Science Diet Grain-Free Formulas
 

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New Science Diet Grain-Free Formulas for Dogs and Cats

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Science Diet Ideal Balance Grain Free Adult Canine Chicken & Potato Dry Food | PetFoodDirect

Interesting. I was hoping Science Diet would come out with a grain free kibble.
Thanks for posting Brit!

That seems like alot of carbs for a grain free food, however, I expect this will work well for some pets.

It seems pretty typical to me, actually... dogfoodadvisor lists the average carbs of foods and it's very rare to see any food less than 45 or 50%.

Even Acana has a 37% carbohydrate average.

Overall, I think this looks like a nice food and I'm glad the option is out there :)

You may mean 27% for Acana?

I found all but Ranchlands.

Though I agree, it is nice to see a grain free option.

Oh, I was reading this:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-fo...od-grain-free/

It will be interesting to see how long this sticks around. Like with Nature's Best, something must not have been working/selling because they evidently pulled it. I'm going to guess the people that are set on grain free are usually afraid of SD. LOL. Looks like an okay food though if you like grain free.

It's so high in carbs because it has to be.
You have your fat % at 15 (some of us wouldn't think of going too much higher than that, esp. with Yorkies - and because it's for all breeds, that looks like a typical fat content).
Then you have your vitamins/minerals at 5-10% tops.
That's only 20%-25%.
Then you have the protein. This is where they may be able to change it up some and probably the major reason Acana has a lower carb %. 24% isn't really low though. And then the rest has to be carbs because there is nothing else.

I wonder how long this will stick around too. I got a chance to try this food because I am an agent for bzzagent.com (not plugging I just want to be upfront that I only tried this product because of the program!) It seemed really odd to be able to talk to some of my local friends about a science diet food that I could from a technical aspect consider feeding to my dogs.

I think the big difference (at least marketing wise) between this and nature's variety Ellie May is that they have REALLY stressed about how this dog food is supposed to be all about balance. When they explain a product to us we tend to get whoa marketing - and it was all about how balanced the food was, about how it used real chicken, real ingredients. It seemed like a different strategy then the one they went with when they rolled out nature's variety. I think they are trying to get back in and compete with the more holistic foods while still appealing to the average SD buyer. When they rolled out nature's variety to me they really tried marketing to the person who already feeds a more holistic, high quality dog food - and I think most of us who already do that are not likely to consider SD that way. Marketing wise I think they are hoping this will last by getting enticing the normal SD user to buy a higher quality food (keep them a customer) and hopefully entice other customers away from other brands because sadly they still are what so many vets recommend over and over and over again.

I am happy to see such a well known brand (whose food so often has corn in the first or first 3 ingredients) to finally have a line again that is at least worth feeding. One of these days I hope that become the norm.

I am feeding Ideal Balance to my pups with no issues; and have been since Hill's pulled Nature's Best. I was previously feeding Castor & Pollux and while perhaps I may never have had an issue I became uncomfortable when I opened a bag one day and the wrong food was in there. I called them and the woman insisted that they had changed the size of the kibble and said that was the problem. I told her that there was more to it than the size...she just kept saying it had changed and I believed her. That was when they changed their packaging and she said that they changed both packaging and size of kibble...SO when I got the new packaging I expected it to look the same and it did not. I knew then that the wrong food had definitely been put in there. It was the lower calorie food I am think...as I had fed that to a couple in the past. This made me very uneasy, so I wrote to them and asked questions about the team of experts" they refer to on their website...never got a response. Remembering how many people lost pups during those awful recalls I started to think what IF one day I woke up and had emails about a new recall. "While this company could be good...how would I know that if they cannot answer questions? So...I spoke with my vet about a good food that would fit most of my pups; needs and she suggested I contact the vet nutritionist at A&M. I did that and he did not advise me on a particular food but encouraged me to look at companies that do the feeding trials. So....that was my first measurement in looking for a food...second was the ingredients. Sadly that was Natures Best and that was short lived since they pulled it. They are on Ideal Balance and are doing fine. I simply feel it is the safest option for them...and I do believe it is a healthy option as well.

Personally, the recalls are a big reason why I would never feed SD long term. Granted most of the SD was removed off the shelf voluntarily - and only 9 were ever listed on the FDA website - even just one is way too many for me. I don't think SD's ideal balance's food is unsound, the company itself and the way they have functioned in the past just leave me uncertain about them ethicly.

I am happy to hear your dogs are doing great on science diet - in the long run that is all that really matters you know? Mine just happened to visibly decline on my free bag...

hmmmm .. I don't recall any of SD's dog foods being involved in those recalls. Am I mistaken?

Dame, I cannot help but wonder what you mean about ethics and Hills SD. I have never heard of anything that would lend me to think of ethics violations??

That sucks! I agree, that is completely bullcrap that C&P could not answer your questions in a more professional manner. I understand accidents happen, etc, but I do think they could have provided you with a better answer and more info.

With that said, I don't believe C&P has ever been involved in recalls in the past for dog food, either.

I believe only cat foods were involved in the 2007 recalls from SD.

As far as companies go, I really really respect Fromm right now. I'm not big on some of their actual formulas and ingredients, but the company has answered every question I've seen thrown at them, I know, they actually do perform feeding trials, never had a recall, are a family owned company, etc, etc. As far as ethics go, I really like them.

The main thing I don't get about this food.... how nutrious can powdered cellulose be? It's essentially sawdust. I don't understand why these types of things would be considered beneficial to put into food. That's a question I'd love for SD to answer actually.

As a company, I really really do like them. But I simply can't bypass some of their ingredient choices and chemical choices without wondering WHY.

So I will say I am glad to see this option out there, but those of us who maybe prefer something a little more natural. I think it's a step in the right direction.

Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth, so it's about as natural as you can get! It's not just in trees, but it's in all green plants. It use to be in low calorie breads, and I've eaten it before. Remember, some ingredients are used as thickeners and stabilizers. It may be used the way corn starch is used in some products. It's also in ice cream and shredded cheeses. I'm sure it "sounds bad" to some people, but is there any proof it is bad?