Science Diet Dog food ... How good is it?

I feed my dogs Science Diet. My eskie seems to have diarrhea with every other brand except this one. And, it seems that every vet office carries this brand.

But I have noticed on the ingredients that it has corn. And it's pretty close to listing it up towards the top, which makes me think it has a lot of corn. I have read that corn is not good for dogs. That it is hard to digest.

And yet a lot of vets sell nothing but Science Diet. Do they have a market worked out with vets, or is this dog food really that good quality. I have no complaints to speak of, my dogs love it and seem to be doing well with it. But I'm wondering what others think about this dog food.

 

Hills (makers of Science Diet) do have a good range of Prescription Diets which is beneficial for vets to sell, pets with problems with kidney, heart, UTI's etc do need specific diets. Science Diet is their general food and yes whatevers highest on the list is the main ingredient.

Ive tried it a couple of times and every one of the dogs Ive given it to has got diarrhea, dull coats, dull eyes...but Ive heard of other dogs doign well with it, at one hospital I worked at Science Diet was used to feed the boarding dogs, we had constant ongoing problems with diarrhea, of course stress of being in the kennels would have a part in that also, most dogs would be on regular dosing of ant-diarrheals, we switched to Breeders Choice and most of the diarrhea stopped.

 

have you ever thought about trying raw? there is a sticky for a thread on foood, you should check it out.
Do you have any pics of your dog? my dog is a spitz mix, so I always like to see what everyone elses look like.

 

Saying this as someone who feeds Science Diet, I think it is a crappy food, especially for what you pay for. I have a 10 year old kitty with CRF who's stable on their feline k/d, so I'm stuck with it.

But, we pay the same amount for the cat's food as we do for the dog's high quality food with two meat sources as the main ingredient, and the cat always steals from the dog's food if given the opportunity.

 

We feed our three of our four little dogs the Science Diet. They seem to be doing well. But I am really wondering about the corn ingredient. And why do so many vets carry it? I can understand the prescription line, but why the regular Science Diet?

Our other little dog (a miniature schnauzer) had 9 really big bladder stones when we got her. She was an ex puppy mill breeder. They thought she just had a really bad bladder infection, but it turned out to be more than that and had to have the stones removed. She is now on the prescription C/D formula and is doing very well.

Before we got the schnauzer and the other 2 little dogs (beagle and a miniature poodle), we just had the eskie and he was on Diamond. He seemed to be doing okay with it. But wasn't really eating it with much enthusiasm. Then he started having diarrhea. We took him to the vet, and we changed his food to Science Diet. He has since firmed up his stools and seems to be doing okay.

But it seems the least little thing out of his ordinary routine of Science Diet, gives him diarrhea. Even milk bones. I would give him one little milk bone and he'd get the diarrhea.

I have since started making my own biscuits and treats. I find a lot of great recipes off of www.bullwrinkle.com. I highly recommend the site. My dogs love the homeade treats. And Gianni (the eskie) does not get diarrhea from anything.

So, perhaps there was some type of preservative found in the store bought treats? I don't know.

A note to Lil96. I have a picture of Gianni, but unfortunately it is on our old computer and the motherboard has just crashed :x We have a new computer, but we still have to transfer everything. But I see a pic of your dog and Gianni looks very much like yours. But my Gianni is missing his tail :shock: Well, not totally. It looks like he's been docked. Or maybe he was born that way. We don't really know because we got him from a shelter.

He's a real trip. I love him so much!

 

So many vets recommend Science Diet because of the research that Hills does. They are a big company and lots of research goes into the formulation of their foods therefore vets find them trustworthy of producing a good, reliable product. There are lots of rumors floating around the net such as "Vets get kickbacks for selling Hills". For the most part, this not true. Most vets that sell and recommend Hill's products do so simply because they trully believe it is a good product.

There are also loads of myths on the net regarding corn as an ingredient in dog foods so take what you read on the net with a grain of salt, do some research and decide how you feel about corn as an ingredient.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with corn included in dog foods as a source of energy. I do not like to see it added as a major source of protein (in the form of corn gluten meal) though and I don't think it should make up a majority of the ingredients in any brand. Grains in general are not very digestible to dogs however, cooking and grinding them breaks them down and increases their digestibility greatly. Corn, IMO, is no worse than any other grain added to dog foods as a source of energy. And I'm sure the quality of the corn used would also be a factor as it would be with any other ingredient. Corn can be an allergen but so can chicken, barely, egg and several other ingredients commonly included in commercial dog foods. Protein/gluten containing ingredients in general make good allergens.

Having said all that, I'm not a big fan of SD as I believe there are better quality foods available but if you are happy with SD for your dogs and it works well for your dog with the sensitve stomach I would'nt be too concerned about making changes.

No matter what you feed (kibble, raw, canned or home cooked) it is inevitable that somebody somewhere will have a problem with this ingredient or that one or this way of feeding/type of diet/brand of diet vs. that one. So use what works and what you are comfortable feeding.
Just my 2 cents. :wink:

 

I think the food you feed really depends on the dog. I feed Solid Gold, but just like a person who is on a diet, some food works better than others. I do think there are better quality foods than Science Diet but that is my opinion. The problem I find with SD is corn being the first ingredient. That being said my vet really pushes Nutro but others really push SD. When I asked her why so many recomend SD, she said they really hear and see a lot about the brand in school, so of coarse your gonna think its great. She also said they didn't teach that much about nutrition in school. So, everyone has an opinion, if it works for you and your dog, thats what counts.

 

The main problem with corn is that it doesn't digest well. I wish I could scan in the table from my companion animal textbook so you could see it... but the main jist is that because corn is mainly undigestable to non-ruminants (like cows), you have to put a LOT more into food. Brown rice, for exmaple, can be digested for about 75% of the protein it contains, whereas corn is a little under .5. So you have to feed double the amount of food (and you get double the amount of poos, yuck!) than if you had something really digestable, like a meat source.

 

Which text book, Small Animal Clinical Nutrition by Lewis,Morris & Hand?
And are you referring to "biologic value" charts? If so, these charts only measure the biologic value of protein.

The starch portion of the corn supplies carbs (energy). Corn gluten is mainly a source of protein, ground corn is mainly a source of carbs. I don't like to see corn gluten (protein) as an ingredient but I do not have a problem with ground corn (energy). Corn and rice contain some protein but their main purpose is to supply energy. Ingredients that are undigestible can not supply energy.