Better alternative to Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Canine Gastrointestinal Low Fat??
 

My doctor suggested Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Canine Gastrointestinal Low Fat food for my baby to possibly help with some digestive issues she may have. Is there a better alternative to this that doesn't have by-products in it?? Thanks for your help!

Answer to your question: No! This product is one of the very best prescription diets you can provide for your pup. Royal Canin products are scientifically formulated, and then tested extensively to provide evidenced based clinical trials on dogs and cats before it is ever available to consumers. Their quality control is second to none.

Even with the chicken-by products in it?? I was fine with the food until I read the label and saw that. We have always given her hollistic organic food with no by products in them and for some reason I just don't feel okay giving her this. I'm looking for a food that is easily digestible (possibly for pancreatitis but we aren't sure yet) that doesn't contain by products. Can anyone give me any suggestions besides home cooking?

Would you be able to share the name of holistic organic food that you have been giving? I have been feeding Wellness but because of the by-products that you are talking about I'm trying to make the switch to home cooking. At the moment I do not know of any dry food brands that do not contain by-products (even on the five star dog food list). However, you might like "The Honest Kitchen: All Natural Dog Food - Dehydrated Pet Food | The Honest Kitchen . There are no by products in this food. I tried it for my yorkie and she loved it but her poops were very large on it so I didn't continue with it.

What do you REALLY know about "by-products"? Are you thinking hooves and horns and teeth ground up and added to the food?
Today, pet owners want to be more informed when it comes to what they feed their pets. But there’s also a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to ingredients like protein sources, grains, fillers, gluten and by-products. So what do these ingredients really mean for your pet? Let us tell you.

Contrary to popular marketing messages, chicken listed first on a label is not an indication that the diet contains more protein. Ingredients must appear in descending order of their weight in the diet. The total weight of the ingredient includes the water content. And since chicken meal is chicken with water and fat removed, it weighs less than chicken but actually can contain a higher percentage of protein

What Do You Need to Know About By-Products?

Misinformation about by-products in pet food is widespread, and many people believe that by-products are bad for pets. The Association of American Feed Control (AAFCO) defines chicken by-products as the ground, clean parts of the chicken, which include internal organs, bone/cartilage and other parts. Royal Canin only uses high-quality by-products, like hearts, livers and lungs. And when processed properly, by-products provide valuable nutrients for the pet. They are excellent sources of quality protein, vitamins and minerals and can help contribute to a balanced nutritional profile. At Royal Canin, we take great care in selecting and processing by-products for our feline and canine diets. We only use suppliers whose offerings are up to our strict standards, and our intensive food testing program double checks both quality and safety in our raw materials and finished goods.

Thank you for this! Honestly when I hear by-products that is exactly the first thing that comes to my head. I was thinking feet and beaks and bones and who knows what else. Reading all that I now realize I was severely misinformed.

There are many, many people that think the very same thing! Unless your particular pup has some adverse reaction to an ingredient in RC, this food is completely nutritious and totally balanced, with all aspects of your pups needs, being more than adequately met. The grains used are also powdered so they are completely digested and nutritionally beneficial.

I have tried innova evo small bites, wellness, blue buffalo, and a few others. We usually stick with the innova or sometimes the wellness because the innova can sometimes be harder to find. The 5 star dog food list is always what I have went by when I was looking for things but I didn't realize wellness had by products in it. Now after reading this thread I feel like I was very wrong about by products.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this for me YorkieMom! I'm going to go ahead and start her on the RC now and I don't feel guilty about it anymore! I definitely wasn't well informed on this at all.

RC is a good food, and a good brand. But if you're just dealing with general issues, nothing serious (i.e. pancreatitis, etc), I wouldn't think you'd necessarily NEED to be on an RX food. I'd be curious why exactly your vet is suggesting this.

You could probably find a somewhat simple food with ingredients you are happier with. But a lot of the newer holisitic foods aren't all they're cracked up to be anyway.

It is for now just general digestive issues. Is there a simpler food for general digestive issues that you would suggest I could try before this? He at first thought it could be pancreatitis but after a couple tests he doesn't think that this is the case. So he doesn't think she NEEDs to be on it right now and he gave me a medication for her to take for a few days and if not better in a week or two then he wants me to start the RX food.

My Zoey is on Royal Canin Gastro Low Fat canned and kibble. I read the ingredients and was very unhappy but she loves the food and has not had any problems with her tummy since being on the food. I would suggest you give it a try.

:thumbup: Totally agree! RC is an excellent choice for both regular and RX foods. Mine are all on the Hydrolized Protien formula and have finally stopped a lll their previous issues.

