Is Hill's Prescription Diet ethical and cruelty-free?

—/100 EthiCompare ethics score

Not really — Hill's Prescription Diet fails 3 of the 4 ethics signals we track, including its animal-testing position, and holds no third-party certification we can verify.

Hill's Prescription Diet, a brand of Colgate-Palmolive, offers veterinary-exclusive therapeutic pet foods with strong clinical backing but faces ethical scrutiny due to its parent company's animal testing practices, absence of vegan options, and limited public sustainability commitments.

The evidence, signal by signal

Cruelty-freeflagged

Conducts animal feeding trials on dogs and cats for nutritional research; parent company Colgate-Palmolive engages in animal testing for some products.

Vegan optionsunverified

No vegan or plant-based products offered; all formulas contain animal ingredients.

Sells in mainland Chinaflagged

Selling through mainland Chinese retail has historically triggered post-market animal testing.

Third-party certifiedflagged

No independent certifications recorded on the products we track.

Public pledges: Parent company aims for net-zero emissions by 2040 and 50% plastic waste reduction by 2030; packaging uses recycled materials but no brand-specific public targets.

Scored with our public methodology. Profile last updated 2026-09-27.

More on Hill's Prescription Diet

Is Hill's Prescription Diet ethical? FAQs

Is Hill's Prescription Diet cruelty-free?+

Conducts animal feeding trials on dogs and cats for nutritional research; parent company Colgate-Palmolive engages in animal testing for some products.

Does Hill's Prescription Diet have vegan products?+

No vegan or plant-based products offered; all formulas contain animal ingredients.

Does Hill's Prescription Diet sell in mainland China?+

Selling through mainland Chinese retail has historically triggered post-market animal testing.

What is Hill's Prescription Diet's ethics score?+

Hill's Prescription Diet averages —/100 across 0 products we score on certifications, sourcing, labour, packaging and transparency.

What are the best alternatives to Hill's Prescription Diet?+

See our full list of ethical alternatives to Hill's Prescription Diet for better-scoring options in the same categories.