Hill's Science Diet Cat Food Review (We Tested It)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hill’s Science Diet is one of the most well-respected brands in the pet food industry. You’d be hard-pressed to find a vet’s office or animal shelter that’s not stocked with a supply of this brand. But behind the prestige, is Hill’s a nourishing, safe choice for your cat? Find out in our Hill’s cat food review.
Read the complete guide: cats.com/hills-cat-food-review
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Video Navigation:
0:00 Introduction
1:37 Hill's Science Diet History
3:16 Research and Development
3:45 Quality and Safety Standards
4:15 Recall History
5:42 What Kind of Food They Offer
7:29 Lab Testing
9:07 Nutrition Summary
9:25 Price
10:25 Overall Impressions
12:15 Conclusion
Products mentioned in this video:
Hill's Science Diet Adult Dry Chicken Recipe:
Buy on Chewy: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
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Hill's Science Diet Indoor Adult Chicken Recipe:
Buy on Chewy: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Buy on Amazon: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Hill's Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and Skin Chicken & Rice Recipe:
Buy on Chewy: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Buy on Amazon: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Hill's Science Diet Urinary Hairball Control Savory Chicken Entree:
Buy on Chewy: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Buy on Amazon: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Hill's Science Diet Adult Sensitive Stomach & Skin Chicken & Vegetable Entree:
Buy on Chewy: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Buy on Amazon: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Hill's Science Diet Adult Tender Chicken Chunks and Gravy:
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Buy on Amazon: cats.com/link/?href=https%3A%...
Additional resources for learning:
FDA warning letter to Hill's: www.fda.gov/inspections-compl...
Lawsuit against Hill's after vitamin D incident: www.locklaw.com/wp-content/up...
Report of 2015 market withdrawal: www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-fo...
Report of 2014 recall: drjustinelee.com/hills-dog-fo...
FDA documentation of melamine recalls of 2007: www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary...
Explore the Cats.com website: cats.com
Join the community and keep the conversation going off of TH-cam: cats.com/community
Join the Cat Guardian Academy by Cats.com: cats.com/cat-academy
Join our cat rescue and welfare group on Facebook: / 221547659977479
I think it takes guts to stand by your honest perspectives on this brand! This is why we watch you videos :D
This TH-camr just gained a new subscriber. They come off as a very knowledgeable person that genuinely cares about their pets.
@@lovely.ameeeee485 yea, I haven’t come across another reviewer that sends food products to an independent lab for an unbiased analysis. Plus this channel is cool xD
So many others are to chicken to mention names.Or just bypass any challenges. You are refreshing honest, with a backbone of steel. Thank You.,Also your not trying to sale us something. That's so novel these days.
And we don't have to wait to the very end to get to the juicy information. WOW AMAZING...Great Job..you are going places. Oh and you don't push your opinions on others, Respects to you. Will always keep up with you, Thanks
Dry food is good according to Mallory
It takes guts to recommend dry food for cats who hardly drink any water in the first place, dry food usually contains mold unless it's freeze dried
I appreciate your honesty. I had a cat who had serious health issues at 14 and passed. She was a Hills cat from a kitten stage, but we always struggled with her weight, and she would sometimes get randomly sick and refuse to touch a bag of her food, so I'd switch formulas or flavors and she'd be ok again. I thought I was feeding her the best but have since changed my stance with this brand and I want to do better with my 2 new cats.
was recommended hills by the vet for my cats. one for urinary issues. the other for GI issues. after doing similar research and after trying hills, i switched to the stella and chewy freeze dried raw salmon and chicken recipe. no urinary or GI issues since. fur is healthy and soft and the vet can’t believe how good they look in their old age.
Would you recommend this for adult cats in general or only for elderly cats? Thank you.
@@lovely.ameeeee485 mine are 10 and 7 and they are doing great on it. worth a try. expensive though.
Please help me! My vet is also recommending the Dr Hills brand to me for my cat with urinary problems... I honestly don’t trust her opinion though with all the problems we have had.
@@shelbeybridgeman3602 vets trust these brands and go with the safest option in their mind. all about cats’ website has a good review of products. raw is probably best, but one of my cats would not have it. its expensive but stella and chewys freeze dried salmon chicken dinner chews worked. they are raw but dry. my cats eat it like dry food. tried everything else for my cat’s vomiting. but it didn’t stopped until i switched to raw. if you have a younger cat they may be more open to wet raw food. but it’s also something you need freezer space for. most urinary issues can be solved if you are on dry food just by switching to a heavily wet food. something like a gravy. tiki cat and weruva have some good variety in their wet food line up.
