Hill's Prescription Diet r/d Weight Reduction Dog Food review

Ingredients, as declared: Meat and animal derivatives, cereals, derivatives of vegetable origin, vegetable protein extracts, eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, minerals.

Not one ingredient on this label identifies an animal. The list opens with meat and animal derivatives, then cereals, derivatives of vegetable origin and vegetable protein extracts, and only eggs and egg derivatives say what they came from. Oils and fats and minerals finish it off.

Umbrella terms like those are a real limitation on an exclusion trial, because they cannot settle whether an ingredient is in or out and the mix behind them can move with supply. This food is built around calories and bulk rather than around avoidance. If sensitivities are also in the picture, the vet is the person to say which of those two jobs matters more for your dog.

The analysis reads low across the row as fed, because three quarters of the pack is water: protein 8.4%, fat 2.2% and crude fibre 3.4%, with moisture declared at 75.0%. Take the water out and protein sits at 33.6% of dry matter, fibre at 13.6% and fat at 8.8%. Very little fat with plenty of fibre is the standard build for a reducing food, and it is meant to read that way.

Carbohydrate is estimated at 9.3% as fed, or 37.2% of dry matter, and energy is 81 kcal per 100g, which the pack also gives as 806 kcal per kilogram. Calcium is declared at a level that comes out at 0.88% of the dry matter.

Added minerals carry printed doses, iron 15.5mg, iodine 0.5mg, copper 2.6mg, manganese 3.4mg and zinc 39.9mg. The feeding guide is generous in volume because the food is so dilute, running from 88 grams a day for a 1kg dog to 385 grams at 10kg and 940 grams at 50kg. How much of that your own dog gets is a conversation for the clinic rather than something to settle at home.

It is sold in 350g packs. A 15kg dog fed to the label's table would get roughly 1042 grams a day, which is close to three packs.