Hills Prescription Diet Id How Much to Feed Cat

October 05, 2022 Post a Comment

Hill's Prescription Diet Cat Food Ingredients

According to our research, Hill's Prescription Diet manufactures 51 cat food recipes using 128 unique ingredients. To evaluate the quality of ingredients used by Hill's Prescription Diet, we've studied all 128 ingredients. In this article, we'll share our findings on Hill's Prescription Diet ingredients.

Cat Food Recipes	51
Unique Ingredients	128
Artificial Colors	0
Animal By-Products	2
Anonymous Meats	0
Controversial	13
Harmful	1

First 5 Ingredients

Cat food ingredients in the United States are listed in descending order of pre-cooked weight. The first 5 ingredients typically constitute a significant portion of the recipe.

For Hill's Prescription Diet, these are the most common ingredients found within the first 5 cat food ingredients.

water
pork liver
pork liver
powdered cellulose
brewers rice

As you can see, the most common first ingredient in Hill's Prescription Diet is water. The most common 2nd ingredient is pork liver, followed by pork liver, powdered cellulose, and brewers rice.

Artificial Food Coloring Dyes

Hill's Prescription Diet does not use any artificial food coloring dyes. According to our records, none of the 51 Hill's Prescription Diet cat foods contain artificial food dyes.

Artificial food coloring dyes are unnecessary and potentially harmful ingredients. In general, we not not recommend feeding any pet foods that contain artificial dyes.

In 2010, the CSPI raised serious concerns regarding the safety of many artificial dyes. Most of the studies referenced by the CSPI involved prolonged or excessive consumption. Since most cats consume the same foods throughout their lives, concerns raised by the CSPI are alarming to say the least.

To read more about Artificial Food Dyes, click here.

Animal By-Products

Hill's Prescription Diet does indeed use animal by-products. More specifically, 2 animal by-product ingredients were found during our analysis of Hill's Prescription Diet cat food ingredients.

According to AAFCO, by-products are defined as the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. In other words, animal by-products are the leftover ingredients that humans typically do not consume (lung, heart, tongue, stomach, intestine, blood, etc).

Many consumers have equated animal by-products with slaughterhouse waste. Animal by-products are still very controversial. Most premium brands have abandoned them in favor of specific named organ ingredients (duck liver, chicken heart, etc).

If you must feed a product with animal by-products, ensure that the specific animal source is specified. In other words, avoid ingredients such as meat by-products or poultry by-products.

By-products are defined by AAFCO as the "non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals." Thus, pork by-products contain nearly all parts of pork which are typically not consumed by humans. These parts include the liver, lung, spleen, kidney, stomach, blood, intestine, bone, etc.

Like other meat by-products, pork by-products are considered controversial, mainly because they are inexpensive ingredients which consumers have equated with slaughterhouse waste. However, manufactures and many experts claim that animal by-products are unjustly criticized. Proponents state that "named" by-products, such as pork by-products, supply many important nutrients required by cats.

The following recipes contain pork by-products:

Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Ocean Fish
Hill's Prescription Diet GlucoSupport m/d With Liver
Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Management Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Weight Reduction r/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d With Chicken

Chicken by-product meal is produced by cooking chicken by-products using a process called rendering. By-products are defined by AAFCO as the "non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals." Thus, chicken by-products contain nearly all parts of chickens which are typically not consumed by humans. These parts include the liver, lung, spleen, kidney, stomach, blood, intestine, bone, etc.

Like other meat by-products, chicken by-products are considered controversial, mainly because they are inexpensive ingredients which consumers have equated with slaughterhouse waste. However, manufactures and many experts claim that animal by-products are unjustly criticized. Proponents state that "named" by-products, such as chicken by-products, supply many important nutrients required by cats.

The following recipes contain chicken by-product meal:

Hill's Prescription Diet GlucoSupport m/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Loss & Maintenance Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Weight Loss r/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Dental Care t/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Cat Treats Metabolic

Anonymous Meat Ingredients

Anonymous meats are inexpensive low-quality ingredients that can come from practically any animal. These type of ingredients are often used to produce very inexpensive cat foods.

In general, we prefer ingredients which specify the animal source used to derive the ingredient. For example, ingredients such as duck fat are much better than animal fat or poultry fat.

In our analysis, we've looked through all 128 Hill's Prescription Diet ingredients. According to our data, Hill's Prescription Diet does not contain any anonymous animal-based ingredients.

Cereal Grains

Certain Hill's Prescription Diet cat food recipes contain one or more grains. The specific ingredients are listed below.

For cats, we typically recommend choosing a grain-free recipe. Cats are obligate carnivores and therefore grains are not species appropriate.

The kibble production requires a binding agent. Grains are commonly used for this purpose in cat food. When purchasing grain-free cat food, grains are often replaced with another starchy source. This is also not ideal.

To avoid grains and other starchy additions, consider feeding wet or frozen recipes.