@@shelbeybridgeman3602 One always has to ask.. Is the vet (or teh business they work for) getting paid in any way for promoting a given brand? (Do they sell it themselves or just recommend it?)
Thanks for having the intelligence to base your opinion on measurable quantities rather than veterinarian's recommendations. And for having the courage to share your findings publicly.
Mallory, thank you so much for this review! I wish I could hug you.
My four yr old male tabby was recently dx’d w/Feline Idiopathic Cystitis. He was prescribed HSD c/d wet food. (I’ve only ever given him wet food, high protein, low carb, no carrageenan. The FIC was due to stress in the house.) I looked at the ingredients and was shocked. I mentioned my trepidation to both the ER vet and his regular vet. I got shoulder shrugs. This feels like a racket between vets and Hills (like pharmaceutical companies making deals with doctors to push their drugs).
I am not a vet either, but I know how to do proper research. I look for pH between 6 and 6.5, low to no calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, and low to no ash.
You don’t need to apologize for an honest review.
I like that you stand by the honest side. You are not to concerned with their reputation
Mallory, excellent review. I am a new kitten mom. I feed my two kittens per your recommendations. You have cleared up so many of my concerns with your research. You pack alot of important & badly needed information into all of your videos. Between you & Jackson, my kitties are flourishing. Please, keep them coming.
I have two extremely ancient cats and one refuses wet food and regurgitates anything expect the hills science. We tried, really, but when you’re chasing a cat who eats and runs straight to puke on only the most inconvenient difficult to clean parts of the house….lol, you give him what works.
I just discovered your channel while researching for my new cat that I'm going to be adopting next week. Your channel is a gold mine of information! Thank you for your thorough research.
Welcome! So happy to be useful!
Thank you, Mallory, for a wonderful in-depth review and analysis of these foods!
I've been using Hills prescription diet multicare (Urinary and stress) for about 3 weeks now and it has really fixed up my cat's urinary problem which the vet said was stress related, she also went on a course of anti-biotics and anti-inflammatories but the food is what really did the trick. She was feral up until I rescued her from my backyard about a year ago. She also has to contend with my other cat who likes to chase her but they are slowly getting to like each other and she is starting to stand her ground more now. I keep them in separate parts of the house most of the time with small doses of introduction time every day.
Awesome !
Nice! How are they doing? I have 2 strictly indoor cats, a ginger 3yr old male and a 1yr old hellion female. I want to bring in a stray from my backyard, but idk how they'll react. I sincerely hope all is well with your furbabies
The urinary infection is a distant memory now, my two cats are best of friends now. I still feed them Hills but now just the regular indoor cat one. My little stray sometimes eats too quickly still and can vomit sometimes but she is a great little cat now. Now approx 5 yrs old. My other cat I got as a kitten from the shelter, he loves his sister too. They often play and chase and wrestle with each other, best friends!@@mommyshark1124
Really appreciate all that you do. Your videos are the best.
So kind of you to make this comment. Thank you.
So grateful to come across your video! Thanks a lot for sharing. I wish I had this sooner.
Really appreciate the work you're doing!
I’ve always used Science Diet whenever my veterinarian recommended prescription diets for my furbabies, but now have been hesitant. Just because your veterinarian recommends something doesn’t mean it’s right for your situation. It is the patient’s right (fur parents) to seek a second opinion. Thank you for providing this information.
Hi mallory.. you and jackson galaxy and senior cat wellbeing are the best cat informative channels!!
Thanks mallory you whyte as chick 😃
Kitten Lady (Hannah Shaw) has a lot of informative videos, too.
@@vistalite oh cool i will check her out 😃 🐈 😻 🐈⬛ 🐱
Wow this is a little crazy but I just woke up from a dream about my aunts old pup, Freddy. He ate science diet his whole life! This is a little spooky but it was really nice seeing him again :) thanks for the magic, Mallory
Mallory, you’re the best! ❤ I watch this channel because of you. Please keep posting videos specially your reviews on every brands. God bless!
I literally just commented on another video for you to give us your honest opinion on this food. Our vet recommended it to us, but I don’t know. You literally stopped me from heading over to petsmart to buy a new bag. Thank you! 🙏🏽❤️
Glad you found it helpful, Cece!
An honest review. Hill's Science Diet is no better than many other brands that are half the price or less. They did a great marketing job with the vets and shelters.
Hill's trademarked the term "prescription diet" in 2012. It is a marketing term with no legal standing. The FDA treats all prescription/veterinary diet food as food, not drugs or medicine.
