Research on Dog Food & Information

[Spiritwind]

Just curious what formulas of Royal Canin you think are low quality?

Some of their formulas are very good. In the past I have fed Royal Canin Natural Blend puppy and adult formulas... the ingredients are quite good, not the best out there, but not horrible.. far better than many other brands..

Royal Canina Natural Blend Adult:

Chicken meal, brown rice, chicken, oatmeal, brewers rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural chicken flavor, dried tomato pomace, flax, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, dried egg product, canola oil

Currently I feed most of my dogs Canidae and Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice formula. While I don't care for some of the Diamond products, and wouldn't feed them to my dogs.... Diamond Naturals has very good ingredients and my dogs have done very well with it.

[MS_PAWS]

Looks like I'm doing your home work

Chain linked companies
Royal Canin & the Prescription Royal Canin has two different ingredients
http://www.mars.com/global/Global+Br...oyal+canin.htm

Diamond was on Recall List
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/diamond12_05.html

Also food chain linked by Schell & Kampeter, Inc.

Canidae is their own private companies and I trust them

[Spiritwind]

Looks like I'm doing your home work

Chain linked companies
Royal Canin & the Prescription Royal Canin has two different ingredients
http://www.mars.com/global/Global+Br...oyal+canin.htm

Diamond was on Recall List
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/diamond12_05.html

Also food chain linked by Schell & Kampeter, Inc.

Canidae is their own private companies and I trust them

You certainly aren't doing my home work, I know what I am feeding my dogs...

Yeah.. the recall back in 2005, they are fine now. Also the recall was for a toxin found in the corn. Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice has no corn, wheat, soy or by-products in their ingredients which I listed below:

Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

[Giselle]

*sigh* One more time. Take a gander at the 5 ingredients again:
Canidae:
-Chicken Meal
-Turkey Meal
-Brown Rice
-White Rice
-Lamb Meal

VS

CSFTDLS:
-Chicken
-Turkey
-Chicken meal
-Ocean fish meal
-Cracked pearled barley

Final rundown: Canidae has 3 proteins and 2 grains in its first five ingredients. CSFTDLS has 4 protein and 1 grain in its first five. How is the former necessarily better than the latter? I fail to comprehend. Perhaps you should do my homework for me, too.

After several years of doing this, I will not argue which kibble is better than which kibble. I will defend what I feed my pups, however, if you so choose to attack my choices.

ETA: As for private companies (not sure which company is public or government-run, anyhow), Petcurean makes Go Natural. Several years ago, Go Natural endured a mass recall. Doesn't instill too much confidence in me.

[Jessika]

Final rundown: Canidae has 3 proteins and 2 grains in its first five ingredients. CSFTDLS has 4 protein and 1 grain in its first five. How is the former necessarily better than the latter? I fail to comprehend. Perhaps you should do my homework for me, too.

My only thought on why that would be considered not as good as Canidae is because JUST Chicken and Turkey, not Chicken Meal or Turkey Meal, includes water and will fall down in the ingredient list once the food is cooked. The ingredient list, however, is made BEFORE the food is cooked, hence why it would seem those first two ingredients have a larger volume to be #1 and #2 spots, because they contain water, which will be cooked out in the cooking process.

Meals, though (Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal), contain no water and will remain the same through the cooking process.

At least that is my understanding, so please correct me if I'm wrong

EDIT: And MS_PAWS, just a helpful tip here, it's definitely OK to educate people, but it is certainly not ok to appear to attack them for their personal choices. I know you're just trying to help but maybe be a little less harsh in your replies. I know some people don't like seeing a "good" and "bad" list of foods and seeing their food fall under the "bad" list, so some may take offense to that, when I think it's meant as a learning/educating purposes, but we all just need to remember... these dogs are loved. They are being fed something, and regardless of what food that may or may not be, it's better than being fed nothing at all! But more importantly, they all have loving homes and families.

If I was judged by what I fed my pets... I must be a terrible person since my kitty is eating IAMS along with the rest of my in-law's cats... it's very hard to separate him from the food when they free-feed their cats, and I can't expect them to change their habits just for me, so I gave in and he's doing just fine, albeit a lot more shedding than when he was on Felidae lol. His coat is still as glossy as ever, and I am always getting comments on how he is one of the softest cats people have ever pet. My in-laws have around eight cats, nine including mine, and they just can't afford the higher quality cat food. I'll admit, it's a bit pricey, but at least they stick to one brand instead of just buying what's on sale every month.

