Hill's Prescription Diet Hills Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome review

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals, meat and animal derivatives (chicken 9%), derivatives of vegetable origin, oils and fats, vegetable protein extracts, fruit, seeds, minerals, vegetables. Highly digestible ingredients: Chicken and turkey meal, broken rice, maize, maize gluten meal, animal fat, vegetable oil, fish oil. ActivBiome+ prebiotic blend (14.6%): Ground pecan shell, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, dried citrus pulp, dried cranberries.

Cereals come first, then meat and animal derivatives with chicken written in at 9%, followed by derivatives of vegetable origin, oils and fats, vegetable protein extracts, fruit, seeds, minerals and vegetables. Hill's then prints what it calls the highly digestible ingredients, naming chicken and turkey meal, broken rice, maize, maize gluten meal, animal fat, vegetable oil and fish oil.

That second list is the more informative of the two, and it puts three animal sources in the recipe: poultry as chicken and as turkey, plus fish by way of the oil. Maize turns up twice over, once as the grain and again as maize gluten meal. That second entry is plant protein and takes on some of the lifting the meat would otherwise do. If your dog is steering clear of any of those, take the detail into the consultation with you.

The prebiotic package is declared in unusual detail. ActivBiome+ is printed at 14.6%, a substantial slice of the bag. Ground pecan shell and dried beet pulp are given as its contents, with flaxseed behind them and dried citrus pulp and dried cranberries at the end. Fibre on that scale is the reason the food exists in this form, and crude fibre lands at 7.0% as declared, or 7.7% of dry matter.

Protein is 21.3% as declared and 23.4% of dry matter, fat 13.2% and 14.5% dry, with moisture declared at 9.0%. Carbohydrate is estimated at 43.6% as fed and 47.9% of dry matter, energy at 343 kcal per 100g and calcium at 1.04% of dry matter. Those settings belong to a diet arranged for gut work rather than for general feeding, and only the vet who has seen your dog can say whether he needs one.

Minerals are dosed in print, iron 84.6mg, iodine 2.1mg, copper 8.3mg, manganese 8.7mg, zinc 148mg and selenium 0.2mg, with a natural antioxidant listed last. The label feeds by weight, 93 grams a day at 1kg, 422 grams at 10kg, 547 grams at 20kg and 852 grams at 50kg.

It is sold in 1.5kg and 10kg bags. A 15kg dog on the label's guide would get through about 245 grams a day.