If it isn't broken, don't fix it!
There is nothing wrong with feeding Royal Canin, especially if your dog is thriving on it. :smile:

 

It has low quality ingredients, so where there might not be any issues now that doesn't mean there won't be long term internal issues from it later. I would definitely change to something of better quality. Wellness, Taste of the Wild, Orijen, Solid Gold, etc. Basically feeding what you're feeding daily is kind of like you eating McDonald's on a daily basis. You may be fine for awhile but long term it isn't the best of food choices.

 

I would definately switch off the RC. My gsd was on that for about 6 months and was doing absolutely wonderful on it. When I finally got the internet (I know, were slow with the technology) I began researching dog foods and was shocked to learn about the ingredients in Royal Canin. For what it costs there are so many better foods out there with far more superior ingredients. BoxerMommie mentioned some great choices.

 

I have a friend that has somewhere around 30 German Shepherds, not including the occasional litter. She travels to Europe frequently, shows her dogs and is very active in the Schutzhund world. She buys a pallet of Royal Canin German Shepherd 24 once a month and supplements with some meat, as well. Her dogs are healthy, gorgeous and are very successful in the ring.

If the food was complete junk there is no way she would be feeding to her extremely expensive dogs with years of training put into them.

 

.... If the food was complete junk there is no way she would be feeding to her extremely expensive dogs with years of training put into them.

Did this person do any research on canine nutrition?

I've always wondered why breeders of $2,000 pups (where the breeding stock has all health clearances) feed crappy foods such as Blue Seal and Purina. I don't know anything about Royal Canin so I can't comment on that. but I'd be curious to know whether this friend of yours did any research.

 

I get your points....however, I KNOW she has researched nutrition, because she and I have had conversations about RAW and supplements. She used to feed raw and had a gulper, from what I understand, and he was blocked according to the vet X-rays. That scared her it seems and she stopped feeding whole chicken parts with the bones. She then had a pup that got Salmonella from raw turkey, so she started lightly cooking the meat before feeding it. She also uses Salmon oil.

Yes, there are better foods than Royal Canin, but there are plenty of dogs that are thriving on it, so that was my point.

 

I'm not doubting your words by any means so please don't be offended if I seem to be arguing your point.

If your friend did research on canine nutritional needs, why in the world would she choose Royal Canin 24? Unless her research was conducted on Royal Canin's website, I don't see how she would conclude that Royal Canin is a quality product.

24 does not contain a single whole meat, wheat gluten, powdered cellullose, dried beet pulp, among other very inexpensive ingredients. It's extremely expensive for what's in it so it makes a poor value.

From personal experience working at a pet nutrition store, I have never once had a customer that praised Royal Canin with their dog thriving on it. I have however been told how much better their dogs were doing after switching from RC to a better quality kibble.

 

I do understand your point, however there's plenty of dogs that thrive on Dog Chow and Iams and Eukanuba too but there's no way I'd consider them good foods or encourage someone to stick with them either.

I would still recommend switching from Royal Canin, it's poor quality and for the price tag attached to it you can get a MUCH higher quality food for the same price (or less).

 

How does a dog get salmonella? Aren't they made to handle that with their stomach acids being so powerful?

 

Yes, they are designed to handle that. What happens is that a dog with tummy problems is automatically assigned salmonella because its easy for the vet to say so. They can run tests and find salmonella bacteria in the dog's GI tract and automatically assume that salmonella is the cause of whatever problem exists.

 

What would be considered an 'unbalanced' raw diet? I feed only meat, bone and organ and my dog looks great. I took him to the vet and they said he was in great shape but when I said I feed raw they gave me a huge list of dangers and then told me to go to science diet puppy or RC collie.

I think one of the biggest problems with RC (the ingredients kind of suck in my opinion, but there are many worse brands) is the breed specific formulas. Why on earth would a collie need a different type of food than a german shepherd when both breeds were developed less than 300 years ago? It's a gimmick designed so owners feel they are feeding their dog a 'special food' just for their dog and then RC can jack up the prices even though it's near the exact same ingredients as their regular adult dog food.

 

What would be considered an 'unbalanced' raw diet? I feed only meat, bone and organ and my dog looks great.

You are already feeding a naturally balanced diet. If you fed chicken quarters only, that would be unbalanced:biggrin:

 

If you feed a dog a diet of mostly raw meat, some bone, and some organs from a variety of animals, its pretty much impossible to UNBALANCE a raw diet.

 

This is simply an assumption but people that are not educated with raw feeding may feed their dogs like they would feed themselves, lean, boneless cuts of meat with no bone so you end up with a lethargic, dull coated animal with nutritional defiencies.

 

Or they feed only bony chicken, no organs, no red meat.

If your friend is adding meat to the kibble that is the key to the good health of the dogs. I was going through some links on a website and read a page by a vet who was interested to be seeing healthy dogs who were fed KnB according to the owners. Turned out those healthy dogs were being fed KnB plus scraps of fresh meat. Dogs fed just the KnB did not appear as healthy.

 

She might as well save money by replacing RC with diamond natural and keep supplementing with meat. Actually I think diamond natural is a tiny step up:smile:

 

Jill, was your question answered?

Most people on this forum will recommend that you upgrade to a higher quality kibble. Although your lab has done well so far, it's a bit like a teenager who only eats McDonalds - she may look cute now, but it's going to catch up with her one day. There's a lot of room for improvement, and you can jump up to the top of the heap with Orijen or Acana, or you can go mid-grade (and mid-price) like Wellness.

And the longer you stay on this forum, the more likely it is that you'll move to raw. It may sound crazy now, but most of us found benefits far and above even the best kibble.

 

Perhaps my posts were misunderstood? I mentioned that I have had many different clients that have fed RC , not just my one friend with the large kennel of German Shepherds, and the dogs have lived and aged well.

I have some clients that feed Diamond Naturals and their dogs look very good, too, so you may be onto something there!