Hill's Pet Nutrition launched a prescription diet called Derm Complete Rice and & Egg Recipe Dry Dog Food on the global market and claims to improve skin in 21 days with food sensitivities, reduce scratching and improve sleep quality and supports the skin barrier against environmental irritants (Click here to visit Hill's).
They say it works because they use "intact animal protein to help avoid adverse reactions to food" that has "bioactives and phytonutrients to help normalize immune response" and is "fortified with fatty acids to help support continued skin health."
Sounds interesting and could potentially be very helpful if the ingredients they used were actually healthy, but, unfortunately there is a zero percent chance it does what it is marketed to do. Take a look at the ingredient list below:
- Brown Rice/Brewer's Rice: WHY??? Refined carbohydrates increase glucose and inflammation, which is already present if your dog is itchy.
- Egg Product:. Hill's claims they use one single protein source, but Egg product is not a clean protein. It is literally the left over part of an egg that couldn't be used for humans for whatever reason.
- Rice Protein: Very little protein is actually present in rice protein. Any form of rice is not ideal because it is a starch that increases glucose and inflammation over time.
- Soybean Oil: This is a highly refined seed oil that is cheap to manufacture and is high in omega-6, which will absolutely contribute to more inflammation.
- Hydrolyzed Chicken Flavor: This is highly processed mystery chicken flavor that serves as a palatant, something that makes the food tasty but provides no nutritional benefts. Read more on palatants here.
- Dried-Beet Pulp: This is a by-product of SUGAR. How could a diet with added sugar possibly help improve skin issues? More sugar = more glucose = potential increased insulin resistance.
- Vitamins and Chemicals: Vitamins and chemicals that have been added to the food because the way it is processed literally strips the food of all nutrients. If the ingredients were so healthy in the first place, vitamins wouldn't have to be added back into the mix.
The only healthy ingredients in there are flaxseed, fish oil, coconut oil, green peas, cranberries. If you are going to feed kibble, you may as well save yourself some money and feed basic kibble because this particular blend won't do anything for your dog aside from make them sicker in the long-term.
If your dog has skin issues, you are much better off figuring out why your dog has skin issues in the first place. If your dog is having issues, it is because his or her immune system is weak. Then we must ask, why is their immune system weak? What caused it? Did we unknowingly give them something to make their immune system weak?
The major culprits are unhealthy foods the dog isn't designed to process, vaccinations that overwhelmed the dog and overuse of medication. You can learn more about this here.
If your dog is sick and you need some help figuring out what to do, please check out Bobzilla's Healthy, Happy Life Made Simple.