Hill's Pet Nutrition - Reviews and experiences

I nearly swore off Hill’s for good, but after pushing back I ended up a bit calmer about the whole thing. I started using this small-breed weight-management kibble a few weeks ago because my terrier needed to slim down; first impressions were fine — neat bag, normal smell, kibble looked usual. Then I found something gross in the bag. Not cute. It looked like feces. I was shocked and pretty grossed out, obviously. I emailed Hill’s and at first their reply felt like a shrug — they called it “crumbs coated with fat” and hit me with a long list of questions about batch codes, storage, feeding habits, number of people feeding the dog, you name it. Felt like they were blaming me for finding poop, which rubbed me the wrong way. I threw the bag out immediately; not taking chances. After a few follow-ups, though, someone else from customer care took a more straightforward tone, acknowledged the issue and arranged a partial refund/replacement and a clearer explanation of how they’ll escalate contamination reports. So I went from skeptical and annoyed to cautiously satisfied that they at least fixed it after a fight. I’m still wary and would inspect future bags closely, but I can’t say they totally ignored us. If you buy this, check your bag right away and keep photos — you might need them.

I needed this dry food to be reliable and it wasn’t. My dog is on a prescription metabolic diet from the vet (long story: weight issues and some gut sensitivity), so I can’t just swap things willy‑nilly. The vet gave us a small bag of Hill’s CD Low Fat to tide us over, but when we tried to switch back to the Hill’s CD Metabolic the clinic ordered a 27 lb bag — different lot than the bad one we’d seen before. The clinic also had a 7.5 lb bag on back order that finally arrived, and when they opened it there was a weird smell and the colour was off (dark brown, almost burnt-looking). The tech behind the desk said she wouldn’t feed it to her dogs, and honestly I agreed — looked inconsistent, kibble pieces didn’t match each other. So we passed on buying that bag. Right now we’re juggling cans of Hill’s Metabolic mixed with the Low Fat dry to keep her on the right calories and nutrients. It works okay, but it’s not ideal — more messy, more expensive, and I really want her back on the proper Metabolic dry. For what I pay for prescription food I expect each bag to be ready to feed. I’m frustrated because Hill’s has been made aware of similar problems before and yet another questionable lot showed up. I didn’t bother calling the 1‑800 number (felt like it’d be a waste — the vet has done this a few times). There are definitely holes in quality control and customer service here; this is a high‑dollar, prescription product and should be consistent. It’s not all terrible — the food does the job when it’s right — but the inconsistency is a real problem. I’ve got photos from the clinic if anyone at Hill’s wants to actually look at what they’re shipping.