Science Diet Review

Well, some of you may know that I am a bzzagent (meaning that through bzzagent I sample products and review them).  A while back I posted on a testing I did for some awesome mascara!

Today I'm going to review the new Hill's (R) Science Diet Ideal Balance Grain Free food for dogs.
I was given a 3.5 lb bag of the dog food through  Pet Food Direct to try out with my dogs.  Let me get the review for them first.  They seem to be on par pricing (a little more expensive when you add in shipping) but the delivery was extremely quick and the website's interface was amazingly easy to navigate!  If I could ever think ahead with enough foresight to order dog food online (or if our dogs didn't seem to vary their consumption as much as they do) I would actually think about ordering through them on a regular basis.

Look at how nicely they packaged the food for me!

A closer view of the food bag so that you know exactly which bag to look for in the stores.

Now on to the actual food :) .  Harclave, my older and smaller dog, is super picky.  One of our favorite stories of him, yes I'm going to carry on for a few moments, is from when he was a puppy and we moved into our first place.  We did what every excited newly married and new puppy parent couple does when it was time to transition him off of puppy food, ask the folks at Petco what food they recommend and inform them that money is no object when it comes to our puppy's nutrition.  (A word for the wise, my dogs are still and will always be puppies to me.  I just can't accept that they're growing up ;) )  Okay, maybe not every couple does this, but we did.  We figured that he was our practice child (and we have always wanted children) and as such we should be ready to make sacrifices for him!  The folks at the store walked us over to Eukenuba (we now jokingly refer to this as pukanuba in our house now...) and sang it's praises to us.  Excitedly, we bought the big bag (did I mention this was our first puppy?) and ran home with it.  We spent hours doing online research on how best to mix the two foods (is it one part to one part or two parts old to one part new) and finally began trying to help him move to a "big boy" food.  At first we thought him separating the old food out of the bowl, eating it, and leaving the new food was just part of the process.  Eventually he ran out of the old food to do this to.  He was also going through an attitude phase at this point (he pooped on the couch in protest of guest leaving one weekend.  I don't think he was finished with  their visit) so we were already a little stressed at his lack of cooperation.  As he started the hunger protest, we started the digging in our heels response.  "He'll eat it when he's hungry enough. "  "Some of the forums said that the transfer to adult food from puppy food can be really hard for stubborn puppies so we should just wait it out."  This went on for a few days.  Finally, one night when we were sitting watching tv, Harclave drug his food bowl out of his room (we kept all of his stuff in the laundry room so he'd have "his place") looked at us, flipped the bowl over knocking the food out, did his puppy huff (it's his trademark) and stormed into the laundry room closing the door behind himself.  We weren't sure if we should laugh or cry at this defiance.  We threw in the towel and went back to Petco and got a different food for him.  He's been stubborn about his food since.  (His favorite tends to be Kibbles 'n bits with the little fake green beans)

Harclave was our worry from day one.  Kyokin, our newer larger puppy, will eat anything.  (and I mean ANYTHING...puppy training was hard with him)  So, I bit the bullet and did one of the worst things a pet owner can do when introducing their pets to a new food.  I didn't mix them, but set two bowls side by side with the different foods.  (Please ignore my messy floors.  They needed a good sweeping the day I did this)

On the left, Kibbles 'N Bits (not his favorite one though) on the right, the Science Diet.

The dogs were too busy playing at first, so it took some time to get their attention.  My younger kitten (kitten follows the same rule as puppy), however, was exited to get a nibble.

Shoo Fana!  Not for kitties!

Finally, I got them to settle down enough to come and see the "surprise".  Harclave, the alpha dog, walked up and sniffed both bowls.  He then proceeded to eat from both.  He didn't seem overly excited about the Science Diet, but he also didn't hate it. 

Harclave doesn't like having his picture taken while eating.

Kyokin took it as a treat.  He was really excited and after each bite he tried to do a trick for more.  I don't think he quite got it.  (He's also never experienced a new food since coming to live with us.) 

