Science Diet

Thoughts?

I've heard conflicting things.

I wouldn't feed it, even when I worked at a vet and could get a discount. It has low quality ingredients and a premium price tag. I always cringed when I sold it to clients at work. I understand that some of the prescription diets are designed to help certain ailements, and as such I treat those like medicine. As for the regular maintenence diets and even their reduced calorie diets I would not feed nor recommend.
Right now, my dog is on Acana Pacifica grain free, which he does great on. He gets a half can of premium grain free foods, like Natures Variety, Evangers, TOTW ect. he is 11yo and doing great. My two cats are on a mix of Wellness and Acana for their dry. I mix a grain inclusive (Wellness) with a grain free(Acana). They also get canned food twice a day. Now that they like Wellnesses new cuts in gravy, I've got them off the FF. They also get Blue Buffalo, Avoderm, Tikicat, TOTW, BFF, ect for their canned foods. All foods are only feed twice a day so they have a limited amount of food out rather than free feeding. Seems to work well with us. Nutrition was my specialty at my clinic so I tried to inform as many clients as I could on the benefits of a better diet.

When I started working at the clinic where I work, I thought that hills and the other rx brands were made to create the conditions that they were purported to treat. That may seem silly but these animals would come in sick even though they'd been eating Science Diet or Hills for most of their lives. I'm a big proponent of food being the way toward optimal health so I guess my thinking was that SD et al were just a bunch of Bs. It's like those strips that you put on your nose that purport to clean out your blackheads yet those strips have the same adhesive that hairspray does. This adhesive clogs pores and causes Pimples and blackheads. So, of course, you'll need to buy more strips to get rid of the blackheads.

Anyways, in reading about nutrition, and research and personal experiences from vets, I think that rx diets have their place but these companies are making huge profits on both their rx and maintenance lines. I am assuming that the OP knows that Science Diet is made by the same company that makes Hills rx foods. Through sponsorship of vet nutrition programs, and granting vet students a lot of free stuff (since vet school is expensive, free bags of dog or cat food makes a difference!), Hills/ Science Diet have solidified their share of the pet food industry. From a small company to a huge one now owned by Colgate-Palmolive, hills has become the leader in veterinary diets and the number one recommended by vets. Also, vets have.limited training in nutrition unless they are board certified, and much of the research is based on hills research. So in large part, Hills or Science Diet is all they know. There are exceptions of course but one cannot expect a vet to be aware of all the foods on the market.

Sorry for the long ramble but my point is that just because they do research it doesn't mean the results are valid. I am always surprised that all the vet techs at my clinic feed their cats hills (due to the discount and their blind belief that since hills is prescribed by vets it is the best food) and that they all feed Dry food when they should know that cats are obligated carnivores and need moisture from their food. What research tells them that a solely dry diet is good for their cats? Hills/Science Diet, Medi-cal/ Royal Canin and Purina are the big three rx companies which do a lot of marketing; much of which is based on their research but with a little twist. If you choose Science Diet, please do so after looking at another foods and doing some research. Catinfo.org is a good website. Other posters have cited the Feline Nutrition education Society website which is also good. There is another one but I can't remember what it was...I had it as a bookmark on my other phone but not on this one. I'm not saying other pet food companies are totally honest in their advertising and marketing gimmicks, but Hills/Science Diet has the biggest 'squeeze' on the market IMHO.

If it were me, I would be inclined to feed raw or a high quality canned food. If this is not doable or not I. Your budget then a 50/50 mix of canned and dry would be ok. However you are not me, so I am sure you will make a good decision, or fall asleep from my rambling!

My cats like the senitive stomach one. They are given a choice in their bowls.
Iams, Whiskas kitten, Evolve or Science diet. That bowl is always empty.
Sure there are better. But getting them is impossible. I can't go in Pet Co or Pet Smart. They are my competion. I would order on line. But postal workers around here are gorrilas.
Raw is too time consuming and upseting.

It's not a terrible food. I've actually been to their main factory/headquarters in Kansas. I didn't see anything there that made me cringe.

