Diamond Naturals vs. Science Diet: Which Dog Food is Better?

So you’ve decided to shop dog foods for your pup. Made it this far, but are stuck comparing Diamond Naturals vs. Science Diet? Fear not, we’ve got you covered. Our furry friends mean the world to us, so choosing the best diet for them can feel like a big responsibility.

Each brand has something different to offer our pups, often making the choice between brands quite challenging. In order to help you make the best diet choice for your beloved companion, we’re comparing the two popular brands that you may be stuck between, Science Diet and Diamond Naturals dog food.

Today we’re going to dive into the details of both brands when it comes to their different formulas, flavor varieties, brand history, and more! We hope that by the end of this guide, you can feel comfortable with your choice of either Science Diet or Diamond Naturals for your furry friend.

Since the Science Diet brand was first created in 1930, they have become one of the most well known dog food brands on the market. They are widely supported by vets across the United States. Science Diet has also created a name for themselves by creating multiple prescription diets for dogs that struggle with an array of medical conditions. This has made them a very popular pick with both dog owners and veterinarians.

Though Science Diet is well known for their prescription diets, they also create multiple diets that are available in store without a prescription. Their goal is to create food that promotes overall health. Their goal is to prevent disease for our dogs in the future through their diet.

Science Diet is a leader in dog food nutrition. We’ve compared them against several other brands, in the following articles:

• Science Diet vs. Blue Buffalo
• Science Diet vs. Nutro
• Science Diet vs. Purina Pro
• Science Diet vs. Royal Canin

Diamond Naturals

The Diamond Pet Food company made their way into the pet food arena in 1970. They have grown to be one of the largest dog food manufacturers in the world, and take pride in their offering of natural dog food for our furry friends. Even though Diamond Naturals is so well known around the world, they are still big on sticking to their family values. With being family owned and operated, they state how important it is for them to stick to their midwestern values.

Diamond Also owns Taste of the Wild dog food, which many would argue is a more popular brand. We’ve reviewed their Taste of the Wild dog food line, which is another canine owner favorite.

Recalls

Now that we’ve introduced you to the Science Diet and Diamond Naturals brand, let’s discuss their past with food recalls throughout their time in the industry. A brand’s approach to a food recall says a lot about their overall mission, so let’s dive into their recall past and see how they handled each one.

Science Diet

Science Diet has had 3 recalls throughout their history in the pet food realm. These recalls include:

June of 2012: This recall involved 62 bags of kibble being recalled due to a possible Salmonella contamination. Due to pulling the food from the shelves so quickly, no pets were affected by the possible contamination.

January 2019 & March of 2019: These recalls involved pulling diets from the shelves due to elevated levels of vitamin D in some of their diets. Some dogs were unfortunately hospitalized due to the high levels of Vitamin D, causing the issue to blow up in the pet industry. Science Diet had to pull certain diets from stores and veterinary clinics.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals has had quite a few food recalls throughout their history in the pet food industry. They have been around a while, so it’s not uncommon to see more recalls from pet food manufacturers with a longer time in operation. These recalls include the following:

December 2005: This recall involved the pulling of diets made in their South Carolina facility due to a possible aflatoxin contamination.

April 2012: This recall involved multiple dry formulas being pulled due to a possible salmonella contamination in their diets.

May 2012: Another recall occurred due to a possible salmonella contamination in some of their diets.

March 2013:  This recall involved one of their kitten formulas being pulled due to low levels of thiamine.

Food Ingredients

Part of what makes each brand so unique is the ingredients that go into their diet. Each brand offers something a bit different, so let’s dive into the ingredients that both Science Diet and Diamond Naturals have to offer!

Science Diet

The Science Diet mission is to create a diet that serves our dogs based on their nutritional needs. They focus on creating recipes that are based on science. Each formula is created to ensure they meet each of our furry friend’s nutrition essentials. Their recipes are based on offering the exact ingredients that each dog needs to thrive. This means they don’t often take a natural approach or jump on any diet bandwagons. They offer food that our dogs are proven to need and leave out all the other fluff.

Real meat is usually the first ingredient in their diets, and range in options of chicken, turkey, and lamb. Though Science Diet makes it their mission to offer quality ingredients in their recipes,they do use a controversial product that has some pet owners concerned. Unlike some pet food brands, Science Diet uses meat byproducts.

While other pet food brands claim that meat byproducts are not ideal for our furry friends, Science Diet states that they don’t have any negative impacts on a dog’s health. With being so focused on overall nutrition, I guess we can take their word for it.

Due to their science based approach to dog food, you won’t find any natural options in their diets. Though they don;t offer a holistic approach, they do offer diets for puppies, adults, large breeds, small breeds, toy breeds, seniors, weight management, joint health, sensitive skin and stomach, and multiple diets for specific medical conditions.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals offers a natural diet for the canine companions in our lives. They focus on offering whole ingredients that offer balanced nutrition, and antioxidant rich ingredients that promote overall health. The surplus of fruits and veggies and quality protein in their recipes help our dogs thrive, along with their grain free options for the sensitive furry friends out there.

