Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D Canine (Canned)

Rating:

Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D canned dog food receives the Advisor’s lowest rating of one star.

Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D Canine Mobility canned dog food meets AAFCO nutrient profiles for adult maintenance.

The first ingredient in this dog food is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.

The second ingredient is lamb liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal. So long as it’s not over-weighted in a dog food, lamb liver is a beneficial component.

The third ingredient is rice. Is this whole grain rice, brown rice or white rice? Since the word “rice” doesn’t tell us much, it’s difficult to judge the quality of this particular item.

The next item includes pork by-products… slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of a slaughtered pig after all the prime cuts have been removed.

Basically, pork by-products are the unsavory leftovers of slaughter operations deemed “unfit for human consumption”.

Though it does contain all ten essential amino acids a dog needs for life, we do not consider pork by-products a quality ingredient.

The fifth ingredient is corn. Now, contrary to what you may have heard, corn isn’t necessarily a bad ingredient.

On the other hand, although there’s no way to know for sure here, the corn used in making many pet foods can be similar to the kind used to make feed for livestock.

And that can sometimes be problematic.

What’s more, corn is commonly linked to canine food allergies¹.

For these reasons, we rarely consider corn a preferred component in any dog food.

The sixth ingredient is lamb. Lamb is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered” lamb and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.²

Lamb is considered a quality meat.

The seventh ingredient is rice flour. Rice flour is made from either white or brown rice and is considered a good gluten-free substitute for wheat flour.

The eighth ingredient is dried egg product… a dehydrated form of shell-free eggs. Quality can vary significantly. Lower grade egg product can even come from commercial hatcheries… from eggs that have failed to hatch.

In any case, eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

The ninth ingredient is dried whey. Whey is a by-product of the cheese industry. This particular form of whey is high in the milk sugar, lactose (about 70%) but low in protein.

It’s used in canned dog foods as a gelling agent and is an item with little nutritional value to a dog.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall rating of this product.

With four notable exceptions…

First, powdered cellulose is a non-digestible plant fiber usually made from cotton or sawdust. It is used in dog food to add bulk.

Cellulose fiber is sometimes added to dilute the number of calories per serving and to give the feeling of fullness when it is eaten.

Except for the usual benefits of fiber, powdered cellulose provides no other nutrients to a dog.

Next, soybean meal. Soybean meal is actually a useful by-product. It’s what remains of soybeans after all the oil has been removed.

Soybean meal contains 48% protein. However, compared to meat, this is an inferior plant-based protein.

Soybean oil has been red flagged here only due to its controversial (yet unlikely) link to canine food allergies.

Finally, We also note this food contains chelated minerals… minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D Canned Dog Food
The Bottom Line

The veterinary product reviewed here may or may not be suitable for your particular pet. Moreover, it is not our intention to judge the appropriateness of any dog food to treat a specific condition.

Nor is it our aim to act as a substitute for sound medical advice.

Nevertheless…

Judging by its ingredients alone, Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D canned dog food appears to be a below-average wet product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 20%, a fat level of 19% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 53%.

Low protein. Below-average fat. And high carbohydrates… when compared to a typical canned dog food.

With no evidence of any plant-based protein concentrates, this appears to be the profile of a wet food containing only a limited amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Hill’s Prescription Diet J/D canned dog food is a grain-based wet product using only a modest amount of lamb liver as its main source of animal protein… thus earning the brand one star.

Not recommended.

A Final Word

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

Have an opinion about this dog food… or maybe the review itself? Please know… we welcome your comments.

Tagged as: adult, canned, health issues, maintenance