Hill's Prescription Diet w/d


W/d is suitable for the management of a range of conditions:

Obesity Prevention
Fibre responsive diseases, eg Diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia,colitis and constipation
Lymphangiectasia
Pancreatitis with hyperlipidaemia
Struvite urolithiasis in dogs

Let's start with a short explanation for the above conditions, so we can understand better the way w/d diet works in these.

Obesity is an obvious one, although the emphasis is on PREVENTION in this case, not the treatment. The diet is suitable for maintaining the optimal bodyweight once achieved by other means/diets.

Diabetes is also a well known condition, usually caused by the insufficient production of insulin in the pancreas, which is a short chain protein that helps the cells in the body to pick sugar up from the bloodstream. Glucose is the main energy source for the cells to work. So in diabetes there is a lot of sugar in the blood but the cells cannot take it up due to lack of the insulin. (There are other forms of Diabetes mellitus but this is the most common and most important for us).

Colitis is the inflammation of the large bowels

Constipation is self explanatory

Lympangiectasia is a condition, where the lymph vessels, especially the tiny ones in and around the intesines are dilated, therefore the flow of the lymp is slowed down. The importance of the lympatic circulation lies in the fact that it is the lymp that picks up and carries lipids from the intestines. Lipids are important nutrients themselves and also serve as solvents for other nutrients eg certain vitamins (A,D,E and K), so if the lymph circulation is impaired, the uptake of these important factors also suffers from it. This condition is also a factor in protein losing enteropathies, where the patient is losing a great amount of vital proteins through the intestines.

Pancreatitis with hyperlipidaemia is probably known to some of the readers. It is an inflammatory disease of the pancreas, that can be very severe, sometimes life threatening. As it is the pancreas that produces important digestive enzymes, including the ones that digest the fat in the food, its lack of function results in impaired lipid digestion. Therefore the fat molecules that hasn't been broken down to basic parts appear in the bloodstream in a higher concentration. This poses a risk for the vessels and lack of available "building stones" for the cells.

Struvite urolithiasis in dogs is a condition where bladder stones start to form, causing secondary problems. This type of bladder stones (struvite) is soluble in acidic pH.



Now let's see how this diet can help in these conditions.

- w/d has reduced energy and fat levels, therefore can help to avoid weight gain (obesity) and also spares the body of dealing with the digestion of fat (pancreatitis, lymphangiectasia).

- The diet has increased fibre content, the advantages are as follow:

Obesity: bulking effect, helps to feel full, avoiding hunger

Diabetes: fibre releases carbohydrates slowly as being digested, therefore maintains a more steady blood glucose level

Colitis: fibre changes (normalizes) the time it takes for the food to pass the intestines, in colitis it usually means slower transit, more time for absorption of nutrients and water =less diarrhoea.

Constipation: again, normalizing transit time, in constipation it means faster transit and fibre also retains some water=softer faeces

- L-carnitine supplemented, which is a factor that increases the conversion of fat to energy, helping to reduce lipid levels and maintain a lean body mass

- Reduced magnesium, phosphorus, protein. These are the elemental particles of struvite. (protein providing the ammonium for the crystals)

-Urine acidifiers to help the prevention of struvite stone formation.


Please note that this diet is NOT suitable for puppies, pregnant or lactating bitches or weak, underweight dogs due to the reduced calorie and fat.