Kyokin eating.

The only two down sides that I found in this food was that it seemed to make the dogs thirsty and their poop very stinky (weird thing to complain about I'm sure, but I'm the one cleaning it up outside!).  (Since there were no upset tummies with this feeding method, I kept to it so I could monitor a preference if they showed one.)  After each meal, they would race to the water dish and chug down water (something new for them.)  Kyokin eventually figured out it wasn't a treat and his eating became balanced like Harclave's.

All in all, they liked it (didn't seem to love it) and it is definitely better for them then the Kibbles 'N Bits.  Science Diet has a really cool food comparison tool on their site if you click here.  The fact that Kibbles 'N Bits isn't even listed doesn't seem like a good sign.  After talking about it and reviewing our budget, my husband I decided that maybe we should upgrade their food.  We had been talking about it for a while, but Harclave's stubbornness had kept it from really progressing pass the talking stage into an action stage.  That's when the sticker shock hit us.  The cost is only slightly less than our specialty at the vet only cat food we have to buy (our older kitten has problems with urinary tract crystals).  We had already discussed that we would be alright with paying up to 1.5 times more (meaning what we pay now in addition to half of what we pay now) for food for them, but this price would more than double. 

We are a single income family (*points up to the michigan housewife title*) and we do very well for ourselves, but I just couldn't justify to myself spending that much on dog food if there wasn't a medical reason to make it necessary.  I don't have anything against the Science Diet food, it is just too expensive for our taste (maybe if our dogs had fawned over it more and made a choice of it over their previous food instead of eating a balance of the two we would have felt more obligated).  I know there are several folks out there who will accuse me of not loving my dogs sufficiently, but when I looked at the market, there are several "healthy" options that are priced better suiting our finances.  We are still planning on "upgrading" their food, we just have to find the right option for us!

Overall, my final review is this:

The food seemed good.  My dogs didn't love it, but they did like it.  It did lead to thirst and stinkier poo, but it wasn't terrible, just something that I noticed.  For us, this food it out of budget. 

Busy as a Bee

Well, things have been hectic around here!  I think things are going to slow down a bit (at least a little) soon.

The plants are coming along (slowly but surely), but today I do not have pictures of them :(.  I haven't had a chance to take any and to get them ready, so we're going to have to suffice with two slideshows with pictures from other events I've been to recently!

The first is the hockey game I attended last Friday.  Talk about a good time!  I grew up in the South (yes, there are hockey teams where I grew up...they just aren't amazing) so I'd only been to one hockey game previous to this.  Some of our dear friends are on a hockey team and it was their final home game of last season!

 

 This was also the first time I've been able to try my hand at hockey photography.  I had to resort to a 1600 ISO to cope with using a zoom lens (I was sitting in the stands cheering them on), the speed of the game, and the lighting.  I had a total blast.  My husband painted himself up with a friend and I sprayed silver glitter in my hair (one of their team colors).  It was a good way to begin the weekend!

On Saturday, we headed out to the NERO Detroit Larp.  They needed some NPC help (which my husband was able to provide) and I took some pictures for them.  We stayed there for about six hours.  It was pretty nifty.

Sunday was Game of Thrones of course! I also (on Saturday) finished Dance with Dragons.  My hubby (who hasn't read the books yet) was kind of sad that the season opener was more set up than action, but I'm not sure what he expected :D.  My only complaint about Game of Thrones and such is that they air during spring and summer.  I wish I could find a good show for us to watch during winter.  It seems like all the good tv comes on when it's nice outside and the shows during winter are bland (which doesn't help keep you distracted from bland winters).

Monday, we attended a memorial service for the mother of one of our closest friends.  Even though I'd only met her a few times, she was such a kind and amazing woman.  I'm really sad I didn't get to know her more.  It's strange to think about how people come into our lives and how they leave.  Think of how many people you have a short conversation with on the bus, at the store.  We are such social creatures.  I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, but I think I'll leave it there.  It's been both an amazing and sad week so far.  I think I'm pooped.