Hills science plan

Richard571

We got a golden retriever pup a couple of weeks ago and vet recommended hills science plan which I notice is what they stock (breeder previously had her on red mills). Is this a good food or any other thoughts?

lorebringer

Hills Science Plan is a so so food - there are much better brands out there (and much worse!), but it is super expensive for the quality of food you are getting. Other good brands include James Wellbeloved, Royal Canin, Burns, Pro Pac, Arden Grange, Whites, Best for my Dog... the list goes on and on! Red Mills is also a mediocre food, depending on which one the dog is on (Leader and Leader Supreme are their good ones, any of the other types are pretty crappy). My personal recommendation is James Wellbeloved or Burns, my dogs have done fantastically on both of these food, they are good value for money and they have good puppy foods too.

Your vet is probably trying to sell you the food they stock when there are many other good foods out there. Most decent pet stores sell good brands of foods and you can also get them online (often cheaper than in the shops) (some good websites include www.zooplus.ie, www.zooplus.co.uk (can be cheaper than the Irish version of the site) and www.dogfooddirect.ie) and brand websites (Whites) http://www.whites-premium.ie/default.aspx, (Best for my dog) http://www.bestformydog.com/... there are loads! All brands have a website listing ingredients etc. so you can look them up before you buy.

Choosing a food can be a nightmare, buy a small bag first and try the dog over a few days of mixing it with the old food to see how she gets on (a sudden switch can really cause an upset belly), if you are happy with the new food go ahead a buy a big bag (far more economical that buying smaller bags, esp. with a bigger dog). Feeding a better brand also works out cheaper than feeding a low quality brand - stay clear of the supermarket brands (Pedigree, Bakers, own brands etc.) because they are terrible quality - because you need to feed less volume of food for your dog to get adequate nutrition. Buying bigger bags works out far cheaper per kg of food too.

Good luck!

tk123

Hills can make dogs hyper - with a GR pup it's going to be on restricted excercise to protect it's joints (5 mins per month of age) so I would avoid it. It didn't agree with my GR at all and also gave him hot spots. He did really well on Burns and Luath then decided that rice wasn't going to agree with him anymore a few months ago :rolleyes: so now he's on cereal free James Wellbeloved and is doing great on it. As lorebringer make sure you buy small bags of whatever you're trying and also introduce the new food gradually over a few weeks.

chris139ryan

Regarding the so called good dog food brands, most of them have wheat (maize) in them. Most dog are wheat intolerant so I would automatically rule them out as good foods.
My thoughts on a good dog food is to have rice instead of maize, actual meat instead of meat derivative, etc

Cherry Blossom

chris139ryan wrote: »

Regarding the so called good dog food brands, most of them have wheat (maize) in them. Most dog are wheat intolerant so I would automatically rule them out as good foods.
My thoughts on a good dog food is to have rice instead of maize, actual meat instead of meat derivative, etc

I wouldn't consider a food that comes under your description 'good' by any stretch of the imagination. Maize is corn btw, not wheat - but you are right neither would be contained in the best quality foods but Whites is extremely good value for what it is and I have no knowledge of Pro-Pac. As far as I know none of the other brands recommended so far contain any of list above.

Some other recommendations from me - Barking Heads (pricey), Fish4dogs (finest range, not 'working' range), if you live close to NI or travel up often enough Pets at Home do their own brand called Wainrights which is excellent and not as pricey as some. Personally I tend to stay away from the US brands from an ethical point of view and because the standards that regulate labelling, and how ingredients can be named are lower.

jack presley

I feed my 3 Science Plan and they love it and they are fit and healthy dogs.

chris139ryan

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I wouldn't consider a food that comes under your description 'good' by any stretch of the imagination. .

why ? its not exactly hard to look at the ingredients and see if the food is good or not

Cherry Blossom

chris139ryan wrote: »

why ? its not exactly hard to look at the ingredients and see if the food is good or not

For the exact reasons that you gave, you said 'so called good dog food brands' - who calls a food full of grains and derivatives good?

chris139ryan

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

For the exact reasons that you gave, you said 'so called good dog food brands' - who calls a food full of grains and derivatives good?

people that feed their dogs bakers and pedigree chum and the likes think they are good foods and also one of the big so called good brands, Royal canin has a high level of maize in it. Z

chris139ryan

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

For the exact reasons that you gave, you said 'so called good dog food brands' - who calls a food full of grains and derivatives good?

people that feed their dogs bakers and pedigree chum and the likes think they are good foods.
But what i'm saying is that most of the so called good brands out there will have ingredients that are bad for the dog but yet most people still think they are great foods.

meoklmrk91

A big price for a not so great food, however most vets sell this as there are rep's which call the to practice, give them loads of free stuff, pens, literature, cups, samples etc. and tell them it is the food, and then give them a cut of every bag sold. So the vets generally push it. Most other dog food companies don't have the resources to push their foods like this or are uninterested in doing so.

Is it the worst food you could buy, no, but you could be getting a hell of a lot better for your money, so why be ripped off?

jack presley

chris139ryan wrote: »

Most dog are wheat intolerant

Is that true? I had never heard that before.

meoklmrk91

jack presley wrote: »

Is that true? I had never heard that before.

I thought it was corn/maize dogs had a problem with really, it's supposedly hard for them to digest, and some dogs just had an intolerance to wheat, westies being the most common, could the poster please post something to back up their claim?

Cherry Blossom

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I thought it was corn/maize dogs had a problem with really, it's supposedly hard for them to digest,

It's grains which contain gluten that are the issue, wheat being the biggest one. A lot of brands now use oats, millet, rice instead of maize and wheat.

http://www.housepetmagazine.com/August/Gluten.htm

Now, that's just ruined my multi-grain sandwiches for lunch enjoyment :rolleyes: