Hill’s Prescription Diet Wet DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 2.8/10, Hills Prescription Diet Wet is considered a high risk dog food according to our criteria. There are 32 recipes that average 22% protein and 54% carbohydrate as calculated, which is excessively high for a wet dog food, and more than twice the amount of protein.

You’ll find rice, soybean, corn, barley, potatoes – and sugar in some recipes – within the top 5-10 ingredients which contributes to the excessively high carbohydrate levels. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are high in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

Sugar appears as dextrose in this food. It is a low quality ingredient that can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes. 

Also high on the ingredient list are plant proteins like potato protein and soybean meal, which also contribute to the high carbohydrate level. Plant proteins are a less expensive substitute for quality animal protein. You want to see animal sources because they’re more digestible and contain a wider array of amino acids than plant based protein sources.

Hills Prescription Diet Wet foods are noticeably lacking whole food ingredients like fruits and vegetables while all recipes have an extensive list of added synthetic vitamins and minerals. 

One of the wet food recipes (Derm Complete), includes peas, carrots, cranberries, apples, broccoli and zucchini, but these are glam ingredients and are found so low on the list that they contribute no nutritional value. Some amino acids have been added to meet nutrient requirements in these recipes, which usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. 

Pecan shells are found in several recipes, often a source of insoluble fiber. There are studies about their antioxidant content but the fact remains, these recipes lack whole food ingredients and are devoid of vegetables and fruit that would provide soluble and insoluble fiber as well as antioxidants and other natural vitamins and minerals, rather than obtaining them from cheaper sources and industry waste.

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral. 

Soybean oil is an inflammatory seed oil that is highly processed and may contain trans fats. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans. 

There are also multiple unnamed animal proteins used including fish oil. These are a sign of low quality and can be made from any type of fish or poultry. Unnamed animal ingredients are often a less expensive, low quality ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. 

Recipes include cellulose, a low quality, insoluble fiber made from wood pulp. It’s the least expensive and least functional form of fiber since it’s very poorly fermented. In dog food, it’s often included to firm stools. Dogs have no known need for fiber, unless it’s soluble fiber that’s fermented by gut bacteria, to support gut health. 

On the ingredient safety side, these canned recipes are highly processed which costs a loss in points across the line. These foods are heated, which can cause a loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species.

These recipes also use ingredients known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues in the top 5 ingredients. Crops that are spray-dried with Roundup contain more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. 

Corn and soybeans are GMO foods included in the top 5 ingredients of these recipes. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops, although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, require increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off. 

Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. But natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. The use of rice in several recipes costs ingredient safety points because of potential arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern since rice naturally absorbs arsenic that can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. 

Several recipes have added caramel color to make them look more appealing to people. They are often used to hide the gray color of rendered ingredients and are linked to health issues. Some recipes also have menadione, a synthetic form of Vitamin K that is not required in dog food. It may be linked to immune system dysfunction, oxidative damage to cells, liver toxicity, and allergic reactions.

The concerns below don’t cost points but are worth noting. 

There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories (like potatoes, potato starch and potato protein) to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher. 

These recipes don’t specify whether fish products are from farmed or wild caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Lastly, Hill’s doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.