Recently, we took our cat, Storm and our dog Daisy to the vet. The vet told us we should be feeding our cat and probably the dog Hill’s Science Diet. Now, my 15 year old daughter is adamant that we should be giving them this food. (They are both eating Iams, now.) I say, they are healthy and have been eating other foods for years, so why switch. I also have this suspicion that, of course the vet is going to tell us to feed them Science Diet. They only sell it at the veterinarian’s office.
Opinions anyone?
I think if your dog and cat do well on what they are eating now, keep feeding it to them. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
One of our cats has some digestion problems, so vet wanted to try some other special food, which neither cat would eat. So, we tried Science Diet, and they stuck up their noses at that too. So, back to Friskies.
They seem to be thriving on that, at 12 years old each.
Science Diet is sold plenty of places other than the vet’s office (like that little known pet food chain, PetSmart) UNLESS you are talking about a special needs food, available only by prescription (ie at the vet). If you vet thinks your cat/dog needs a special needs food, you should consider feeding it, after understanding exactly what the food is supposed to address.
That said, most vets I know hate Iams for whatever reason - in fact I have 2 vet friends and they both feed Purina ONE which is actually cheaper, they hate Iams.
My dog was on the Hill’s Presscription i/d for several years and did quite well on it. I used coupons off the Hill’s website, which helped with the cost. Recently our vet switched from the Hill’s line to the Purina line, and my dog was switched to Purina EN. She doesn’t like the taste as much and her…errr…output has increased (the old food was ‘low yield’). The vet said we could try the regular Purina line to see if there was something else the dog might prefer. He said NOT to feed the dog Iams…
That probably varies by diet type, as some Purina diets are more “low yield” than the Hill’s counterpart, and viceversa.
When I had my cat and dog I spoiled them as much as the next, but animals really don’t care. They like what they like and in the wild they’d eat what they could get.
It was like my dog, I’d say “Here’s a nice fresh clean bowl of water.”
He’d look at it and walk over to a puddle of rainwater filled with leaves, and dirt and Chlorophyll and who knows what else and drink that.
My pets used to love Aldi’s pet food. That’s a generic store. I don’t know what was in it, but they really loved it.
I am curious why the hate for IAMS. Any specific reason?
My vet says as long as the dog is thriving and of a healthy weight, whatever he likes is fine. I did try some low cost store brand stuff from Farm and Fleet, and I just couldn’t live with my poor little dog. The “output” was truly toxic.
The rule of thumb we go by, is only buy the animal food where the first ingredient on the ingredient list is meat. If it’s a carb, stay far, far away.
That has to be the cutest cat picture I have ever seen.
I started my cats on Iams when I got them 8 years ago…but they have changed the formula since then. I don’t know if your kitties are indoor or outdoor but I had to switch. Cleaning the kitty litter became gross! (And I assure you, the furry ones were not happy either.)
I then switched to Eukanuba…and then they changed their formula, too.
Since my cats will eat anything, I just kept trying new food (with predominantly meat) until I was satisfied with the output and their level of happiness. I tried Science Diet…it was much better but the price! Nutro Natural Choice was what we ended up with. Healthy cats, cleaner litter and the vet gave it a thumbs up!
Is there a particular concern that the vet brought up? If not, I wouldn’t fix what’s not broken.
My vet is a total food snob, so he always questions me about their diets and tells me to put more raw vegetables on top of the dogs’ food.
He’s not a big fan of Science Diet (I’ve never questioned him about Iams), but basically says that whatever you get that’s mostly meat instead of filler, is fine. He seems satisfied (other than the vegetable thing) with me giving both the cats and the dogs Nature’s Best dry food, supplemented with Natural Balance (a.k.a. dog crack) wet food, and Avoderm wet cat food.
Regarding Iams … my vet in the UK gave it a very hearty thumbs down. She said that every cat that came in with urinary tract problems inevitably was fed Iams. The cat shelter I worked at also nixed Iams, even when it was donated. My kitties get Nutro now and were eating some high priced natural stuff in the UK that I can’t remember the name of. Ideally, they should be eating a species appropriate raw diet, and actually, for the most part they are - being outdoor cats with a nice supply of voles and field mice available.
My new puppy (six months old) does eat raw (with the vet’s approval) and I must say, the “output” is amazingly odor free and also minimal. It’s a bit of a pain to procure organ meat (they need to eat muscle and organ and also bones) but if you can, I highly recommend it. Canines (and felines) aren’t meant to digest cereals and stuff, and certainly not in the quantities found in commercial pet foods.
I’m not a vet or anything close to an expert, I’ve just spent a lot of time trying to find out what the best foods are to feed my cats. So while I do think I’m right I’m not any sort of authority on this and don’t want to present myself as one.