[MS_PAWS]

Ok let me explain something here, I'm trying to teach you what is the value about dog or cat food here. I'm not attacking anybody I'm just a opinionated person lol

If I tell you that Iams is not a good source of food and you feed your kitty that anyways after I tell you the down low stuff. I don't wanna be bothered

I'm simply doing my best to tell you the bottom line about pets food! I can't twist your arm make you feed your pet food something BETTER

[Kfamr]

Jennifer, I respect you and it's nice to see that you are interested in dog foods. However, say that I fed a low quality food and someone spoke to me/tried to "educate me" like you have here (which I've yet to see anyone in this thread that feeds low quality foods) I would most likely be highly offended and not listen to a word you said.

There are different ways to "educate" people sucessfully.


I agree with Giselle when she states Chicken Soup For The Dog Lovers Soul is a good food. Yes, Diamond products were recalled. They are longer recalled. If we stopped using every single product that has been recalled we'd have little to nothing left in this world. A good company corrects the problem and they have.

[Spiritwind]

Ok let me explain something here, I'm trying to teach you what is the value about dog or cat food here. I'm not attacking anybody I'm just a opinionated person lol

If I tell you that Iams is not a good source of food and you feed your kitty that anyways after I tell you the down low stuff. I don't wanna be bothered

I'm simply doing my best to tell you the bottom line about pets food! I can't twist your arm make you feed your pet food something BETTER

Ok.. so maybe you have posted about this before and I never saw the posts.... So just out of curiosity.. what makes you an authority on dog food? What are your qualifications to tell people what they should or should not be feeding their dogs? Do you have any real proof to back up your claims?

In the 13yrs I've had dogs (I've had dogs all my life as family pets, but 13 yrs when I've had my own dogs) I've feed a ton of different foods.

Back in 1994 when I got my first Collie he was fed Purina Puppy Chow, recommended by the breeder. Of course I was 12 at this time, and didn't know any better so that is what he ate... though I always got complemented on what a great coat the dog had and people always asked me what I fed because they wanted their dog to look like mine!!... then I know over the years I fed Pedigree, and Purina ONE, and Diamond Premium Adult, then by the time I was 18 and really into showing I did a lot more dog food research. At one time I fed my dogs Wellness (which I do NOT like.. and neither did my dogs.. they did horribly on it!! and I personally think its way over priced for its quality, JMO).. Royal Canin Natural Blend, Pro Plan, Canidae and Diamond Naturals.... the list goes on an on... I have fed Chicken soup for the dog lovers soul as well, when I lived in Ohio, and the dogs did well.. its much harder to find in my area where I live now.

My first Collie (who was an 85lb rough tri male) lived to be 12 1/2 yrs old and was never sick a day in his life... he wasn't on any medications, other than joint supplements, the only time he ever spent at the vet was to be neutered or for annual check ups... the food he ate most of his life was Purina ONE. His BIG old body just wore out on him..

I currently have 8 Collies and 4 of them eat Canidae and are doing great... look wonderful are healthy with great coats... the other 4 are on Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice, and look WONDERFUL! They are healthy, active, in good weight and their coats look amazing. They eat diamond because that is what those 4 do best one... I've tried them on other foods and they don't look half as good as they do when eating Diamond Naturals.

My last litter (In 2006) was raised on a mixture of Diamond naturals lamb and rice and Iams.... the pups did great.. though I prefer Diamond, the place I bought the food kept running out of diamond puppy so I mixed with iams.

I fully agree... people need to feed what works BEST for their pet, not what someone else says is good food to feed. All animals are not the same and what works for one, will not always work for another.... I'm happy with the results I get from the food I feed. I think my dogs look their best and they are very happy and healthy!.


Janna

**Just wanted to add... diamond naturals has, what I feel to be very good ingredients, and like I said its the food 4 of my dogs do best on.. and the price is very good ~$22 for 40lbs, and the dogs do very well on it. The ingredients are better than iams or pro plan and its cheaper than those brands. Canidae how we get it (not from a store but in bulk from a distributer) at the end after the breeder program rebates etc.. the total price per bag is about $28 per 40lb bag.... and its delivered right to the house.