Thank you for your impartial review of Hill's Science Diet. When I adopted my 7-year-old cat from a friend who was a scientist, she came with a bag of Hill's. Over the past several months, I have done a little research and transitioned her to wet food (still giving her a few grams of kibbles to hold her over mid-day while I am at work). The kinds of wet food she prefers are apparently not the most nutritious, but I plan to eventually switch her to a raw or homemade diet in the future when I have more time to devote to doing it correctly. Now, when I travel, I put dry food in an automatic timed feeder to give her a couple small meals in a day since my sitter can only come in once a day for the canned food. So a bag lasts a long time, but I am needing to repurchase before my holiday travel. After much label-reading, I had switched to Instinct Raw Boost dry food, which has less carbs and grains and additives. I was considering going back to the Science Diet, since she liked it more, but after watching this review, I will not. Thanks again, I love your content.
I hate that I have to rely on this brand and Royal canin. My boy kitty Puff had a urinary obstruction. I didn't want to put him on either of the diets they were suggesting because of how awful the ingredients are. He kept having problems until I tried the above brands diet for urinary care. He is in perfect health now. I think there is a lot of research that goes into their food and they formulate it specific to an animal's needs. I just wish they would use better ingredients. This food is so expensive, it should have ingredients that match that price.
Hills urinary diet was the only food that stopped my cat from blocking but yes I wish they would decrease the carbohydrates & add more meat to their foods . I think of Simbas food as a medication! Yes it’s expensive !Purina makes a urinary cat food but my vet said it wasn’t strong enough to to keep Simba from blocking ? Therefore he should continue on the Hills urinary diet . All I can say is that it works !!
Yeah I agree. I will be fair to hills that I’ve heard good things about their prescription diets. But their ingredients are such low quality! Like corn and meat by products? Really?
Glad to see your conclusion to not recommend this brand. It’s really sad that this company funds so many veterinarian offices. "To keep them coming back to the vet" reason I've heard which makes sense. When I first got my cat and didn't know any better I tried feeding some of their wet foods he ate em but there's definitely other brands wet foods he eats with much more enthusiasm.
I know several cat owners who feed their cats this brand because of their vets as well as a surgery vet who does so too. Just mind boggling.
why would a surgical vet feed something that would make their cats sick
@@juliac3933 he probably got it for free or big discounts. Another vet I talked to only feeds her cat Purina because Purina funds her clinic.
I’m wondering if this is why my vet recommended this brand for my cat with urinary issues. She seems to want us to keep coming back with problems every month! I’m so frustrated with the vet.
@@shelbeybridgeman3602 hills prescription diet is NOT the same as the hills science diet - if your on a prescription food stick to it.
Thank you for this great info!! My vet put my overweight cat on dry Hills food. Seriously? I didnt look at the amount of carbs in the food. Thank you for enlightening me. Keep up the good work!
Great honest review (as always). While managing my 18 yo girl’s CKD, I tried many, many recommended foods (starting with the K/D line), read and watched your content (among many others), bought Tanya’s food analysis book, and read many vet-produced papers on the subject. In the end, it was a non-operable tumor that took her. Kind of wish I’d’ve just fed her what she liked…
Now, my 11 yo boy is having UT issues (not crystals, but mucous plugs). Vet recommended Hill’s C/D (which he carries), but said I should try any of the urinary health brands available (Hill’s, Purina or Royal Canin), from any vendor. With CKD, I was willing to experiment with other non-vet-recommended foods; but a blocked bladder is another thing altogether. Unless my boy proves us wrong, he’s staying on what the vet recommended, regardless of the cost, and I hope the plugs never return. A blocked bladder is NOT something to mess with.
Sounds like you're doing a great job. Wishing you and your cat all the best.
Same thing for my cat (male, neutered), he also suffered from mucous plugs and blocked bladder often. Consistently on C/D but the occurrence keep coming back every few months. He passed last year :( I think the best diet for kitties suffering this kind of issue would be raw diets (homemade or not) or may be try the freeze food diet. I trusted my vet but since my cat's passing I started to have doubts.
@@sanyeung1620 Sorry to say but any vet actively pushing Royal Canin and Hills as the best options I just never trust anymore. You can see just by looking at the ingredients that they are barely above supermarket-brand quality, and in some cases even worse. Purina wet foods like Fancy Feast offer better protein amounts and seem to have less nasties added which is odd since almost every vet fills their walls with Hills. I don't think they're all doing it as shills of these two companies but some vets are just indoctrinated through their training that these brands are good options without doing their own critical analysis. Most vets probably focus more on treatment side rather than looking at diets like this which most definitely are factors leading to health issues in cats they treat, particularly ones fed only the dry options up to geriatric age.
Appreciate the good dialog here. My boy hasn't had another case of what my vets have determined is sterile cystitis or feline idiopathic cystitis (whichever name you prefer) since being on C/D Stress kibble and Fancy Feast Petites wet (he doesn't like the C/D wet).
