Burns or Hills?

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I have a 5 year old (approx) golden retriever who is overweight. We had gotten him Burns High Oats a while ago but now he is on Hills Advanced Fitness (I know it's the wrong food but it was opened before we could change it). I was looking on the Hills website and I found 2 foods for adult dogs but with a prescription. It says it's clinically proven to reduce body fat by 22%. We could get the prescription if the Hills is better.
I have tried contacting Hills but it keeps coming up with error.
What do you think? Thanks in advance!

lorebringer

IMO, Hills is a lower quality food than Burns and it's more expensive. Stick with the Burns if it is working for you, just be super strict with portion control, no treats (well, maybe the odd one!) and get him out and about to burn those calories! The regular Burns range (eg. Chicken and Rice) is quite low in calories anyway so you could try your dog on one of these is you don't want to stick with the High Oats (supposed to the the "light" version).

tk123

Burns! There's no contest imo. You have to be STRICT and make sure everyone in the house is too. Measure out the daily allowance, put a handful by in his treat jar and that's it - as long it comes from the jar he won't care what it is! Our guy was on restricted exercise and put on weight so the only way to get the weight off was to cut back his food. I gradually cut it back a little each day so he went from 300 to 150 grams a day. Once we got the weight off I gave him a little more food and allowed a few treats again. At the moment he gets 200g of food, 2 bonios after his walks, a dental strip and a few small treats for training or when we're on a walk. He walks about 90 mins now over 2 walks, swims at the sea and at hydro (for his leg). He weighs 28.5 kgs and is nice and skinny. BTW if you do go with the Hills check out vetuk.co.uk or medicanimal.com - you don't need a prescription from the vets. I was talked into putting him on Hills r/d (not our usual vet) and he broke out in hotspots and was pooing tenfold!

Sigma Force

Yeh it's all down to portion control it's a pretty light food anyway, although depends on how much excercise the dog is getting in winter for example you might need to feed less if walks have to be cut short or more if the dog is outside a lot and still getting a similar amount of excercise.

Maybe half the food in the morning and the other half in the evening if you feel the dog is hungry and looking for a snack. Some dogs like chewing on carrots and other veg as a low fat treat, or ice cubes in this weather made with water and apple juice.

boomerang

Hills' r/d is awful stuff - there's hardly any real food in there at all!


Ground Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose 15% (source of fiber), Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Peanut Hulls 11% (source of fiber), Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Mill Run, Dried Egg Product, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Oil, Iron Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, 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), Choline Chloride, preserved with BHT, BHA and Ethoxyquin, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, Beta-carotene. :eek:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1073&cat=7

Definitely go with the Burns:

Oats (Min 56%), Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Peas, Chicken Oil, Seaweed, Minerals & Vitamins.

toadfly

Hills IMO isn't an awful lot better than the supermarket brands and it's a hell of a lot dearer. I'd go with burns no doubt. The regular burns isn't very fatty either.