Though each of their diets contain real meat tissue, most contain meat meal as a main protein source as well. Though meat meal tends to raise our eyebrows, they state the meat meal contains 300% more protein than real meat. Each of their recipes also include probiotics,omega fatty acids,glucosamine and chondroitin, and DHA for developing puppies.

Range Of Formulas

Throughout our dog’s time in our lives, they will pass through multiple life stages. Each of these stages require different nutrition to help them thrive, so it’s important for a brand to offer multiple formulas that offer what each stage needs.

Science Diet offers 42 kibble formulas for dogs in a variety of life stages, and Diamond Naturals offers 16 total diets that are split into age and size ranges. In order to see which brand is best for your pup, let’s break each formula down and compare Science Diet and Diamond Naturals head to head.

Puppy Formulas

Puppies require proper nutrition to grow into their best adult selves, meaning their diet will need to cater to healthy development. Their growing bodies need for higher amounts of calories and added nutrition, so it’s important to find a diet that offers just that. Now, let’s compare each brand and see what they have to offer!

Science Diet

Science Diet offers 6 puppy kibbles for the growing puppies in our home. They offer 2 diet options for large breed dogs, 1 dog food option for small breed puppies, and 1 diet option for the toy breed pups. The two recipes for large breed puppies include the flavors of lamb or chicken, with the lamb recipe being free of any wheat and corn.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals has 1 large breed puppy recipe, 1 small breed puppy recipe, and 1 diet that’s approved for all life stages, including puppies. Each diet has one flavor choice of chicken, and is not grain free.

Winner

Though Diamond Naturals offers a holistic approach to puppy food, Science Diet wins this round due to their multiple options for every kind of puppy. Science Diet offers a diet for toy breeds, small breeds, large breeds, and offers different flavor options.

Adult Formulas

Once our dogs outgrow their puppy stage, it’s time to transition to an adult kibble. Your dog will need a quality adult diet to help them thrive throughout the years. Our dogs are in their adult stage for most of their life. This means it’s important to make sure their diet is packed with the beneficial ingredients they need. Now that we know how important a quality adult diet is for our dogs, let’s see what each brand has to offer!

Science Diet

Science Diet offers 28 options of adult kibbles, each of which cater to dogs with all different needs. Their adult formulas offer an option for small breeds, large breeds, healthy mobility, sensitive stomach, joint support, dental health, grain free, and more! Each of these recipes are sold in store without a prescription, but they do have multiple prescription adult diets for dogs with medical conditions.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals offers 9 different adult kibbles, as well as a diet that is approved for all life stages. Among these diets are a variety of flavors, breed sizes, athletic ability, weight management, and even a grain free option.

Winner

While Science Diet has more formulas, we give the nod to Diamond Naturals here. Hill’s Science Diet is great if your pup has a sensitive stomach, or other vet diagnosed illness. But Diamond Naturals adult formulas are widely panned, and great for general dog nutrition. They are also slightly more budget friendly.

Senior Formulas

Similar to us, our senior pups will begin to slow down with age. They may experience more aches and pains than they would as a young adult dog, meaning they require a bit of extra care in their diets. Since our dogs deserve a senior diet that caters to their needs, let’s see what each diet has to offer in their senior formulas!

Science Diet

Science Diet has 5 kibble options for our aging canine friends. Five of the diets are for dogs aged 7 and up. One of the diets caters to smaller breeds that are 11 and up. Each senior formula includes omega fatty acids and minerals for joint health. They do not, however, mention any formulas with added glucosamine and chondroitin for added support.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals has 1 diet for senior dogs. They also carry 1 other diet that is created for dogs of all life stages. The all life stages diet is made with chicken and rice. Their senior diet substitutes rice for oatmeal and egg.

Winner

Science Diet wins another round for their variety of senior diets to choose from. Since Diamond Naturals only has 1 kibble option for senior furry friends. Science diet has a wider product offering depending on your dog’s size, which helps provide a balanced nutrition profile for your senior pup.

Canned Food

Sometimes our dogs crave some added flavor into their life. Whether a canned diet offers a special treat or extra hydration for your canine companion, canned food can serve many purposes to our pups. Let’s dive into each brand and see what canned options they offer.

Science Diet

Science Diet offers a whopping 16 canned food options. Each of these options varies in terms of life stages and flavors, and range in texture options as well. Some of the formulas come in the form of a patte, while others are served in a stew.

Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals has 3 canned diets to offer our furry friends. These canned diets come in the flavor of chicken, beef, and lamb, and are made for adult dogs.

Winner

Science Diet wins this round. Diamond Naturals only offers 3 different canned options for adult dogs only. It’s only fair that Science Diet takes the win with 16 different options depending on your pup’s size and flavor preferences.

Final Thoughts

With coming out on top in each round, it’s clear that Science Diet wins the comparison against Diamond Naturals. Though Diamond Naturals is a quality holistic dog food, they simply do not have much of a variety to offer in comparison with Science Diet or other brands.

Overall, either diet is a wonderful option for our beloved companions. Though Science Diet has more to offer in terms of variety, each of these diets are approved by us at the end of the day.