I'm pretty sure Royal Canin "breed specific" formulas are just a marketing gimmick.. and a good one at that because i'm sure a lot of people have been sucked in by it.

RC food
 

Yeah, I was sucked in too until I got wise to what is good for dogs!

I don't think chicken meal mixed with corn meal, rice and brown rice a healthy diet for my dog. Chicken meal has been cooked to the point of being void of the natural enzymes and nutrients that would be available in it's natural state. Later on down the list of ingredients you will find the supplemented vitamins and minerals that try to make up for what is missing in the main ingredients of the food. I just don't choose to feed my dog according to what is convenient for the dog food industry. They can mix up the ingredients all they want but it's still made for shelf life not for the good health of the dog.

A few years ago I tried RC,the only thing it did for my dogs was make one of them itch and the others fat (I was feeding the prescribed amount). We did Iams for a year,dont shoot me,I now read labels better.
I have several ages and several sized dogs so finding something that they can all eat is tuff. Wellness was not tolerated by the poodles,made them very ill. So now everyone is eating Blue Buffalo,and doing great. The little special vitamin bits that most dogs dont like,my yorkie loves. My dogs are ages 15yrs to 1yr,weight 50+ lbs to 5lbs. I use the small breed sized bits that doesnt come in a REAL big bag so they go through 2 bags a month at $30 per bag. But I can pronounce and identify every ingredient in it.

It sounds like your a raw advocate? All kibble is cooked.
Even those who home cook and pick out special foods have to add supplements to their dogs meal, I'm not sure why someone would be against a company adding vitamins and minerals. I'm not suggesting that you use Royal Canin, but for those who are using it and finding that their dogs are doing well on it, I'm trying to reassure them it's a good food, it may not be your cup of tea, but I think too many just don’t like it because it’s made by a big company. They do a lot of testing on the recipes, and I really believe they are trying to make a healthy, safe, affordable food that yorkies will eat.

Personally, I love Royal Canin..all my dogs are on it, all the babies start out on it, and go to their new homes on it. As my dogs age(4 yrs and older), I supplement RC with Vets Choice Little Bites Holistic Food, for joints, bones, and immune system. All of my dogs love RC and the ones that are on the Vets Choice added to the RC, love that mix as well. I feed only hard kibble, for dental health. Have never had skin or coat issues. Felt fortunate when all the recalls went out for tainted dog food several years ago...Neither RC nor Vets Choice were involved in that! (There was one speciality pro diet that RC distributed thru vets that had a recall issue but it was short and sweet.)

Yes, all kibble is cooked at least three times. All the ingredients are cooked at least three times to make sure that no natural nutrient or enzyme is left alive. It's all about shelf life. I don't care if it is a big or a small company. If the company is making food that will last for months at a time on a shelf then the natural nutrients and enzymes are no longer in the ingredients and that is why synthetic vitamins and minerals have to be added to replace what is taken out by the cooking processes. Most dog food companies do not seek to make the most nutritious food available for the dog. Their first priority is how they can make a food that will last a very long time on a shelf. They can put what ever sounds good in the ingredient list but it is the synthetic vitamins and minerals that your dogs are living on.

We all have to decide what we will feed ourselves, our families and our pets. I don't eat processed foods, I don't eat genetically engineered fruits and vegetables and I don't eat meat that has been injected with steroids, antibiotics and hormones. The food industry has been changing the foods we eat for quite some time and then people wonder why American's are so sick and overweight. The pet food industry has a head start in producing food that packages well but delivers an inferior product for consumption. A product that is far from what our bodies were intended to consume.

That is why I am against feeding synthetic vitamins and minerals to my dog.

Royal Canin was part of the big 2007 recall with melamine contamination and quite a few of their products were involved.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/script...LUTEN)&pet=Dog

RC food
 

Gracielove:
I have not heard of Stella & Chewy's. Is it raw and what are the main ingredients? Thank you.

Stella & Chewy's is a raw product that is available in frozen and dehydrated form. If you do a google search you will find it. I have recently started ordering Paw Naturaw frozen mini rolls through the Local Harvest . com website.
Gracie refused even the best of kibbles her first year. She loves raw and has done very well on it.

Stella and Chewy's.
 

Thank you Gracielove. I will look at it. So glad your furbabe does so well on it.
These dogs can be hard to please sometimes. LOL.

I want the best for my furbabies, but I've learned the hard way that the best can backfire in your face. I very slowly switched our 11 year old german shorthair pointer mix and our two boxer, ages 8 and 1 1/2 yrs. to a better food. Soon as the diet got to where my 11 year old was getting more of the new better than the old food, all hell broke lose. Actually thought I was going to lose her :-( Doc had me switch back to the old food immediately and within 2-3 days, she was well on her way to recovering. So, needless to say, I do what works for my furbabies. I did have Jazzie on RC when she first came to us cause it's the only thing I could even get her to nibble at, but once she settled in, I very slowly (am still in the process of doing it, almost done) switched her over to Wellness Super 5 Mix For Small Breed Complete Health. I've been switching her over for a month now and so far, so good. Mags is on this as well and I've never had any issues with it. It's a holistic dog food made with human grade food. I hope you find what works for your lil one, best of luck to you.