Originally posted by tricollie4me
K9Soul, don't mean to highjack the thread but could you tell me about your experiences with choosing/using Royal Canin?
Sorry for the following long story, but I have to make everything a detailed essay

Tasha was originally on what my RB collie, Willie was on, which was Pro Plan (Turkey and Barley formula). When Will was older, he started having some major bowel and stomach upset suddenly to his dog foods, starting with Nutromax, and the vet told me it wasn't uncommon for some dogs to develop allergies or sensitivities to foods as they got older. I would move him to a different food, and after awhile he'd develop the same problems on that one. He had been on California Natural, Innova, and other high grade foods, I even tried raw, but eventually he got sick on them all. One day, on my own in the pet store looking at labels, I decided to try the Pro Plan Turkey and Barley formula because it looked very bland in ingredients. That was what he finally could tolerate without getting sick on.

When Tommy joined the family, and Willie passed a few months afterwards, I wanted to look for a food more appropriate for younger, higher energy dogs with more protein and less grains. I went to both PetCo and PetsMart, and Royal Canin Natural Blend was the only food in either store without grains as a main ingredient or a lot of corn, starchy products. They've been on it ever since and have done really well on it. It is actually also a reasonably priced food for its quality too. It is considered human grade, which means all the ingredients that go into it are fit for human consumption , so actual chicken meat goes in instead of beaks and ground up feathers or whatnot.

That's their main meal, but for treats I try to give them mostly natural things such as carrots, meat, (cooked) eggs, cheese etc. I told my vet this at our last appointment and he was pleased that they were getting high protein, low carb treats. (He's very anti-milkbone).

Anyway, sorry again for the essay. I somehow find it impossible to answer in few words .