Science Diet Cat Food

Hill's Science Diet cat food has been recommended and sold by veterinarians for decades. For a long time, cat enthusiasts believed this was because this brand was the best feeding option for their pets, but is it really?

There's absolutely a correlation between your cat's daily diet and his/her overall health. By feeding a well balanced cat food, you are giving your pet the necessary building blocks for a strong mind and body.

Science Diet's line of cat food has been one of the most veterinary-recommended brands of cat food for the last twenty-five years. The company certainly offers a wide selection of formulas designed to meet a variety of needs, especially in cats that suffer from certain conditions. However, a closer look at the ingredients list reveals some "cons" amongst the "pros".

A review of the ingredients list for the following Science Diet standard cat foods reveals some less than desirable protein sources used as the main ingredients. You can see the entire ingredients lists via Hill's own website. Select "cat", the appropriate life stage and dry product form. Next, select the product name listed below. Once you are on the product page, scroll down and select the "ingredients" link to view it.

• Kitten Indoor Dry: The first ingredient listed is chicken, a named meat source and a good one at that. However, the second highest content ingredient is listed as corn gluten meal. This is not an ideal source of protein for any feline. The third highest content ingredient is chicken meal. This is actually a decent protein source made from dried chicken and it provides a concentrated source of protein. The only problem is that there's no way to know exactly how much chicken meal is used. There is less of it than the corn gluten meal, but how much less can't be determined from the label.

• Adult Indoor Dry: The first ingredient listed is chicken by-product meal. By-products are what is left of the chicken after the real meat is removed, and they typically includes items like claws, beaks and even feathers. Since these by-products are in meal form, it means they have had the moisture cooked out of them and have been ground down; this concentrates the protein content, but it is not the same quality as using real chicken meat. Brewers rice is the second listed ingredient; not a bad source of protein, but still not the same quality/digestibility as real chicken. The third highest content ingredient is corn gluten meal, an ingredient discussed above, followed by ground whole grain corn and powdered cellulose.

Hill's now produces a new line called Nature's Best® cat foods. Check out the main protein sources listed in those ingredients, compare them to the standard Science Diet products listed about and decide for yourself whether this line is an improvement. Again, you'll need to scroll down each product page a select the "ingredients" link to view the complete list of ingredients.

• Nature's Best Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner Kitten
• Nature's Best Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner Adult

A measure of controversy surrounds the use of certain chemicals as preservatives in pet foods. BHA and BHT compounds have both been linked as cancer causing agents in humans, yet they are still widely used by the pet food industry. Why? They are cost effective, and for some manufacturers, cost comes before safety.

Science Diet cat food rates well in this area because they use safe preservatives such as mixed Tocopherols and citric acid in their formulas.

DHA is an essential fatty acid that plays a crucial role in your kitten's brain and central nervous system development. Science Diet kitten food offers enhanced levels of DHA in their kitten formula.

Science Diet cat food offers three distinct age formulations to cover the various stages of a cat's life.

• Kitten - According to Hill's, this formula offers the extra nutrition kittens need during that first year of rapid growth.
• Adult Cat - Hills says this formula is geared to meet the average needs of healthy cats who are one to six years old.
• Senior - This formula is for cats age seven and up, and, according to Hill's, it is designed to provide proper nutritional levels during these less active years.

Science Diet offers Prescription Diet cat food formulas they claim are designed to aid in the management of many feline illnesses/conditions, including:

• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Hairballs
• Liver disease
• Kidney disease
• Urinary tract problems
• Gastrointestinal conditions
• Dental problems
• Specific food allergies

It's clear that nutrition plays a vital role in your cat's development and well being. Whether you choose to feed Science Diet cat food or another brand, you owe it to your pet to be aware of the type and quality of ingredients that go into his/her daily diet, and to offer the best nutrition you possibly can. After all, the two of you will be spending a good number of years together. Why not make them the best they can be?

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