Science Diet is great food?

Question

Can someone please tell me why, based on ingredients, you think Science Diet is a good food to feed your dog?

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Science Diet Adult (Active formula):
Corn meal, chicken by-product meal (including white meat, dark meat, liver and other internal organs), animal fat (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), dried beet pulp, vegetable oil, dried egg product, flaxseed, preserved with BHT and BHA, minerals (potassium chloride, iodized salt, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).
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Science Diet Puppy:
Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Brewers Rice, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Potassium Chloride, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.
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LOL, looks like I'm preaching to the choir!

Not a single Science Diet feeder has spoken up yet to support their food of choice.
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RE: "If it's so terrible why do VETS recommend it?"

The vast majority of vets know nothing about nutrition.

Vets don't get classes on the specific nutritional requirements of different animals. They get classes such as "Small Animal Surgery", not classes like "Canine Nutrition" or "Feline Nutrition".

Here are the required classes at a veterinary school:
http://courses.k-state.edu/catalog/undergraduate/vm/requirements.html

You'll see there are virtually no courses specific to a certain species or breed of animals.

Here's a good article from the "Wall Street Journal": http://www.4pawsu.com/vet_dogfood.htm
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Answer 1

no, the very first ingredient is corn meal

Answer 2

I guess people like paying twice the price for Dog Chow. :P I usually recommend Purina One before I recommend Science Diet.

The problem is not that vets don't take nutrition classes. The problem is that the nutrition classes say "In this chapter, we're going to talk about diets for dogs with whatever problem. Hill's Prescription Diet makes a food to treat this problem. It has been used for so many years and the food paired with antibiotics and treatment has proven to be very effective. It does this, this, this, and this." However, what I won't tell you is that it's chock full of salt or peanut hulls or soybean mill run.

Hills pays for the vast majority of nutrition education. I did see Purina make a donation to a school for a non commercial nutrition class.

I think it's great that pet food companies help support vet schools, but I think some ethical questions need to be asked when a food company wants to teach nutrition. Nutrition should focus on ingredients, how the body metabolizes the food and teach the students how to make home cooked diets that work. That way, the student can look at the ingredients label and see if it's using the same ingredients they did.

Okay, enough of my rant.

Answer 3

Vets recommend it because they carry it... if you carried a specific brand of 'widgets' and you made income on the sale of those widgets, wouldn't you recommend it? The prescriptoin diets that Hills puts out are a fairly wide variety and fill(ed) a specific nitch in the dog food catagory --- JQP comes in with Fido, who has been eating cardboard and table scraps for life and now Fido has kidney failure -- Hills prescription food is carried by the vet because their are few companies with specifically formulated products for specific health problems that are readily accessable to the vets - so the vet recommends it -- so the vet also carries 'regular' Hills products because when they are delivering the prescription stuff, why not have something slightly better than cardboard and table scraps to offer JQP -- voile, vets recommend what they carry -- they don't usually recommend what someone else carries that is in direct competition with their sales, and thus their income and vets are simply people -- they don't have some 'gift' of knowledge about all things dog ... they went through a program that offered them classes in various things and a ciriculum that culminated in them being able to test for a licensure and they became veterinarians -- that is all. Just like not all physicians are god or even close, and not all dog trainers know it all.. same goes for vets...

Answer 4

I'm SO glad other people feel the same about this crappy food! Nutrition is an ELECTIVE to become a vet. the only food course they take is one on SD. Science Diet sponsors vet programs, and some get comission off selling it in their offices. It is CRAP. I would rather feed Alpo so SD will get off their high horse and admit the food is garbage. I will stick with my Merrick and innova, thank you..
Added:
Dogs are actually omnivores. :)
Added:
Lucy- i would really do your homework. Eukenuba isn't the best food either, and apparently you are in the only state that requires nutrition studies. I have friend that are both techs and vets, and even they won't get into nutrition conversations 9or i guess, arguments) with me. I actually went to school FOR Companion animal nutrition, and the majority of vets know virtually NOTHING about food qualities. (this is why they reccomend SD and Iams, among other crap foods) If you are really trying to become a vet, compare some nutrition panels, then come back to the forum and tell us all what you think :)