An article in Veterinary Medicine and Science Vol 6, Issue 1 (Feb 2020), titled "The effect of a therapeutic urinary stress diet on the short-term recurrence of feline idiopathic cystitis," funded by Utrecht University and conducted between 31 cats in Holland, the test cats were fed Hill's C/D wet, dry, or a combination, and it showed to make a difference in FIC reoccurrence (29.4% for test cats vs 78.6% for control cats on owner-controlled diets)... not 100%, but significant. I'm going to keep trying this feeding regimen.
This is what my vet recommended. I asked why and agreed with the answers my vets gave as to why it's a great food. My cats like this and purina pro plan.
Thanks for being honest. This video helped me a lot!
Thank you for this review! There are many others who agree with you, including vets. And one of the reasons this brand is popular in shelters is because Hills donates to them. Nice way to get adopters hooked on Hills..,
I rescued this kitten that fell in my window well and was trapped because I have a plastic cover over it and mother cat could not fit to rescue it so I took it in. A friend of mine is a vet tech and I let her take Speedy to work to check him out and get fixed and all the shots. Anyways she told me to feed him Science diet, so I did because I didn't know any better. Fast forward 12 years Speedy got sick and took him to my local vet and found out his kidneys were failing. The vet asked what I fed him, and I told him science diet and he told me that was the worst food and that is why his kidneys failed. 😭Wish I would have known but I believed the vet.
Oh, Golly!! 😭 I’m so sorry, and I just went through the same experience!! My Gracie died of kidney failure at age 10, after being fed Science Diet i/d her whole life. It was prescribed by our vet!!! 😤 😭 It broke my heart!
Same. Exact. Story.
Hill's is just demonic!!!😡
That's very good research, thank you.
I suppose at least one thing one can compliment Hill's on is their expertise in marketing to vets. 🤔
Love your work.
I agree, thank you for an honest review!
Thank you so much for your honest and thorough review
The melamine recall was a big eye opener for me. But now with a 11 plus cat I've started trying it. I haven't found many brands that are designed specifically for senior cats.
Was at vet yesterday and saw the Hills foods and somehow feel like you nailed it!
in my opinion, recalls are good. it means, quality control and observation are present.
im more worried on brands without any recall.
Thank you for this! My cats have been on HSD Rx C/D wet & dry food because of urinary crystals one of our cats developed as a kitten (and has been fine since) and I always wondered about this brand because vets really do sort of push it on you, but in a very subtle way. It doesn’t seem gimmicky or anything, it just seems like there’s this greater understanding that this is the superior cat food. I’m just starting to look deeper into nutritional values in cat food because I want my babies to live as long as possible, and when I was younger it wasn’t even something I thought about. Love your videos!
Thank you for your thoughtful videos. I personally have to follow my cats preferences. I'm trying to break his addiction to the cheapest food (or dryer lint!) as it makes him sick. I am still looking but have found that Science diet is acceptable for him so I use it. I bought a whole flat of blue buffalo cans that he tries to bury or won't even give a sniff. That went to the shelter. I had a much loved cat who died of kidney failure at 12 years old so I worry about Ozzy, he is 6 now. So I am always looking for better food for him.
I know this video is a year old and I just discovered this channel. Back in 2004 I started working at vet clinic and back then the Hills Prescription line used to offer owners at home recipes if their pets were having issues eating the food. I believe that program has been discounted unfortunately since I left that job many years ago. I also had my cat who was on C/D and thank goodness he never got crystals again after the first time before being put on the diet
He lived up to 16 1/2 years old. Thank you for the reviews. As new research comes out on cat diets this channel is helping me alot on finding what foods work best for my cats.
th-cam.com/video/k1uU0zZZxoo/w-d-xo.html ❤. Hills stopped offering the homemade recipes because pet parents wouldn’t follow them correctly so pets were being harmed. It’s the problem with home cooking.
Thank you for doing this video. My cats never liked it when the vet recommended it many years ago. I have stuck with the local pet food stores recommendations....except when it comes to renal failure. Then I have to buy whatever the vet gives.
Food for thought.......Sept 2021 when we adopted our cat fromHumane Society we were given a free bag. I did not know until the head of the shelter told us that they, like many vets, have contracts with pet food companies and she could not recommend another food when I asked her. So, it may be the #1 vet choice because they contract with so many vets? Cat lovers, buyer beware.
I work at an animal shelter and we only feed science diet because it’s donated by Hills, they do a lot of contracts, a lot of donations, and a lot of research work - these things have nothing to do with the quality of the food. It is below average.
I volunteer at a Canadian shelter too, and they have to use the Hill's food almost exclusively. The staff, that has no control over what food the shelter orders, knows that the food isn't the greatest but they don't have a lot of choice.
