by Barbara Anderson

Created on: February 19, 2009   Last Updated: March 07, 2009

I used to feed Hill's Science Diet cat food to my two kitties, Cassie and Garth. After all, the breeder where I got them fed Science Diet, and I wanted to continue with a food that they were used to eating and seemed to enjoy. Then, we had the major pet food recall of 2007, and Science Diet canned cat food was on the recall list. Very concerned and quickly losing confidence in the quality of the food I was giving my two cats and dog, I began to do a lot of research on pet foods.

Because they are carnivorous animals, both cats and dogs have similar, though not identical, nutritional requirements. According to the experts at "The Dog Food Project" (www.dogfoodproject.com), the most important ingredient in a good wet or dry food is meat. "Protein, in the form of quality meat ingredients, is the most important component...Ideally, the first ingredient of a food should be either a specified meat meal, or a specified fresh meat type followed by a meal."

Cats have an even greater need for a meat based diet than dogs because they are obligate carnivores. While they can and do eat vegetables and grains, cats must get their most of their protein and other nutrients from meat, poultry or fish sources in order for them to thrive. Like their cousins in the wild, their bodies are just not designed by nature to easily digest carbohydrates like ground corn and extract nutrients from them.

Yet, when I checked the list of ingredients which make up Hill's Science Diet dry cat foods, most of these foods include ground corn as one of the major ingredients, in some cases as the first ingredient. It is even included in many of their canned cat foods. While ground corn may be necessary as part of the process of forming the dry kibble, there is absolutely no need for this to be in canned cat food, except as a filler, because it has little nutritional value for cats.

I also consider the company's widespread use of unnamed meat by-products and animal fats in both their canned and dry cat foods as another sign of a less than quality food. We all know what chicken fat or beef fat is, but what makes up animal fat? And, unnamed meat by-products could be almost anything. If your cat has a problem digesting, or is allergic to, a particular meat source, not knowing what the meat by-product consists of could add to an existing health problem, or even cause one. If their meat by-products are good quality, why don't they just state what they are?

Hill's Science Diet's use of meat by-products as one of their main ingredients may also explain why one bag or can of food may be delicious to your cat, while she turns up her nose at the second one with the same flavor and refuses to eat it. There may be a completely different meat source for the meat by-products, thus giving the food a completely different taste.

Sure, some cats may like Science Diet cat food and eagerly eat it, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good for them in the long term. People can't live on a diet of corn chips and other junk food, and neither can cats. So, until Hill's Science Diet improves its cat food to include more real meat, no unnamed meat by-products or animal fats, and a lot less ground corn, it's not one I would feed to my cats.

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