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Hill’s Science Diet Ideal Balance Giveaway

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The holidays are right around the corner- and to celebrate I have the first of a series of giveaways running between now and the New Year!

To kick us off, I have TEN chances to win either:

So here’s the interesting thing about pet food nutritionists, and this is the same across the board in terms of the big companies I have talked to: they don’t mind corn. They have in front of them the data from years of research and can say with assurance that based on science, it’s not an evil thing.

But here’s the other thing: there are lots and lots of people out there who do not like corn, and no matter what the studies may say, it is not an ingredient they want to feed their pet, for a variety of reasons.

I get both sides, actually. I like data and numbers and science but I also can’t help but intuitively feel certain ways about foods based on my own anecdotal experiences, and at the end of the day, I still encourage people to trust their instincts, as long as they are leading you in the right direction.

I am a veterinarian with a scientific mind sometimes, but I’m also a person who does exactly what drives scientists batty, which is ignore studies and go with my gut. Why not? As long as it’s balanced either way, companies would be out of their minds not to give people what they want. That is what sells.

So I’m happy to see Hill’s add meat first, grain-free, no corn products to their line, because it means this: companies are listening to what consumers want. And the more options there are out there for consumers, the better, I say.

Hill’s has provided me with ten coupon codes, each of which are good for a 12-15 pound bag of either of the above diets from Pet Food Direct. (Note: the dog diet is grain free, but the cat one is not. Check the links for full information.) The coupon code includes shipping, so each is a $49 value.

Want to try it out? Or if not, want to give a bag to a friend or your local shelter? It’s easy to enter, but do it while you’re thinking of it: the codes expire 12/31/11 so this is a short giveaway ending 12/27.



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Comments

  1. My kitty seems to have a sensitive tummy, and I’ve just started thinking about switching him to a grain-free diet to see if that helps – this would definitely be a great kick-start to that switch!

  4. Us please! Here’s to hoping the big box pet stores will carry this; I don’t mind going to the specialty pet store for cat food, but it’s pretty far off the beaten track, and only open until 5pm… and we inevitably discover that we’re out of cat food at dinnertime. :-p

  5. I would love to get this for my parents! They feed stuff that I don’t even want to mention here and it has been hard to try to get them to feed a better quality food! If I could get them a free bag of stuff, to try and help convince them that their dogs deserve more, that would be great!!!

  7. Would love to win this for my younger cat. She loves the Science Diet indoor food, but I’m not crazy about the grain/corn in the ingredients. I’ve tried switching her to other corn/grain-free cat foods, but she’ll have nothing to do with them.

  8. hope to give to the shelter I volunteer with – they often wind up a cat or two with food allergies. This would be a great way to try this product out!

  11. would like to try something without corn. My mixed dog has a bad skin allergy all year round, not sure if its the diet or not. I have two dogs and cannot afford to feed both a diet for the one but if I could get a free starter bag, it would help! 🙂

  12. This would be awesome! My dog can not have a lot of the foods out there and I would love to try Science diet 🙂

  15. Interesting. I have been feeding Blue’s Wilderness grain free – I like Science Diet as a brand and Hills as a manufacturer; I am glad they’ve added a grain free option.

  18. I find it refreshing to have options, so I’m happy to see Science Diet come out with a grain free product. My mother’s very finicky cat really likes Science Diet, so this would be perfect for her (if she likes it).

    I personally don’t feed any products that contain corn. Doritos are made of corn. Doritos are “junk food”. Isn’t that a really warped way to look at corn?

  19. How does Hill’s get away with calling this diet grain-free? Last time I checked, rice oats and barley were grains. Between the grains, and the veggies, the feline diet is ridiculously high in carbs and, in my opinion, completely inappropriate for an obligate carnivore.

    • They do- I really didn’t do a very good job of explaining this in the post. 🙂 There are two versions of the Ideal Balance line- one is grain free, one is not, and there is a cat and a dog version of both. It just happens for this giveaway, the dog giveaway is from the grain free line, and the cat giveaway is from the non-grain free line (but still corn free and meat first.) Make sense?

  26. I would try the dog food. I still wouldn’t let my cats eat this, though. They’re obligate carnivores, even more so than dogs – why would they need grain?

  28. We just adopted a rescue lab mix dog from a kill shelter down south and would love to win this yummy food for our new dog Toffee! Toffee says she would like it too!
    ~Meghan