If a product has high protein levels in the food, can this cause kidney problems because as soon as a cat or dog has kidney issues the first thing a vet tells you is to put your cat or dog on a low protein diet? Was interested to hear your views on this as I have looked at foods that can go up to 75% protein value, which sounds good but could this be the problem causing kidney problems?
Thank you for your honest review. you have confirmed what I’ve heard and suspected for years. I think this brand is very overrated and overpriced and you know that vets are paid to sell this brand
This was an eye opener, switching NOW! THANK YOU
Hi! Well done video . Thank you for the time you put into researching these products for us . I feel the same way about this brand .
I would like to request a review of the Brand Merrick .
I have used science diet in the past and all my cats liked the foods but the wet food not so much. I believe in some of their prescription diets like CD for urinary infections and KD because I have seen it help many cats over the years. I think it is ok to have opinions on since diet nonprescription diets but the problem is when some folks not you by all means say to take your cats off of these prescriptions diets, when they are life saving in some some cases. All cats need meat and wet food for sure but when it is a medical issue I would leave it up to your vet just my opinion.
I agree 100%
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
My vet sent out a mailing alerting clients grain free diets are causing heart issues in dogs and cats. They encouraged us to switch to a regular cat food that is balanced.
This is really helpful
Thank you tons for this video. A vet just recommended and as I researched, I bumped into this video which I am so grateful for!
I am new to such “SCIENCE-DIET” idea! Had many doubts but you nailed it! God bless you,! It certainly is a brave thing you did in making this video! Please, if you have a video on metabolic diet by Hill’s, which my pet’s vet recommended, I would really love to learn from it. My cat is overweight and the vet has suggested that diet for him.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Although the humane society from where I got my cat sent us home w/Science Diet, because of your channel, I've been using Dr. Elsey's (chicken when it was available, now rabbit or duck). Our two-year-old cat loves it, and we noticed almost immediate improvements in her coat and even filling in of thin or bald patches. Thanks for all you do, Mallory. (Btw, just purchased your latest cat tree recommendation.)
So happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your experience. It's wonderful to know that these changes have made an impact. Fingers crossed that the tree works out as well. :)
There are different diets for a reason, sometimes we think we have a healthy pet, but without a Vet visit and a blood and urine test probably we'll never know about future problems, my cat is 3 years old I always make sure that his food doesn't contain grains or by products, he's been eating wet and dry food, make sure he drinks water etc, but 3 month ago he started to have urinary problems, took him to the vet and they did a Xrays, blood and urine test, and surprise he had crystals in his bladder, blood and urine tests, he was high in magnesium and low in something else, he went for bladder surgery to remove the crystals, long story short Veterinarian put him on Hill's C/D diet (wet and dry food), and reading the ingredients that are inside probably I wouldn't buy it, but this is a prescribed food and you can't not buy it without a prescription, my cat is doing very well, he's happy and urinating normally and that's the most important thing to me, in a year I going to take him for the test again and see how good is this food for his condition, sometimes you can give your pet the most expensive, the best ingredients and the best quality food available in the market, but the question is: Is that the food your pet needs?, there are Veterinarians and different kind of food and diets for a reason, as in humans sometimes pets are diabetics, have bladder problems, kidney problems and you don't see it, they look healthy to you.
I fed my cat when I got him years ago & he liked it. I think it has to many carbs. Thanks Mallory for this for your research on this product. Very helpful.
Thanks, Sherry.
As cats age, they sleep more and more. They start sleeping as much as kittens, and some older cats sleep more than 20 hours. As they get older and their strength declines, they spend more time out and sleeping to reduce their activity and conserve energy. Another aspect of this is that they can sleep longer because their hearing deteriorates and they are less likely to notice noises. Cats enter their senior years around the age of seven and gradually begin to show signs of aging, many of which are difficult to notice visually. If they start sleeping longer, it is one of the signs of aging, so start taking care of them according to their age.😻😻😻😻😻😻😘😘😘😘😘😘
A very accurate description of my senior cat.
Meh, been feeding my 3 cats Hill's Science Diet Sensitive Stomach & Skin (dry) for 9 years now. They love it and I've had no issues. And FWIW, 2 different vets have told me that it's very good cat food.
It's really hard to evaluate how good cat food are given different perspectives and recall backgrounds!
I’ve heard from vets that said hills representatives actually came to classes when they were “taught” about “nutrition”. I also know that hills does a lot of vet scholarships.
It's basically sanctioned corporate corruption, the same thing you see in pharma as well with docs pushing certain drugs.
