What jerks my chain the most about Hill's is...
A pet food mfg. can claim ANYTHING on their product labels. The only area they have to be truthful is within their ingredients list. There is a little "wiggle room" in some of the wording there as well. The Average Joe doesn't read and/or understand an ingredients list. That is a HUGE opportunity for pet food manufactures.
There is NO medicine in Hill's Prescription Food. Hill's was just smart enough to copyright the
use of the word "prescription."
Hill's decided that a prescription was required. Until recently, most haven't questioned why a prescription is needed.
In the words of
Lisa Pierson DVM (and mannnnnnnny other Vets)..."It is also important to note that almost all of these prescription diets have
no clinical studies behind them to support their use in treating the various diseases that they target."
Hill's has a "good" thing going for them. They mfg pet foods that often contain many cheap fillers, foods that contain no medicine, the sole use of the word "prescription," mannnnny follow the demand of "by prescription only," and people pay HUGE dollar amounts for a product that is often no better than many of the cheaper store brands.
There are also plenty of quotes from VETS on this forum, and elsewhere on the Internet, stating that Hill's is HEAVILY "involved" at Veterinary schools. After further nutritional education, training, and experience...the Hill's influence often rubbed off.
Ingredients are listed by pre-cooked weight. That can be tricky as well, but I won't get into that now.
First 5 Ingrediets of Hill's Prescription C/D. I just picked the first one that I came across.
Brewers Rice (A cheap filler. People pay a hefty price for a lot of rice!),
Corn Gluten Meal (Another cheap filler. Corn "left overs" ),
Chicken By-Product Meal (feet, heads, feathers, intestines, necks = waste. Yum...not.)
Pork Fat (lard),
Chicken (Finally... some meat!),
Chicken Liver FlavorIMHO...The SOLE use of the term "prescription," the claims on the label, the
Hill's requirement that a prescription is needed, and price are ...a gimmick that is "working" for Hill's.
Hostess wouldn't have the same financial success, if they copyrighted and manufactured "Prescription Twinkies." That would be toooo obvious. Hence, the reason for this post.
PS
Anyone can spend what they want to on pet food.
Anyone can feed their pets any brand they want to.
Anyone can swear by any brand they want to. The purpose of this post is not to "dog" anyone's' choice of pet food. I just feel some may be interested in a few facts about Hill's...and my added opinion, of course.
