 weeks set aside towards nutrition.

Vets make excellent surgeons, because that is what they were taught, when something gets broken or there is a serious physical problem.

Regarding skin rashes or any basic nutritional deficiency, they know diddly all. They make a fortune from 'testing' whilst often there are very easy solutions to resolve such problems.

The best diet is and will continue to be a 'natural' food diet, including bones. Anyone who thinks a dog cannot eat bones, has forgotten their staple diet in the wild. Humans eat chicken bones in Southern America and just because a few dogs are having a problem, does not mean the entire population of dogs has. A varied diet also includes as raw as possible vegetables. Brocolli, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage to mention but a few. Tomatoes one cooks with the meat. Spaghetti bolognese is actually a great food with added raw veg and some extra types of muscle and some intestinal meats.

Nature diet should be the main part of a dogs meal and can be supplemented with commercial foods. Treats consisting of 'live' yoghurt and cereals are very healthy. From time to time you can crush a whole egg in their diet, shell and all. That little snack 'yoghurt' cereal bar, is to some dogs a perfect treat.
Dry apricots, natural seeds, herbs all assist in developing a very strong immune system.

Wendy Volhard is one of the best holistic dog diets. Add your own ideas into this, depending on what your dog likes, Hilton Herbs come in a variety of both winter and summer herbs. If your dog is lethargic, or after a birth, add some brewers yeast to their diet and Lecethin. These provide beautiful silky coats, whilst the veggies and the fresh meats are excellent for the teeth.

If it has to be commercial, there are many good 'nature' diets on the shelves.

Answer 2

The best food for one (or even most) isn't necessarily best for all dogs. Nearly everyone would agree, it all comes down to the ingredients. Right? Yet, choose Science Diet Z/D over Innova Evo and most would automatically shudder. Ingredients *are* key, and when it comes to dogs with allergies...even more so. Evo is my all time favorite, but the better ingredients are why my dog can no longer have it and a few other favored brands. He has nearly thirty allergies, which (very unfortunately) include carrot and potato. It all comes down to what is best for *your* dog...sometimes the options are limited.

Answer 3

Those major commercial brands such as Hills, Eukanuba, Royal Canin gives sponsorship to vets. I agree the ingredients SUCK! There are a lot of good brands out there like Innova, Canidae, Solid Gold, etc.

However there are times when our dogs get sick that we have to feed it whatever the vet recommends. But once our dogs are better, we go back to the good stuff.

Answer 4

Hill's is a good brand overall, although I agree that it is over-rated because of its excellent marketing. But the reason vets and sometimes pet owners tend to use it, is that it has specific foods for specific issues. For example, a cat with diarrhea will get well with feline i/d. A vet knows that, so he prescribes it. There are other brands with similar foods, like Eucanuba, but for example Royal Canin that I use has very generic categories.

Answer 5

Because Hills funds vet schools, so they are taught it's the best thing. It's garbage, just read the ingrediants. Stick to Wellness or Innova.

PS, as with human doctors, you should question everything your vet does. For instance, vets also give shots far too long into a cat or dog's life, and often cause cancer that way. I went through several vets til I Found one who truley researches healthy foods, medicines or vitamins and cares about my cat more than the almighty dollar (rare!! other vets barely look at results, etc.)

Answer 6

Science Diet is over rated, look at the ingredients it contains meat by products and way too much corn.

I'm assuming vets recommend science diet either that they are being payed to do it or for the fact that Hills has both the store brand and the very expensive medicated formulas Cat r/d, dog x/d, and so on.

Answer 7

there are several good foods for dogs, Royal Canin, Nutro Max, Hills, Eukanuba, Iams
It just depends on what your dogs does best on, my pets do very well on Hill presp. I/D, it's a bland diet and I like the fact that Hills has omega 3 which keeps their coats looking great.
I tried them on Nutro first, it gave them really bad gas, I tried Royal Canin, they did well but their breath started to smell very fishy
Hills works for them the best as for the kick backs well it's a business.....I would hope that if you explained to your vet that Hill isn't working that they would recommend something different.
Again it's whatever works best for your pet.

Answer 8

I'm really happy you took action about this! good for you. You can trust a vets advice as long as it's not a diet suggestion. most vets do not know much about dog nutrition.

see for yourself. ALL the perscription diets are at the bottom of the food chain!
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/all/page/2/si/Hill/'s

Answer 9

They recommend things like Science Diet and Purina because they sell them at their clinic and the more they sell, the more money they make!