I get that vets want to make money but they shouldn't be recommending that a person buy the foods they sell under the guise of being prescription only. Because it's a persons pet they get away with it but it's almost like a hospital tell you in order to get better you need to eat their prescription food.
Thank you for standing up and saying what needs to be said about these big companies that are getting away with keeping our pets sick. Just because it meets nutritional requirements for the species doesn't mean the food is healthy and species appropriate. Any food that has corn, soy, wheat, meat by products, grains for cats isn't in step with the current science. These ingredients are cheap substitutes for the proper food. And we wonder why there is an ever-increasing prevalence of diseases in our pets. As an example, High carbohydrate or Ash content in cat foods, even canned cat food leads to a higher incidence of urinary blockage.
I so appreciate honest. 🙏
You're right about veterinarians recommending Hill's. Not sure if there is just a relationship there or if maybe there are some financial benefits involved. Who knows. But, many folks can't afford the high priced pet foods -- especially right now with inflation and shortages. Thanks for doing this review
Awesome content! I learned a lot watching your videos helping to take care of my first 2 kittens!
If you are looking to improve something in your production I would recommend looking into sound recording. Right now it distorts the sound when you talk a little louder, sometimes you have the bad right/left channel balance, plus it records "unwanted sounds".
Hi Artem, thank you so much for the advice. Getting the sound right has been a constant challenge, so I appreciate the reminder that it's still not quite where it should be. I'll work on it! Thanks.
Just wanted to thank you for the genuine update, you don't find that a lot nowadays. I had my vet recommend this product. I'm glad I did my own research & found your video. You earned me as a subscriber and a thumbs up... vets don't always get it right theirselves $$. Thanks again
I completely agree with you. I have new kitten and she was on Hills. She had serious gas issues. I stop giving her now she is like normal. Then I came cross your video, I can only say thank for confirming it.
I’m loving these reviews. Can you do one for Natural Balance cat foods?
My 10.5 yr old cat was put on Hill's weight loss w/d (which I just accepted, because he was getting chubby), and one year later had not only NOT lost ANY weight, but he'd also developed full blown diabetes. I assume due to the high amount of carbs in this food. I had to give him insulin shots 2x daily, and he fluctuated wildly between ketoacidosis and diabetic shock. Yet when questioned, my "vet" insisted that Hill's w/d was the best food to keep him on while he figured out my cat's proper dosage levels.
After two ER visits, I started doing my own research. I put him on Tiki cat chicken and egg kibble, and introduced wet food twice a day, and within 3 months, he was able to go off insulin completely! He also lost 3 lbs. I monitored his blood glucose levels at home and he was within normal range.
Unfortunately, the damage done to his liver and kidneys during my "vet's" period of wild experimentation had shortened his life span and I lost him due to organ failure one year later.
That vet and Hill's food killed my cat.
My husband and I adopted two kittens recently and we got a free bag of Hill's Dry food and a few cans of wet food for the kittens. Since then we've been using the same brand because we didn't want to give our kittens digestive issues by changing them to what we thought would've been a lower quality food. Now that I've seen this video I realize how ignorant I am with cat food. Your video has helped me understand what I need to be looking at to make a better decision for my kittens' health. THANK YOU!!
Thanks!
Awesome research and commentary! It's great that you make conclusions as (like you mentioned) you have reviewed many brands. Yes, Science Diet is recommended by many vets...but this begs the obvious question.... Do Vets need to recommend "something"? and not be litigated?? Just a thought...
We've had our Furbaby for 3months and he came with a bag of science diet for kittens. Naturally we just bought the same when that bag ran out as our kitten seemed to like it a lot. This video gives me great pause on staying with this brand. Thank you for your well thought out research and honesty with your findings. I'm definitely going to look for a dry food with higher meat content
Athena, please reconsider feeding your cat wet food. They need water, and will not seek it out, so most of their water needs to come from their food. Wet canned food has a much higher water content (no matter the brand) than dry (kibble). Also, cats need taurine, so look for that. And, avoid anything that contains carrageenan. Might as well let you kitten smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.
@@HeronCoyote1234 I do feed him wet food. He eats wet food twice a day and the dry once a day. Also he's very good at drinking water. Thanks for the advise though
@@athenarivera251 I’m glad to hear that you feed him wet food.
I just bought my first bag of Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein. If my kitties like it, that's all I'll be buying from now. I was on the fence about Hills, but the Vet strongly recommended it, so that's what they've been eating for a year or so. Time to switch! Thank you soo much!
thank you I have been using thinking it was a better choice and that is why I was feeding it to them. Thank you from Luna and LuLu...
