[Nancy1999]

Judy, you can tell by the ingredient list the product has changed, just look at the first three ingredients. For him to say that they are nutritionally equivalent, is vastly misleading. Lets face it, all dog foods are "nutritionally equivalent" the government demands them to be, they have to have a certain amount of xy and z, but that doesn't mean that they are all the same quality.

Old Ingredients

Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Brown Rice, Chicken Fat, Chicken, Corn Gluten Meal, Dried Egg Powder, Barley, Natural Chicken Flavor, Cellulose, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Anchovy Oil, Dried Brewers Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Soya Oil, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Salmon Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Choline Chloride, Dried Brewers Yeast Extract (source of Mannan-oligosaccharides), Taurine, Vitamins [DL-Alpha Tocopherol (source of Vitamin E), Inositol, Niacin Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), D-Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin A Acetate, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement], Magnesium Oxide, Borage Oil, Trace Minerals [Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate], Glucosamine Hydrochloride, L-Carnitine, DL-Methionine, Marigold Extract (Calendula officinalis L.), Tea (Green Tea Extract), Chondroitin Sulfate, preserved with Natural Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Citric Acid and Rosemary Extract.


New ingredients:

Brewers rice, brown rice, chicken by-product meal, chicken fat, wheat gluten, corn gluten meal, corn, natural flavors, powdered cellulose, dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, grain distillers dried yeast, vegetable oil, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, sodium silico aluminate, fructooligosaccharides, sodium tripolyphosphate, salt, taurine, hydrolyzed yeast, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), inositol, niacin supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), D-calcium pantothenate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], DL-methionine, choline chloride, magnesium oxide, L-lysine, glucosamine hydrochloride, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), trace minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, copper proteinate], tea, L-carnitine, chondroitin sulfate, rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid

Do you see how chicken meal, use to be the first ingredient? The US requires that the ingredient that weighs the most is the first listed. In the new product chicken meal the third on the list and even more importantly, instead of using "chicken meal" they are using "chicken meal by-products". Chicken meal products is not the same quality as chicken meal, you can read about this in other places then just those sites that hate dog food. It varies greatly from batch to batch because they can use many things in it beside the actual muscle meat, it's a lesser quality protein than muscle meat and it is harder on the kidneys to process.

It sounds like he thinks the only thing that changed was the number system, "We were the only country using the “number system”, like Yorkie 28. It was confusing to consumers who didn’t have any idea what that number meant." Twenty-eight use to refer to the amount of protein, and on the side of the bag, it would also say 28% crude protein, while now it contains 26% protein, so that is a nutritional difference. Not a huge difference, but a definite difference, and because the protein is less quality, yes, that is a big difference. Honestly, I want to believe the company, but I can't blindly trust, when I do know that they aren't telling the truth. Two products can be nutritionally equivalent, have the same amount of vitamins minerals, protein fats, and carbohydrates, but be vastly different health wise.

The thing about nutrition, is animals do adapt to poor diets rather well, if they are not getting enough of a vitamin or mineral, their bodies learn to use it more carefully. I do not think the changes RC made will be something that you can easily see in a few years. I'm more concerned about long term problems of kidney's because they are using a poorer quality of protein. If this were a food people could pick up at the grocery store, and had the price to match, I wouldn't think it was so horrible, (although, I wouldn't choose it), but the price is still one of the highest out there, but their ingredients have gone down hill.