There's no doubt that diet can make an enormous difference to your dog's health so when he's ill, it's only right that your vet should suggest a diet change. Over the last decade or so, the 'veterinary' or 'prescription diet' has become the vet's food of choice but as we will see in this article, they might not be the best options for your dog or your wallet.
Veterinary foods are promoted as the ultimate in dietary therapy for your dog - so good in fact that only your vet can give it to you. The pristine packaging, the massive price tag, the fact that they are only available through vets, even the names 'Prescription Diets' and 'Veterinary Diets' all give the overwhelming impression that these are not mere foods but medicinal treatments and must, therefore, be the best choice for your sick dog. Unfortunately, in most cases, this couldn't be further from the truth.
The most important thing to realise is that the majority* of veterinary diets are just standard pet foods. Most of them don't contain anything remotely medicinal and no prescription is required to buy them. They are only available through vets because the manufacturers choose not to sell them elsewhere. They could equally choose to sell them in pet stores, feed merchants or at car boot sales if they wanted to but that would damage the air of exclusivity they have worked so hard to create. I repeat, most prescription diets are just standard pet foods.
Hill's Prescription Diet i/d is probably the most popular veterinary diet in the UK. Vets recommend it for all sorts of gastrointestinal disorders from colitis to pancratitis, IBD to bloat. According to Hill's, it is ideal for these sorts of problems because of its high digestibility, low fat content and its high level of fibre. It also contains electrolytes to help replace losses caused by vomitting and diarrhoea and antioxidants to neutralise free radicals.
That all sounds great but actually there's really nothing unique about it. The market is awash with digestible, low fat, high fibre foods. Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate) are found in abundance in any complete dog food and antioxidants have to be added to dry dog food to stop it going rancid immediately after production. So, contrary to what your vet might tell you, Hill's i/d is just one of many diets that might fit the bill for a dog with digestive upsets but, as we will see from the ingredients, it certainly isn't the best.
Hills i/d dry ingredients: Click to see what we think about Maize / Corn in dog foodGround Maize, Click to see what we think about Rice - White in dog foodGround Rice, Dried Whole Click to see what we think about Egg in dog foodEgg, Click to see what we think about Chicken in dog foodChicken and Click to see what we think about Turkey in dog foodTurkey Meal, Click to see what we think about Maize Gluten in dog foodMaize Gluten Meal, Click to see what we think about Digest in dog foodDigest, Dried Click to see what we think about Sugar Beet in dog foodBeet Pulp, Click to see what we think about Unspecified Animal Fats and Oils in dog foodAnimal Fat, Click to see what we think about Vegetable Oil in dog foodVegetable Oil, Click to see what we think about Calcium Carbonate in dog foodCalcium Carbonate, Click to see what we think about Linseed in dog foodFlaxseed, Potassium Citrate, Click to see what we think about Salt in dog foodSalt, Click to see what we think about Potassium Chloride in dog foodPotassium Chloride, Click to see what we think about Calcium Phosphate in dog foodDicalcium Phosphate, Click to see what we think about Taurine in dog foodTaurine, L-Tryptophan, Click to see what we think about Vitamins and Minerals in dog foodVitamins and Trace Elements. Contains EU Approved Click to see what we think about Artificial Preservatives and Antioxidants in dog foodAntioxidant.
It doesn't take a nutritionist to tell you that this is not a great food, but I'm going to anyway. The first, and therefore most abundant ingredient in Hill's i/d is maize - a grain that has become increasingly associated with dietary intolerance and actually causing digestive upsets. Add in the second ingredient rice and the added maize gluten further down and it's clear that i/d is a very grain heavy food. As dogs are primarily designed for digesting meat, this is not the best characteristic for a food to aid digestion. Meat, in fact, is only the 4th ingredient on the list and since the percentage isn't specified, the actual amount in the food could be very low indeed. The remaining ingredients really aren't anything to write home about either - digest, unidentified animal fats, added salt and even artificial antioxidants - all hallmarks of a low grade food. All of this adds up to the fact that Hill's i/d is a pretty bad dog food - by our standards, it scores just 1.8 out of 5 and yet your vet will charge you upwards of £60 for a 12kg bag!
The story is the same for just about all of the veterinary diet ranges ou