I’ve been feeding my cat Hill’s Science Diet Kitten Kibble in Chicken flavor since he was 2 months old (also mixed with purina pro-plan wet food in chicken and liver entree). He’s 8 months old and extremely healthy and active. Overtime I’ve also incorporated bone broth to help hydrate his food further, and the Instinct Raw Kibble Toppers in Rabbit or Chicken for extra protein. He also has Viralys and Imuquin supplements to help with his eyes and immune system, and I’ve recently been feeding him the Purina Beyond Grain-Free dry food in white chicken and egg recipe along with the Hills.
Anyways, my cat is fine and very healthy. My vet recommended hills and pro-plan and I trust her. I’ve looked into her credentials and she’s reliable. Feed the cat that’s in front of you, and if you feel like your vet is giving you questionable advice, just find another vet! But please always consult with experts.
Both my animals mostly eat science diet (I’ve tried a lot of other stuff but always end up going back to it) and they are very healthy. However, I do add wet food and fresh food into their diets regularly. I wonder if part of the reason some peoples cats got sick eating it was that they didn’t have any variety and weren’t absorbing certain nutrients as well from Hill’s. My animals have strong stomachs from variety and only twice have they ever had digestive trouble from switching foods. Just like humans, animals can vary in what forms of nutrients they absorb best. So I feel that varying the diet is the best way to make sure it’s balanced.
And although Hill’s has a lot of strong testing behind it, eating only meal bars/meal shakes your entire life would cause issues for some humans, so I think it’s likely to do the same for some animals. I don’t think it’s an unhealthy food whatsoever, I just don’t believe it should be the ONLY thing you ever feed your pet.
thank you
I agree on paper Hill’s seems like a poor choice of food. However, after transitioning my cat from Hill’s dry/ fancy feast wet to Orijen Dry/ Weruva wet cat food my cat developed a severe case of pancreatitis. After several thousand dollars of vet visits and transitioning my cat back on Hill’s Prescription Diet with the aid of an appetite stimulant my cat is finally much better.
Thank you for this review. Do you have a recommendation for an alternative for a cat with FICU? Thank you
Love the review, I've always thought they paid vets to promote this junk for the price. We sell this and more where I work and I try to promote what is best on our shelves. I hope one day you'd consider reviewing diamond and 4-health. also, did you know victor is now making cat food? We got some at work a few weeks ago.
The reason I’m here is to get an honest review. The vet did recommend the oral care recipe. My cat will eat nothing else. I read the ingredients and was not impressed. Getting her off of it will be the challenge. Thank you. I wish I’d known then what I know now.
Thanks for the review Mallory. I have been looking at this cat food so this will help with my decision
Any animal I’ve had that’s tried this brand never really seemed to enjoy this food. Thank you for the honest review!
Mine have always liked the dry food but the wet food was never a hit.
My 11 yr old cat has pancreatitis! $1500 every time he goes to the vet! Vet recommended hills prescription diet I/d digestive care chicken and vegetable stew canned! He’s done fantastic on this! Unfortunately now he has stage 2 kidney disease so will probably put him on I’d! His BUN is 25. Creatinine 1.7. SDMA 16. Urine specific gravity 102.5
i love this channel because you reccomend hills friskies rawz and my cat tryed hills and friskies but not rawz but thanks!
Amazing video!! Can you do an analysis like this for nulo cat food?
Yes!
Kudos to you! Thank you very much for the time and effort that you put into this video, I've always been suspicious of the quality and now feel better about switching brands.
Thank you for a great review; my Siamese cat - Vespasian - thanks you too.
Thanks, Stephen and Vespasian!
My cat has IBS. My vet recommended Hills Gastrointestinal Biome biscuits and THEY WORK. I use them in combination with a Royal Canin sensitive wet food and no longer have to give her a bum bath every time she goes to the toilet.
My senior cat was also diagnosed with IBS, the worse case the vet said she had seen in her 20 year practice. The diagnosis came after surgical biopsy. Long story short, after reading the ingredient list there was no way I was going to feed my cat that Hill's garbage and Royal Canin is just as bad. My cat is on Ziwi Peak wet canned and air-dried lamb, a high-quality probiotic and monthly maintenance of vitamin B-12 injection and is doing great!
@@ilovegoodsax I tried to give my cat Ziwi Peak but she wouldn't eat it. Meanwhile she can't get enough of the Hills biscuits 🤷♀️
I'm stuck with hill's for two of my cats because of GI issues. They are only able to digest hydrolyzed protein, so I feed them z/d. I'm mad that at that price point, they offer such low quality ingredients. I know the hydrolyzacion process much be expensive, but still.... But hey, that's what they digest without issues, so....
But if my cats were healthy, there's no way I'd be choosing Hill's. I completely agree with you !
