Hills Science Diet Beef Formula - Not Up to Taste
Written: Aug 23 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A low ash, low magnesium food
Cons: by-products, possibly low taurine level
The Bottom Line: Not recommended - due to by-products as 4th and 5th most prevalent ingredients, and a possibly low taurine level.
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| patriciak's Full Review: Hill's Science Diet Beef Formula |
Hills Science Diet Feline Maintenance Beef Formula is the complete name for this canned cat food. As part of my continuing trial and error process of finding quality canned foods to feed Lyra, my cat with chronic cystitis, we recently tried this food. I will be honest, I did not read this label until after the can was opened and the food consumed. It was a stunning omission on my part! Read on to see what I found.
Let's Go Right to the Taste Test
Lyra was so-so, but then she is the queen of picky-finicky-full of "tortitude" cats. She would eat it, but was not about to finish it and lick the bowl.
Rachel, my recent "on wet food for a month post-dental" is now a canned food junkie, but she also was apathetic about this food. Based on these two responses, the cat rating is 1 1/2 paws.
The Product
This is a 5 1/2 oz. can of feline maintenance formula food which means that Hills Science Diet suggests it for all cats between the ages of 1 and 6 years old. It features a convenient, easy to remove pop-top lid, and the food itself is a soft ground pate, with some juice liquid noted. The smell is not offensive (compared to some canned foods which smell like the bottom of a garbage disposal).
It is recommended that you feed 1 can per 5 lbs. of body weight.
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein...(Min) 9.5%
Crude Fat...(Min) 5.0%
Crude Fiber...(Max) 0.8%
Moisture...(Max) 77%
Ash...(Max) 2.0%
Calcium...(Min) 0.12%
Phosphorus...(Min) 0.1%
Magnesium...(Max) 0.02%
Taurine...(Min) 0.05%
Here lies the most serious objection I have to this food..the taurine content. I do not understand how the food label can state that Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures" has shown this food provides "complete and balanced nutrition of the maintenance of adult cats." The Taurine level is listed as a minimum of 0.05%, yet if you go to http://www.fda.gov/cvm/index/consumer/petfood.htm, this 1997 article contains two tables: one for AAFCO Dog and one for AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles. The cat table shows that for canned cat food, the recommended per centage of Taurine is .20%.
I am not a vet, and hope that my vet can explain this to me as I am very curious at this variation in what is recommended, and what, at a minimum, is in this food. I will update this review as I find out more. If you are unfamiliar with what Taurine deficiency can do, this article is excellent with a good footnotes section: http://www.felinefuture.com/fact/nutrition/taurine.html This article also reiterates as to what the required per centage of taurine is.
My second problem with this food concerns the ingredients. To my great surprise, the ingredients in Hills Science Diet Feline Maintenance Beef Formula are no where near the quality of what is in their Hills Science Diet Feline Senior Beef Formula which I have previously reviewed in a very positive way. I am not going to list the entire ingredients list (surprise!), but am instead going to list the first ingredients and compare these to the Senior formula.
Mini List of Ingredients
Water, beef, liver, meat by-products, poultry by-products, rice flour, brewers rice, chicken fat
The Senior Beef Formula contains as the first ingredients:
Water, beef, liver, corn flour, chicken fat - NO by-products. The other differences between the two are that the Senior Beef Formula contains twice the taurine (but still less than .20 per cent) less fat and protein, more fiber.
I simply can not recommend any food that contains by-products - especially as a good portion of the protein source for the food. Canned food labels list the ingredients in the order of the per centage contained in the food. If water is the first listed, then this is the ingredient there is the most of in the formula out of all the listed ingredients.
Package Claims
Part of the label notes that this is a low magnesium food, and states that Hills Science Diet is "superior Nutrition for the Lifelong Health of Your Pet" I feel this is not lived up to in this particular formulation, though it is a low ash and low magnesium food as it claims, and is one plus for this food.
Bottom Line
Disappointment as it seems there is possibly a too low taurine level in this food unless the AAFCO recommendations have changed to decrease the recommended amount. Use of poor quality (in my opinion) protein sources by the prevalent use of by-products means I can not recommend this food as a good choice for maintaining the health of your cat.
Company Contact Information
1-800-445-5777
www.sciencediet.com
Recommended:
No
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patriciak
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I will always carry you in my heart, my sweetlings. I miss you so.
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