It is probably overpriced for what it does. You can do a lot better for a lot less money. One good example is the "Authority" foods at PetSmart, which are actually made by one of the premium manufacturers (I hear), or the Kirkland brands at Costco, which is what our vet recommends for our shelter cats (she's on the board there).

Overpriced garbage that's not suitable for a carnivore. You could get way better for that price and preferably something that isn't chock full of corn and wood.

Science Diet maintenance feeds read very much like most of Purina's Livestock Chows.

thanks everyone for the opinions and info!!

right now merlin is eating science diet kitten indoor dry w/ the occasional can of wet.

he seems fine on it...but i'm still researching...

IMO, here's what counts....is the cat thriving and enjoying what he's eating?

If there were one perfect diet for cats....well, we'd all be feeding that food.

Then again, my cats are on Hills C/D wet and dry. My boy had struvite crystals (and just doesn't like wet food; I got him as an adult and apparently he doesn't consider wet food quite 'right'). I thank God every day that he's happy and healthy on the C/D so far and don't really care if the ingredients don't look 'good' to me as a layperson.

Originally Posted by darlili

IMO, here's what counts....is the cat thriving and enjoying what he's eating?

If there were one perfect diet for cats....well, we'd all be feeding that food.

Then again, my cats are on Hills C/D wet and dry. My boy had struvite crystals (and just doesn't like wet food; I got him as an adult and apparently he doesn't consider wet food quite 'right'). I thank God every day that he's happy and healthy on the C/D so far and don't really care if the ingredients don't look 'good' to me as a layperson.

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Yes I agree. I like to see my cats thrive, not just exist.

Rx diets have their place, like I said. Many contain what some may consider inferior ingredients like corn but even corn has a purpose in rx pet foods. Whether it be to lower the.protein level or adjust the urinary ph, corn is included in most of hills' foods. However, it is the final result that matters. I don't think hills and science diet is the worst. it they (I mean the maintenance diets) could be better. If feeding a food with 'inferior' ingredients prevents urinary blockage or other problems, then by all means feed it. It is just like human medicine - if you have an illness or condition which requires you to take a certain medication but this medication contains something you don't normally eat ( and doesn't cause any adverse effects of course), what would you do? Most likely take the medication. In some situations, you have to weigh your options.

Being a vet tech, I've seen some of the Rx diets work, but like I said they are like medicine not food. The rd or reducing diet is the worst pretty much sawdust aka cellulose and peanut shells in that one. Plus the stools from animals that eat it are enormous, because it is so indigestible. The regular line of hills is very low quality. Maybe not ol Roy or meow mix quality, but certainly not worthy of it's hefty price tag. The joint diet is 80 dollars for a 40 pound bag. The first ingredient in it is corn. I believe the first meat ingredient is 6 or 7th on the list. Compare that to a big bag of orijen. It is approximately 60 dollars and you have meat ingredients in all of the first 6 ingredients. Now people hardly know about champion pet foods, a small Canadian company. Everyone knows about science diet, iams and purina. Not because they are the best, but because that have the best advertising. I went to a hills seminar through my work and it was a joke. Blatant lies and marketing, but when I brought up valid points and questions, they couldn't give me straight answers. Now we do sell hills Rx at my work, and there were a few techs that fed science diet to their pets, but I am proud to say that now none of our employees feed it! The Rx line has it's uses, but as a maintenance diet no. I can't tell you how many people that Ive converted to better food come back and their pets look a million times better. We had a nearly bald dachshund with severe allergies on science diet natures best. I told her about premium foods and she switched to natural balance. Came back a month and half later and steffi had hair for the first time I could remember. No more atopica or steroids for her! It's amazing how much of common pet issues are food related. Well I am getting off topic now but science diet is no good in my opinion.

I would never recommend or feed Science Diet to any cat for any reason. What little meat is in there is poor quality and everything else is made for a herbivore. And ignoring that cats are carnivores, SD also contains these ingredients (pulled from their website): soy by-products (causes thyroid issues), artificial flavors, powdered cellulose and iodized salt. Ick.

