Kinda disappointed in Royal Canin
 

Changed Sunny's food to Royal Canin about two weeks ago. I was excited for her, this is "the" best food for my Yorkie, or so I thought! Well she doesnt really think so. After doing some research, hearing how other Yorkies just gobbled up this food, she is like meeeh to this food. She is supposed to be eating 2/3 cup everyday, she barely eats 1/3 every day and a half...she is just not into it. She doesnt get many snacks, nothing that would make her not chow down anyway.

She hasnt lost any weight, but she hasnt really gained any more. At 18 wks, has she kinda evened out on the weight gain? Her last visit to the vet about two weeks ago she was at a little over 3 lbs.

I guess maybe its time to look into another food....damn the Royal Canin bag isnt even half empty!

She is a happy, healthy, energetic puppy. i think she really just eats her food when she is totally famished....the theory, she'll eat when she hungry. Not too worried about her intake, but still, I am watching closely.

Bobbi

when I got my yorkie i got came with a bag of royal canine...i thought it was a good food too until I started looking at others and, Sadie wasn't a fan of it. She was a VERY finicky little girl. I tried many different foods. Finally ended up with Canidae,,...they change the formula and I wasn't happy about that so I changed .....AGAIN! a year later we brought home Lillie, she was sent home with nutra puppy....She ate that for a year....Changed Sadie to the adult formula....then I read THAT one wasn't good....so I did some research and ended up with Merricks Grammies Pot Pie....they LOVE IT! (THANK GOD!) they have been on this now for a few years...I have no complaints about this one....5 start food made with human grade products....We just got a little yorkie boy a month ago and he loves it too...as for the bag you have now...maybe the store will let you take it back and exchange it for something else?

Yeah, most stores have a money back guarentee on
their dog food, i would try that.
I was also feeding oscar royal canin and althogh he
did like it was making him really itchy so now
after trying a couple of foods
he is eating evangers pheasant & brown rice
which he eats with gusto...

Never even thought about the money back thing, until I read those replies. I just got home from the Pet store and exchanged her dog food to Solid Gold, Just a WEE BIT. First ingredient is Bison....talked to several people who feed their pets this food. All raved....what the heck, I can always return it!

Bobbi

I don't think there's a "best" food, you have to find out what right for your dog. Don't forget they do go through growth spurts and some days they are hungrier than others. I think it's important to find a healthy food that they like, but if you change every time they get finicky, you'll soon be playing food roulette! That said, I did choose Royal Canin because it was the only premium food I coud get him to eat! Hope you find something that you're both happy with!

Well said nancy1999.
I agree.....

I couldn't agree more. What works for one dog definitely may not work for another. I don't think it's wise to just feed your dog what other people suggest because of this. Some dogs actually do a LOT better on a grain-enriched diet, whilst a lot of people squawk at the grain diet. It depends on the dog. :thumbup:

Personally, I think the Solid Gold is much better than Royal Canin. Hope it works out for you. It should be a great food if you little one likes it.

When mine were pups one of the foods often reccommended on here was Chicken soup for the dogs soul. Mine would not touch it. You have to find what works for your dog

:thumbup:

I agree. Personally, I am not a fan of Royal Canin. I just don't like some of the ingredients in it, but then again I've always been a food fanatic and am a true believer of the all natural foods and treats. Those type of higher end foods don't always agree with every dog though.

I fed Solid Gold to Sasha when she was just over a year old and she never had any issues with it. She eventually became a picky eater when I began learning about the higher end foods and I went through quite a battle with her before finding a food that she actually enjoys. Like someone else said, just be careful when changing foods so much. They can become very picky!

After getting tons of free samples and mixing different brands with our RC, we are now stuck with RC and TOTW. They love it and eat it right up.

Gracie refused all kibble as a puppy. I tried so many different kinds in desperation. I started reading labels and was amazed to see how much grain was in so many of the dog foods. Grain flavored with glucose go get them to want to eat it. RC is a grain based food. They add some things to entice the animals to eat it and it does have vitamins added. Someone on YT said to just starve her and she would eventually eat the food. Well, I guess that would be true of any of us wouldn't it? Just starve ourselves and we will eventually eat anything! She ate but only when she was awfully hungry but she was thin and her fur was not good. I finally put her on Stella & Chewy's. She loves it and has done very well on it.
A dog can eat grain based food that has vitamins and minerals added and do alright on it but I don't feel comfortable feeding my dog cow food. It's not what their bodies were intended for. I really think RC is being deceptive in saying this food was made for a Yorkshire Terrier. All their foods are basically the same ingredients though the size of the kibble may vary.

Not sure what you mean by grain based, but RC does have more chicken than grain. There are some grain based foods with grain as the primary ingrediant, and I would avoid those. I believe their foods are breed with a certain breed in mind, they understand some of the special needs of the yorkie and have worked with the YTCA testing their foods.

RC food
 

I am a great fan of Blue Buffalo Chicken/Rice kibble. Good ingredients and vitamins etc. Their Blue Bites Chicken soft treats are good too. RC is not that great a food.

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.