Hello, I love to watch your reviews. I have a cat that is heading on her way to be overweight. I am trying to find some food to put her on a diet. Do you have any suggestions?
If you do that would be great…
I've settled on Wysong. It's the best bang for buck and they eat it.
Hi Mallory, I really loved hearing your review of Hills. One of my cats has a UTI and we put on C/D Urinary formula when he was very young and it’s been the only food that has kept him from developing stones again. As someone who worked in the pet food industry and who also has two other cats, it has been very difficult for me to know that my Bashful is eating crap food. The ingredient panel irritates me to no end but each time in the last 10 years that I have tried a different food for him his UTI has seemed to be irritated and the peeing out of the box starts up again, etc. making it necessary to resume HIlls. Long story short, have you found any other options for a Urinary tract food that has a better ingredient list with more meat and less carbs and other assorted “junk”? I truly appreciate your time and really value your insight!
Hey Michael, thank you for the thoughtful comment! The only thing I can offer is our article on the best cat food for urinary tract health, which details some of the factors to consider when picking a food for cats prone to these issues. allaboutcats.com/best-cat-food-urinary-tract-health
Hope this helps!
I've been trying to find a healthier option for my newly diagnosed Hyperthyroid cat. It has to be something completely deplete of iodine...all of the food I've looked at has kelp in it 😩 Hills is the only option out there that I've found 😏
Please review Orijen cat food!
Great review! It would be awesome if you could do one about Instinct dry, wet and raw food :D
Thanks for the request, Valentina!
I have 20 cats so I buy a bag a week. Before inflation it was $46 a bag. It went to $53 a bag. Now it’s $56.99..after tax over $60 a bag.
I didn’t cave I bought Iams instead. I’m slowly switching foods as to not hurt their stomachs.
If more people didn’t cave to things..companies wouldn’t be so greedy.
Wow, thanks very much. That’s all I feed my cats. Do you have a video on what you recommend. I only want what is best for them. Hopefully your recommendation is available in Australia. So many of the products you recommended are not available here. Thanks very much for all you do for our best friends.
Hi James, I think you might appreciate our article on the best cat food in Australia: allaboutcats.com/best-cat-food-australia
Hillls was the first cat food brand I ever actually looked into because I had just gotten a kitten. I bought it once and never again.
I love your videos. Very informative. Can you please review Weruva as well? Thank you!
Yes!
@@AllAboutCatsYT thank you! Looking forward to it :)
Please kindly do a review on Royal Canine, Orijen and taste of the wild dried food, thanks very much!
I had my cats on hill’s CD stew. And they were fine until late 2021 when they both had diarrhea and threw up. I took both to the vet to get them checked out. It was a bout of gas. And they were given some meds and they recovered. 3 weeks later the same issue returned and I kept them off since then. But one cat needs to be on c/d because he blocked. But the pate version works better and I use dry.
Hey! I just found you! I got a question. What do you think about virbac's baby (pre-neutered) ? I really would like your opinion!
Thank you for this review. It really has made me pause and think about what to feed my 6 year old female cat that has pancreatitis. The vet recommended Hills I/D food. She has to eat smaller amounts more often. Therefore she gets some wet I/D food twice a day since we are home and the dry I/D twice a day from an automatic feeder. So far, this has really helped. She is no longer throwing up and getting dehydrated or in distress. However, you comments really do concern me as I have been so impressed with all the items I have purchased for her based on your recommendations such as the very large stainless steel cat litter box and the Petlibro automatic feeder ( just saw you are now recommending a different one). Is there an alternative you would suggest for her?
The video was not speaking of the prescription diet as she has no accreditation to. If your vet wants your cat eating medicated food stick to it. They are the professionals. And you mentioned it is helping your pet. My dog was on Z/d Prescription diet and he did wonderfully
Hi! I have a question. My two persian cats have been eating hill's k/d dry food for the past 4 years. They're 10 yrs old and healthy (I had them tested for everything) but I wanted to avoid kidney disease... I've been reading your reviews on the website and I've decided to try Monge senior cat food, they LOVE IT and it's less than half the price. I'm only worried about phosphorus content, not that Monge has a lot of it, yet, I don't know how to compare it to hill's k/d. Would you mind enlightening me? 😌 Do you think it's a good choice?
Thanks for this - my cat has gastrointestinal issues and was eating Royal Canin but has recently gone off it so I'm looking for alternatives. Hills was on the list, but that low level of decent protein has put me off. I do know however that he doesn't like high protein grain-free foods either! Fussy boy.
Hi Mallory! I just got my cat a new cat litter (Smartcat) and was curious if I need to Mix the old litter with the new one to help her adjust? Or I don't need to do that and can just dump the entire new litter in her box?