Answer 5

I do not feed my dogs Science Diet, but the Science Diet light was extremely helpful in getting my sheltie to lose more than twelve pounds and probably saved her life. Another of our volunteers fed an obese minpin the Hills prescription diet for two years and the dog not only lived, but looks relatively normal after being about twenty pounds overweight and having a vet tell her to put the dog down.
I understand that the nutrition level is not the best, and the regular dogs foods they sell are awful, but I do still have my sheltie, who eats a holistic food now.
My vet would never even think of recommending a brand of dog food. He tells me what kinds of things to look for and what to avoid and sends me out to read ingredients on bags. If it was up to him, I would be cooking for my dogs every day.

So I guess my answer is that some of their foods have a short term purpose and not all vets push certain brands of dog food. if your vet does, maybe you should look elsewhere for veterinary care.

Answer 6

Science Diet is the most over-hyped, over-priced dog food out there. It's aweful. I am personally a strong believer in Solid Gold products but you'll can't do wrong with Canidae or Innova either. Check em out and do your research.

Answer 7

I know. My vet recommends it! He even gave me a box of free samples one time.

Gross.

Also, he wanted me ot put my lab on science diet lite. As if the regular formula doesn't have enough corn in it. He said labs get fat easily, and there is no way for my lab to lose weight without lite food. Well, I just decreased amount of normal food and she lost weight easily. Isn't that healthier than giving light (crap) food?

Answer 8

Science Diet? Oh, you must mean the brand that sells crap in a bag or can.

Worst ingredients on the list: corn meal, chicken by-product meal (INCLUDING but not limited to what's given!), BHA (for goodness sake, a CHEMICAL preservative), and BHT (bad as BHA).

Don't forget that since it's widely recommended by vets, you'd better avoid it. (B/c many pet food companies are partners with vets, getting them to recommend their foods in return for coupons. Most good pet food companies rarely, if ever, do this.)

Answer 9

Science Diet is horrible - mostly grain and garbage.
The reason so many people think it is good for their dogs is that a lot of vets carry the brand, so people assume vets approve of it - and some do recommend it, my old vet did.

What most people don't realize is that vets get paid for carrying this stuff, that's the reason it's in their waiting room on the shelves, not because it's good for your dog.

Do the research for good dog food yourself, first ingredient should be meat - not meat meal, with no corn meal fillers and no artificial ingredients.
Ideal break down is about 30 percent protein and 18 percent fat - for normal dogs.
I have switched my dogs to Canida chicken and rice since April and the difference in their coats is amazing, plus they have had no more skin problems, ear infections, or diarrhea. They frequently had problems while on Science Diet - I wouldn't feed this or supermarket dog food given a choice. It's worth it to pay a little more for quality food - cheaper than vetting for sure.

Answer 10

oh...you mean garbage in a sack? no it's not great food. and perhaps the Science Diet feeders haven't spoken up cause they are too busy thumbs downing and pouting. lol

here is a great article about commercial dog crap...errr i mean food. :p
http://www.caberfeidh.com/Truth.htm


edit:
lmao @ Esther: corn-ivores! ha

Answer 11

I had to make the dogs leave the room, They aren't allowed near Science Diet.... Science Diet is HORRIBLE food.. No one with good conscience could say it's good and no one that knows anything at all about ingredients and their meaning, could say it's good..
CORN.. By produce MEAL, And the BHA/ BHT.. to name just a couple.. I wouldn't even feed it if it were the last food on earth.. I would cook for the dogs before I would allow them to eat any of that stuff.. Copper Sulfate, is a Fungicide.. That necessary ?? I don't know how they can produce this food, how vets can recommend it, or anything else.. HORRIBLE.