Why do prescription dog foods (e.g. Hill's, Purina) appear to have the worst ingredients?

They're made by giant commercial dog food companies who care more about money and marketing that your pet.

Vets only recommend them because they get paid to do so.

They're the worst thing you can give your pets.

Either look into going raw, or feed your dog quality kibble, like Wellness and Orijen.

You can read up on the differences on kibble on sites like dogfoodadvisor.com.

I hate prescription food for several reasons.

1. They are not needed. Feed your dog well on good quality food and exercise him and you will never NEED a prescription food.

2. Because people don't do the above they are condemning OTHER dogs to cruel experiments as these companies test the effectiveness of their latest prescription food.

3. They are stupidly expensive, much more so than a good quality normal food.

4. There is nothing special in them at all!! No wonder drug, no magic formula!

My late MIL was give hills low calorie for her obese corgie. Did it work?? Nope, dog was so fat its belly dragged the floor. All the dog needed was less NORMAL food and more EXERCISE!

If a dog has a medical problem they should be on drugs, if the problem can be fixed by the owner doing their JOB properly then they should be told to do that!

Maybe people should find out why prescription dog foods exist, and why they are formulated the way they are before typing out a bunch of dribble.

The information is out there for anyone that knows how to read.

See if your local library has a copy of this.

http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10668

Vets make the same profit on a bag of dog food as any other outlet. Many carry Hills because they produce prescription formulas, and for no other reason. Thank God someone is willing to produce those formulas that are needed by so few dogs. You should notice that Hills also makes formulas for dogs that actually do have problems with ingredients like corn, chicken, or wheat.

Companies, like Hills, BUY research from universities, and why wouldn't they? Universities are where the brightest scientist are found. Again, they do not "fund" universities, they buy their knowledge.

And NO, I do not feed my dogs Hills products. They do not need prescription diets. There is a simple reason for that ---- I will not breed to dogs that have these sort of problems!

Hill's is probably the worst one that offers "prescription" dog foods. You're just paying $70 for a bag of crap: corn, wheat, soy, generic meats, meat by-products, and SAWDUST (cellulose). Ol' Roy, Hill's Science Diet, Purina, Pedigree, Iams, Bil-Jac, Nutro, Cesar, Kibble & Bits, etc. are all brands to avoid.

These companies cut out good ingredients and replace them with cheap fillers. Thus receiving more profit.

Because of that, they can afford to give the vets "premiums" for selling their food.

The vast majority of vets do not receive any *real* training on animal nutrition (most are funded by brands such as Hills and Purina), so they basically take the word of the highest bidder and the most persuasive salesman.

Purina dog food is the food that makes my dog itch. It was the gluten in it. My other dog Kaytee was fine with it. We switched to Pedigree and now Kaytee had problems with it! I do not think it is a prescription dog food, you should just feed your dog whatever you like!

Connor is correct...as is Bijou & Still Can't Think of a Name

The companies who make these products also financially support vet colleges and are the ones who give vets their 'education' half a day in their seven years of training on dog nutrition if they are lucky....it is a marketing ploy by these companies to get vets, who are trusted too readily by the public as the font of all knowledge to sell their products...when vets qualify and get their practise they are given very nice 'exclusive' discounts to sell these products and until very recently exclusive selling rights on 'perscription diets' and the knowledge the majority of vets have is only what their kibble rep tells them when they stock up on this food...any vet who has taken on additional learning on dog nutrition and owns their own dog doesn't feed kibble...I work with over 30 vets all but two have their own dogs, only 3 vets have knowledge and qualifications on dog nutrition ( 2 of which I have encouraged to do so) out of the 28 vets who have dogs 27 feed RAW and still sell that rubbish to others only because it makes them money and brings in clients so they can solve their dogs 'allergy' problems caused in the main by kibble

"Prescription" dog foods?? Vets can't tell you what to feed, and if they do- don't listen to them or find a different Vet.

They make money off of dog food brands/companies, mostly Hills. Hence why they recommend it. I saw a commercial the other day, "I'm a Vet and I recommend Hills Science Diet." Yeah, big surprise.... Vets know nothing about nutrition. If lucky, they get one class on nutrition in their several years of Vet School.