I will also note that their Hills RX diets are excluded from this point of view because like what was said, they are medicated diets to be used on sick cats.

Originally Posted by Kattiekitty

Being a vet tech, I've seen some of the Rx diets work, but like I said they are like medicine not food. The rd or reducing diet is the worst pretty much sawdust aka cellulose and peanut shells in that one. Plus the stools from animals that eat it are enormous, because it is so indigestible. The regular line of hills is very low quality. Maybe not ol Roy or meow mix quality, but certainly not worthy of it's hefty price tag. The joint diet is 80 dollars for a 40 pound bag. The first ingredient in it is corn. I believe the first meat ingredient is 6 or 7th on the list. Compare that to a big bag of orijen. It is approximately 60 dollars and you have meat ingredients in all of the first 6 ingredients. Now people hardly know about champion pet foods, a small Canadian company. Everyone knows about science diet, iams and purina. Not because they are the best, but because that have the best advertising. I went to a hills seminar through my work and it was a joke. Blatant lies and marketing, but when I brought up valid points and questions, they couldn't give me straight answers. Now we do sell hills Rx at my work, and there were a few techs that fed science diet to their pets, but I am proud to say that now none of our employees feed it! The Rx line has it's uses, but as a maintenance diet no. I can't tell you how many people that Ive converted to better food come back and their pets look a million times better. We had a nearly bald dachshund with severe allergies on science diet natures best. I told her about premium foods and she switched to natural balance. Came back a month and half later and steffi had hair for the first time I could remember. No more atopica or steroids for her! It's amazing how much of common pet issues are food related. Well I am getting off topic now but science diet is no good in my opinion.

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I am a firm believer that, other than genetics, nutrition plays a huge role in one's health, human or animal. The hills rep did q seminar at my work too and got ripped apart by one of the vets who is somewhat more open-minded. She dispelled all the marketing BS especially about how they still market c/d as a urinary health food when it is just a maintenance food just to increase their share of the market. We all got 12 kgs of their new Healthy Advantage food, which I quickly gave away. I wasn't informed of this seminar so I didn't get to watch this drama unfold. The rep hasn't been back since!

Part of my issue with vets, not all, they are not aware of the foods out there. Obviously, they cannot possibly be aware of all the foods on the market, but learn about the more popular ones at least. Push hills whatever, but be able to explain to me why its better than Wellness for example. I'm talking about maintenance foods here. At my clinic, it seems food is a way to upsell. New puppy or kitten? Make sure you suggest a diet!

Another issue I have with hills is that they are considered to be the end all of pet food since their foods have gone through AAFCO feeding trials. Not totally true. Not all of their maintenance and rx foods are feeding trial tested as there is a stipulation whereby if a food is similar to the 'mother' food which has been tested through feeding trials, then that food is considered to be just as good as the mother food, with no consideration of digestibility or bioavailability of the ingredients of the 'child' food.

Kattiekitty, I am amazed that none of the staff at your clinic feed hills or science diet! I would have my head cut off if I revealed my beliefs! The staff balk at pet store food because a vet prescribes hills so it must be good. There are only two staff member who feed non-hills food, me and another tech. And I still can't get over the fact that the staff all free their cats a solely dry diet.

To the OP, sorry for going all over the place but you can see how nutrition can spark a discussion! Obviously, the choice is up to you and no one will judge you if youbstay with Science Diet (you are not blindly accepting your cat's current diet). It also may turn out that your cat may not be able to tolerate some of the premium diets. My boyfriends cat eats Science Diet and vomits other types of food. Mind you, he hasn't really tried other foods other than Fancy Feast. If you decide to try other foods, keep in mind there may be sone trial and error involved in finding a food your cat likes and tolerate well.

There might be better, sure. But if your cat doesn't eat it what good is it.
I want to find the Royal Crown food. If not SD.
Like the descussion. Makes you aware of what IS out there. The feild is so fast.