Similar food to Hills Canine i/D

Madame Razz

One of my dogs is doing great on the Hills i/D Gastrointestinal health dry food. She has a sensitive stomach and it has worked wonders. However, I am aware that Hills gets very mixed reviews generally and was wondering if somebody could recommend something with a similar nutrition ratio that is perhaps a better food?

Thanks:)

andreac

To be honest i dont think there is anything like it. I know Royal Canin have special veterinary food too, but im nearly sure the Hills I/D is better.

The Hills I/D food is a special veterinary formulated food and not like just normal complete dog food you get so you wont find anything else to compare it to.

paultf

Burns claim to offer an alternative to veterinary & prescription Diets like Hills and Royal Canin. Check out their website.

I use Burns and my dogs find it good. Burns has a different philosophy to dog food - not sure how good it would be as an alternative to a prescription diet.

Burns have very good customer support - maybe send them an email?

irishlad_85

You will struggle to find many differences between Hills or Royal Canin. As a vet when we prescribe them we switch between them all the time all the time depending on the dogs particular preference rather than differences in their composition

lorebringer

Royal Canin Sensitivity Control is an excellent food. One of my lot is prone to colitis and gets flare ups every so often - she did ok on the I/D but does very well on the RC. She has been on it for over a year now and we are still going strong. It come in both wet and dry food (I have my lady on the dry food) and the daily amount needed is quite small so a bag lasts for quite a while. It is fantastic for dogs that suffer with dodgy bellies or to just have in the house in case of an emergency. It's a veterinary prescription food so it needs to be purchased in a vet practise or online (www.medicanimal.com is a good site). I cannot recommend it enough.

Madame Razz

paultf wrote: »

Burns claim to offer an alternative to veterinary & prescription Diets like Hills and Royal Canin. Check out their website.

I use Burns and my dogs find it good. Burns has a different philosophy to dog food - not sure how good it would be as an alternative to a prescription diet.

Burns have very good customer support - maybe send them an email?

I just looked at their site there, and they recommend their chicken and brown rice feed as an alternative. She was on the Royal Canin for her breed(I know this is quite different to prescription food) but it really didn't agree with her, so I think I might keep away from their prescription food as a result. Her vet suggested the Hills food, she was on the wet food version initially but I switched to dry after a few weeks as it's easier for me and better for her teeth. She gets the wet version occasionally as a treat.

She is doing really well on the Hills, I guess because some people are a bit skeptical of it, I was worried that perhaps it wasn't the best for her in the long term. But if there's no problem with it, I might stick with it. No harm to try her on a small bag of the Burns at some stage I guess:)

Thanks for your advice:)

tk123

I'd suggest Robbies - it's made by one of the Burns brothers - they had a disagreement and went their separate ways and he set up Land of Holistic pets. They make a kibble called Luath and Robbies which is basically dehydrated mix of rice, chicken or lamb and veg that you add water to rehydrate.
I've found with my guy when he gets an upset tummy it settles better with with wet food or having his dry food soaked in water which I put down to being less work on his stomach to digest - soak some dry food and see how big it gets lol.
He used the get the runs all the time (like every other week) when he was on (normal) RC so I switched him to Burns and problem solved - a vet had also suggested Hills i/d but I wanted to try something with less chemicals/additives. He started to get a little sensitive again after a while which I put down to having Burns at home and Luath at day care so he's been on Luath since december and has never been better. He rarely gets a dodgy tummy these days.

Another option may be feeding a BARF diet - a lot of posters have had great results with dogs who were senitive?

andreac

Madame Razz wrote: »

I just looked at their site there, and they recommend their chicken and brown rice feed as an alternative. She was on the Royal Canin for her breed(I know this is quite different to prescription food) but it really didn't agree with her, so I think I might keep away from their prescription food as a result. Her vet suggested the Hills food, she was on the wet food version initially but I switched to dry after a few weeks as it's easier for me and better for her teeth. She gets the wet version occasionally as a treat.

She is doing really well on the Hills, I guess because some people are a bit skeptical of it, I was worried that perhaps it wasn't the best for her in the long term. But if there's no problem with it, I might stick with it. No harm to try her on a small bag of the Burns at some stage I guess:)

Thanks for your advice:)

The breed specific food and their prescription food are nothing alike in any way. I actually think those breed specific ones are only a marketing ploy more than anything.
Their prescription foods are excellent and i highly recommend them if you have a particular problem with your dog so i wouldnt be thinking its anything like the breed food as they cant be compared at all.

Madame Razz

andreac wrote: »

The breed specific food and their prescription food are nothing alike in any way. I actually think those breed specific ones are only a marketing ploy more than anything.
Their prescription foods are excellent and i highly recommend them if you have a particular problem with your dog so i wouldnt be thinking its anything like the breed food as they cant be compared at all.

As I said in my previous post, I was aware that they were quite different:)

I'll stick with the Hills for now, and may try the other Burns/Burns relative foods at a later date.

Cheers:)

tk123

OP Burns and Land of Holistic Pets will send you free samples - save you a few €'s

boomerang

My auntie's dog had a very sensitive tum and the only food she could tolerate was Royal Canin Sensitivity Control. I suggested she try her on Robbies and lo and behold, she's been on it for 18 months without any tummy troubles! She's just made the switch to Luath and is doing well on that too.

The Hills' prescription foods do exactly what it says on the tin - but they are made from poor quality ingredients, use chemical preservatives and are highly processed. Hills' must spend a lot more of their budget on marketing than on producing the actual food, because they are remarkably expensive for such poor quality.

seamus

We moved from Hill's Z/D to Royal Canin Hypoallergenic (cos the new Vet stocked it), and she's doing much better.
She was OK on the Hill's, but her whole disgestive system seems much more stable on the Royal Canin, and her coat is great.