Why don't you recommend science diet??
 

I feed mine the nature's best chicken and rice and also science diet light small bites. I know that hill's is very strict about their food and it goes thru rigorous testing--so I am curious as to why it's such a bad food?? Also, are you talking general diets or the prescription diets as well??

The ingredients are Bad i would never Feed it to my dog's.

Is it all the ingredients or particular ones?? Is there a link I can go to see specifically why it's not recommended??

For me it isn't just Science Diet or a single ingredient, it is the whole "commercial dog food" issue. The dog food industry isn't regulated very well. If you do some independent research (using sources that have no vested interest in a dog food company) you will find a plethora of information concerning the hazards of feeding commerical dog foods.

One tiny example -- Any time you see "meat" or "meat meal" on a dog food label that is exactly what it means -- it could be cow, pork, chicken, horse, OR road kill, OR even little Fluffy that was euthanized at the vet last week.

Go to the Hill's website and look up the ingredients.

Hill's Pet Nutrition Products: Prescription Diet & Science Diet

For example, these are the ingredients in the Adult Small Bites:

Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Brewers Rice, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, 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), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), DL-Methionine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Corn is a cheap filler and one of the top three allergy causing ingredients in dogs. It also contains wheat and soy, the other top two allergy causing ingredients.

This is the AAFCo definition for what is in chicken by-product-meal:

Chicken By-Product Meal - consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.

AAFCO DEFINITIONS OF DOG FOOD INGREDIENTS

Pretty disgusting, huh?

So what kind of food do you give your babies??

I am a homecooker.

I feed Royal Canine. I'd also reccomend Canidae, Innova or Wellness.

Science Diet Nature's Best isn't the worst food ever.
I don't like the pork part but this food is in my top 10 or 20.
Some of that has to do with quality control.
Some other companies are really in question for this right now.

I have basically stopped recommending dog food because there seems to be problems with just about all of it. I am also a homecooker and if I had a bigger dog, I don't know what I'd feed.

There are alot of choices out there and some are better than others. It's up to you to make the right choices for your pup and doing some research, like you are now, is the first step.

I, personally, feed Life's Abundance. LA has never been on the recall list. It's not a commercial food at all. It also has probiotics for their skin, coat and general health. My pups have been on it since June. I am very happy with the results. (my oldest female had some food allergies that now cease to exist).

If you want to do more research on LA, just click on the link on my signature line. If you want some free samples, just PM me and I'll be happy to send some out to you.

Good luck in your research. Our babies can't make the choices - they trust us to make the healthy ones for them. :)

I have 4 dogs--2 yorkies, a terrier mix-28lbs, and a 70lb mixed breed!!!

If I had to feed commercial food, I'd probably look closely at Innova and possibly a few others.

We have been feeding our dogs Maxximum - It's a premium brand made by Wal Mart. It's not as good as the premium brands, but it doesn't have corn, wheat, gluten or soy - My yorkie-chi was scratching a bunch until we started feeding this brand. We have had no problems since PLUS their teeth look great.

Here is a link to a review.
Healthy Dog Foods? - Maxximum Nutrition

This is a good website to read about dogfood reviews

Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble

I just switched Missy to RAW food.