Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Canine (Dry)

Rating:

Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Canine (dry) earns the Advisor’s lowest rating of one star.

Currently, the Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Canine line includes four dry products… each formula designed to support “a variety of skin conditions and digestive discomfort due to food allergies”¹.

• Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Lamb Formula
• Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Potato and Duck Formula
• Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Potato and Salmon Formula
• Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Potato and Venison Formula

Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Potato and Duck Formula was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Now, before we begin, please keep in mind…

The veterinary dog food reviewed here may or may not be suitable for your particular pet. Moreover, it is certainly not the intention of this report to act as a substitute for sound medical advice.

Just the same, we firmly believe it is our responsibility to share our honest opinion regarding the quality of the product’s recipe… as well as its individual ingredients.

The first ingredient in this dog food is potatoes. Assuming they’re whole, potatoes are a good source of digestible carbohydrates and other healthy nutrients.

My only concern here is the amount of potato in this product. Since three of the first four ingredients are all of potato origin, it’s safe to assume potato is the major component in this dog food.

The second ingredient is potato starch. Potato starch is a quality gluten-free carbohydrate. It’s both digestible and hypoallergenic.

The third ingredient is duck. Raw duck contains about 80% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost… reducing the meat content to just 20% of its original weight.

That’s what makes uncooked duck a much smaller contributor to the overall protein content of a dry dog food… than duck meal.

The fourth item is potato protein… the dry residue left over after removing the starchy part of a potato. This ingredient contains over 80% plant protein. So, it’s responsible for at least some of the total protein reported in this dog food.

The fifth ingredient is pork fat… commonly known as lard. Though pork fat can add significant taste to a dog food, it isn’t what you might call a high quality fat.

In reasonable amounts, pork fat can be an acceptable ingredient.

Now, this dog food also contains soybean oil. But unfortunately, this soybean oil is preserved with BHA, a suspected cancer-causing agent… and propyl gallate, a reproductive toxin.

Also, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Canine… the Bottom Line

With so many potato ingredients, it’s difficult to imagine much meat protein being in this Hill’s Prescription Diet D/D Canine product. And a quick look at the numbers should confirm that suspicion.

The dashboard reports a dry matter protein reading of 18%, a fat level of 17% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 57%.

Disappointing numbers, indeed. How disappointing?

Well, with only 18% protein, this Hill’s Prescription Diet product just barely meets the absolute lowest protein standards established by the dog food industry itself².

And one more thing… what’s a protein-fat-carb ratio like this have to do with canine skin health, anyway?

Bottom line…

This dog food consists mostly of potato with little (very little) duck.

I would certainly think long and hard before I’d consider feeding my dog a low-protein product like this… for any length of time.

Overall, Hill’s Science Diet D/D Canine earns just one star.

Not recommended.

Some Final Thoughts

Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt consult your veterinarian for help.

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Tagged as: adult, digestive, dry, grain-free, hypoallergenic, skin