Wheat flour is produced by grinding uncooked wheat into a powder. In addition to dietary fiber, wheat flour provides various vitamins, minerals, and plant based protein.

Wheat is considered a controversial ingredient because of it's protein content. Plant based proteins degrade the overall protein quality in the product. In addition, many people believe wheat is one of the most common ingredients to cause food allergies or intolerance. However, grains such as wheat are typically low offenders in comparison to certain protein sources such as beef.

The following recipes contain wheat flour:

Hill's Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d With Chicken

Whole grain corn is the entire corn kernel (the germ, bran, and endosperm). Corn is a cereal grain which provides a modest amount of vitamins, minerals, and plant based protein. It also happens to be one of the most controversial ingredients in cat food.

Proponents of corn claim that corn is highly digestible and an excellent source of protein, energy, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.

Opponents however believe that positive claims in regards to corn are either half-truths or completely false, we'll discuss a few of the opposing arguments.

In regards to digestibility, the claims of "highly digestible" are only true if corn is processed into a meal or flour and subsequently cooked. In regards to the protein contribution, we must note that corn is a plant based protein which does not contain all of the necessary amino acids required by cats to sustain life. Therefore substituting corn for meat is an unsuitable substitution and actually degrades the overall protein quality of the product.

Finally, we'll discuss the claims about vitamins and minerals in corn. Although corn does provide many vitamins and minerals, it not necessarily an exceptional ingredient in this regards. There are many other ingredients which are more complete and biologically appropriate. Therefore the usage of corn as the primary ingredient in cat food should certainly warrant further questioning.

The following recipes contain whole grain corn:

Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare Stress With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Digestive Care i/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Kidney Care k/d With Ocean Fish
Hill's Prescription Diet Dental Care t/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome Digestive/Fiber Care With Chicken For Cats

Corn flour a ground cereal grain which provides a modest amount of vitamins, minerals, and plant based protein. It also happens to be one of the most controversial ingredients in cat food.

Proponents of corn claim that corn is highly digestible and an excellent source of protein, energy, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.

Opponents however believe that positive claims in regards to corn are either half-truths or completely false, we'll discuss a few of the opposing arguments.

The following recipes contain corn flour:

Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Management Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d With Chicken

Controversial Ingredients

In most cases, ingredients which are given the controversial classification can be substituted with higher-quality alternatives. You should evaluate each controversial ingredient independently to see if there is truly a valid cause for concern.

Keep in mind, certain sacrifices often must be made to produce cat foods at a reasonable price. In general, the more expensive the product, the fewer controversial ingredients you'll find.

In our analysis, we've identified 13 controversial ingredients inside Hill's Prescription Diet products. These controversial ingredients are listed below. Click on each ingredient for more information.

Proponents of corn claim that corn is highly digestible and an excellent source of protein, energy, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.

Opponents however believe that positive claims in regards to corn are either half-truths or completely false, we'll discuss a few of the opposing arguments.

The following recipes contain whole grain corn:

Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare Stress With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Digestive Care i/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Kidney Care k/d With Ocean Fish
Hill's Prescription Diet Dental Care t/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome Digestive/Fiber Care With Chicken For Cats

Caramel color is a concentrated form of caramel, a natural food colorant. Caramel color has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals. Since our pets do not care about food color, caramel color is an unnecessary addition with possible health risks.

The following recipes contain caramel color:

Hill's Prescription Diet Kidney Care k/d Pate With Chicken

The following recipes contain pork by-products:

Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care c/d Multicare With Ocean Fish
Hill's Prescription Diet GlucoSupport m/d With Liver
Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Management Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Weight Reduction r/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d With Chicken

The following recipes contain chicken by-product meal:

Hill's Prescription Diet GlucoSupport m/d With Chicken
Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Loss & Maintenance Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Weight Loss r/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Urinary Care s/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Dental Care t/d Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Cat Treats Metabolic

Corn flour a ground cereal grain which provides a modest amount of vitamins, minerals, and plant based protein. It also happens to be one of the most controversial ingredients in cat food.

Proponents of corn claim that corn is highly digestible and an excellent source of protein, energy, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.

Opponents however believe that positive claims in regards to corn are either half-truths or completely false, we'll discuss a few of the opposing arguments.

The following recipes contain corn flour:

Hill's Prescription Diet Metabolic Weight Management Chicken Flavor
Hill's Prescription Diet Thyroid Care y/d With Chicken

Potentially Harmful Ingredients

Harmful ingredients are those which have been linked to adverse health effects. In general, we do not recommend feeding any product which contains any harmful ingredients.

There are certain situations where these ingredients may be necessary. We always recommend contacting Hill's Prescription Diet for further clarification regarding any harmful or controversial ingredient.

We have identified 1 harmful ingredient used in certain Hill's Prescription Diet recipes. To learn more, click on the ingredient's name.

Hill's Prescription Diet Cat Food Ingredient Lists