Hill's Science Plan Hypoallergenic Medium Adult Dry Dog Food with Salmon - 2.5kg

Hypoallergenic Medium Adult Dry Dog Food with Salmon is a complete dry food for adult dogs of medium breeds, roughly 11 to 25kg, made with salmon. Below we set out what hypoallergenic actually means, since it is a marketing word rather than a regulated one.

Key Features

• Single Novel Protein: Salmon as the only animal protein, chosen because most dogs have not eaten it before.
• No Grain: Grain-free, to keep the ingredient list short.
• Digestion: Highly digestible, for a dog with a delicate stomach.
• Skin: Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
• Pack Size: A single 2.5kg bag.

What Hypoallergenic Means, And Does Not

• Hypoallergenic is a marketing word, not a regulated one. What it means in practice here is a limited ingredient list built on a single novel protein, chosen because a pet is unlikely to have met it before and so unlikely to react to it. That is a sound idea and a reasonable thing to buy.
• It is not a diagnosis and it cannot tell you whether your pet has a food allergy. Only a properly run elimination trial can, and that has to be set up by your vet and followed strictly, with no treats, chews, flavoured medication or scraps for the whole period.
• Worth knowing: true food allergy is far less common than the internet suggests, and the usual culprits are the proteins a pet has eaten most, typically chicken, beef and dairy. Grain is near the bottom of the list, not the top.
• Most itchy pets in this region are reacting to fleas or environmental allergens rather than food. A food change is worth trying, but itching that has gone on more than a couple of weeks needs looking at properly.

On Grain-Free

• This recipe has no grain, which is there to keep the ingredient list short and the protein sources limited, not because grain is inherently bad. Grain is a perfectly good source of energy and fibre for most dogs and cats, and it is an uncommon allergen.
• You may have seen the discussion linking some grain-free dog foods to dilated cardiomyopathy. The investigation focused on foods built on high levels of peas, lentils and other pulses, no single cause was established, and the picture is still unsettled.
• The sensible reading: choose grain-free when there is a reason to, as there is here, rather than because it sounds better. If your dog is on a grain-free food long term, mention it at your next check-up.

Why Breed Size Changes The Recipe

• A small dog has a far higher metabolic rate per kilo than a large one, so small-breed foods are more energy-dense and the kibble is made small enough to chew comfortably. Large-breed foods go the other way, with controlled energy and added joint support.
• Kibble size is not a detail. A dog that cannot comfortably pick up and chew its food either bolts it whole or eats less than it needs, and both cause problems.
• If your dog sits on a boundary between sizes, go by adult bodyweight rather than by how it looks: small and mini is up to about 10kg, medium about 11 to 25kg, and large breed 25kg and up.

Feeding, Storage And The Range

• How much: start from the chart on the pack by weight, then adjust to what you can feel. You should find the ribs easily under a thin layer of cover. Weigh the food rather than using a cup, and count treats towards the day's total.
• Changing over: move across gradually over about seven days. A sudden switch is the usual cause of a loose stool that then gets blamed on the food.
• Storage here: keep the bag sealed, cool and out of sunlight and use it within about six weeks of opening. UAE heat turns the fats in kibble stale faster than the packaging assumes, and that is the usual reason a pet goes off a food it used to like. Keep it in its own bag rather than tipping it into a bin.
• Who makes it: Hill's was founded by an American vet, Mark Morris Senior, who formulated a kidney diet for a guide dog in the 1940s. They run feeding trials on their recipes, which is why they can say clinically proven where most brands cannot, and the main reason the range costs what it does.
• Science Plan is not Prescription Diet: this is the everyday range for healthy pets. Prescription Diet is the separate therapeutic range for diagnosed conditions, sold on a vet's recommendation. The names overlap confusingly and they are not interchangeable, so if your vet has set a diet, ask them before changing it.

Good To Know

• This listing is the 2.5kg pack.
• Complete dry food. Nothing needs adding to a complete diet.
• Keep fresh water available at all times.
• Store sealed, cool and out of sunlight. Use an opened bag within about six weeks.
• Science Plan is a non-prescription everyday food, not a veterinary therapeutic diet.
• Made by Hill's Pet Nutrition, part of Colgate-Palmolive.