Science Diet is a middle of the road food. It’s marginally better than Iams but it’s not great. It’s best to avoid grains as much as possible and corn and brewer’s rice figure pretty high into any lower quality food’s ingredient list.
Byproducts are pretty nasty things as well and are found in a lot of cheaper foods. Things like meat byproducts or meat & bone meal can be anything from clean organ meat (which is fine) to diseased cattle (which is not fine) to (I find this particularly ghastly) the rendered carcasses of euthanized dogs and cats.
Off the top of my head some quality pet food brands would be Solid Gold, Wellness, Innova, Orijen, Taste of the Wild, and Merrick. Natural Balance is what I feed my cats. One of them has a really sensitive stomach and Natural Balance offers a line of limited ingredient formulas that helps keep the puking to a minimum.
If it wasn’t for the sensitive stomach issue I’d go with Solid Gold, it’s one of the cheapest of the the premium foods and my non-sensitive stomach cat did great on it in the past. I’m iffy on Avoderm because avocado is toxic to cats, I’m not sure why they make such a show of using it as an ingredient. It’s low on the ingredient list and I’m sure it’s not there in high enough quantities to hurt anything but still, it’s like having an ad for Pizza Hut saying “Now with trace levels of Mercury!”
Don’t be turned off by the price of some of the better foods. They are more nutritionally dense and you’ll find that your pet needs to eat less so it will last longer.
Some other good foods are Blue Buffalo and Chicken Soup, I’d prefer the things in my list above but these are still quality food. Nutro could almost fit in here but they’ve just had too many recalls and quality control issues for me.
Leading up the rear with decent but not great is Royal Canin, and then you get to the Science Diet, Iam’s, and Eukanaba food. This stuff is all better than Old Roy or Friskies, but for the money you can easily get something better.
Until 5 days ago I would have agreed with all the recommendations for the hgher-end foods and had been feeding my cats Innova.
Then, the new guy who I’ve had for 2 months had a urinary blockage, struvite crystals, after being home with me and eating Innova for 2 months.
Before that, he lived at a veterinary hospital from September of 2008 to February of 2009, and at the shelter from February to the first week of June. He was on regular adult Science Diet for that time and had no problems, gained weight and was doing really well. It’s a long story if you’re curious about all the time spent at vet and shelter. The point is he was fine until the change to “higher quality” food.
He has other special needs, and had complications during his treatment for the urinary obstruction, that in itself is a long and fascinating story only to those in the veterinary profession, really.
So, after four full days of hospitalization and a bill I’d rather not think about, everyone’s back on Science Diet.
The shelter uses Science Diet’s shelter food program, which saves thousands and thousands of dollars. Another observation - in the nearly 7 years I’ve been at the shelter, with 300 resident felines and thousands more that have been in and out, no cat has ever had a urinary obstruction. I think that’s saying a lot when I see anywhere from 6 to 12 cats a week at the ER being treated.
I’m not dissing high quality food. Until last week, I’d have been saying the same things about it, and have had Innova in my house since the beginning of the year. But it seems to turn out that certain formulas are certainly not always the best fit, and I really think if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
All three of my animals are on quasi-specialized foods.
The cat is prone to UTIs. She used to be on the Eukanuba indoor formula, then got switched to the Royal Canin urinary s/o dry. After her last two rounds, she got put on the RC urinary s/o canned. Her hair’s softer, she’s more energetic and even her dandruff has mostly cleared up.
The English bulldog is on the RC bulldog formula. I wouldn’t have believed in breed specific food before getting a bulldog, but switching from Pedigree and Iams to the bulldog formula has dramatically reduced both the volume and the toxicity of her gas.
The mastiff is on the Nutro lamb and rice formula because she has naturally dry and itchy skin. I also supplement it with a fish oil tab. She’s doing much better.
I guess what all this comes down to is, if there’s a need for specialized food to address a specific issue, you should do it. My last dog lived her entire decade on standard Pedigree and was a very healthy dog for the most part.
My vet likes IAMS because it has more meat in it and less fillers. If you read the back of the labels, the ones that have meat as the first ingredient is usually better. I am surprised at the recommendation for Science diet since I’ve heard it is horrible. But I think you’re right…if they are going to make a buck on it, sadly, they are inclined to push it.
To repeat, there is absolutely no reason you have to buy Science Diet at the vet UNLESS it is a prescription diet. All the “standard” Science Diet formulas are sold at the larger pet stores (and many of the smaller ones).
My husband’s vet said the same thing about Iams - all the cats with urinary infections seem to be eating it. My vet friend just thinks Iams is well overpriced for the quality of the ingredients - other brands which are are as good if not better costs less.
I don’t know from pet food, but that is a darn cute kitty.