Sometimes we as people think that we know what is best for our dogs when really we don't because there systems are different then ours and require different things so we need to leave that up to vets and vet nutritionists. If you are worried about it you could talk to a vet nutritionist.

Pao had just a bout of pancreatitis and after being in the ER on IV fluid for a couple of days, blood panels, xrays done is sent home with meds and Royal Canin prescription food. He won't eat the Hills i/d and the vet tech told me most finicky dogs will eat the Royal Canin Low Fat Gastro food and she was right. He loves it.

Pancreatitis can be a serious issue. Dogs can die from an acute pancreatitis. If your dog has had one, please be careful in what you are feeding to prevent another attack. We have fed Royal Canin for about a week now. His stomach has settled and I can actually see him feeling a lot better and happier.

I totally agree. I feel like I'm always worried about doing the best thing for her since she can't talk and tell me what she needs. After talking to all you ladies about this I now feel so much better about it and if the vet recommends her starting the RC next week then I trust him.

IMO sounds like a good plan! There are a lot of people with different opinions regarding food. It's fine to try different things unless there's a medical reason. Then it's best to use a highly tested food to address the issue :)

After doing a few tests today he thinks it could be just common digestive issues. He mentioned pancreatitis as a possibility but after looking more closely he said he isn't sold on that being it. She is on medication for the week and he will decide about the food next week. He told me to feed her regular food until then. So we will wait it out. But I def don't have a problem switching her if he thinks I should! Thanks everyone for your concern and advice. I really appreciate it!!

Of course they recommend that. That bag they sell for $80 - $90 costs the Vet about $45, so why wouldn't the vet recommend it. Ingredient-wise they are the cheapest foods in terms of ingredient cost. Royal Canin as a whole uses the lowest-cost ingredients but charges obscene prices.

If the dog doesn't have a specific high-risk problem, I would try Pro Plan SSS, Annamaet Option or Farmina N&D Wild Cod.

The Vet is just wanting you to drink the Kool-Aid.

Seriously vets do not make a lot of money on prescription dog food......... Makes me sad when people think it is all just for the money.

I pay about $35.00 for the bag of kibble and about the same for one case of canned RC. The case lasts several months. One can feeds four days. I paid more than that for raw food when she was eating that.

All I know
 

Is what works.....the vets are vets ...and know more than we do , that's why we go to them when we have problems. My DH and I know we almost lost our one year old Zoey just last week....due to "gastric issues" we took her to ER vet early one morning after walking the floor with her all night, in morn started vomiting with dirareah ,they gave her IVS a shot for nausea and antibiotic. She was better for a few hours then went down hill that night till by 10:00 it was another ER call and she was left there on IVS for 40 hours!
No pancreatitis on tests.....gastritis they say....

She was sooooo lethargic scared us to death..but they put her on Hills Rx ID .
( I was horrified, thought that was the worse food! Till they asked me if my food was tested before marketed)
I said " she won't eat that, I tried wet food and she won't eat it",
Well she loves it and in a few days regained her strength and is back to normal.

Don't mess around with a baby that is a picky eater....it might be they have tummy issues...I know feeding time now is a totally different experience.
I now have to figure out how many times a day to feed her!

This is wrong on so any levels. Farmina = soup du jour here on YT.

I can think of a lot of better ways for the vet to make $ than selling a dog food. I buy prescription food wherever I want too. It's more convenient for me to have chewy deliver it to my door.

Where are you getting your information from regarding RC? I know for a fact that I pay $60 for the largest bag of RC prescription food. Never heard of Farmina so I took a quick look to see where it's from and it's not even made in the US in fact it's from Brazil :confused:

Farmina is made in Italty and has been around for years. They make RX foods over in Europe.


As for the reason I like them though? They have 6 staff veterinarians and 20 other professionals with advanced scientific degrees working for them. Two of their people are fellows to the European equivalent of the AVMA. They do extensive testing with the University of Milan and Naples and been around since 1965 and is owned by the Russo family. The food is tested for 24 months in three published studies for safety before they are put on the market. Not sure why this company would be ridiculed or made out to be worse than RC. The reason it's the new hoopla on the forums is because it's new to the USA so we haven't been able to feed it before.

AND I am happy with the ingredients. To be honest I'd be feeding a food from Hills or RC or Purina if they had foods that ... worked for Jackson. The food he did pretty good on was Purina One Beyond, but otherwise, whenever there is lots of rice, corn, and tons of grains, etc, he just gets too flabby for my liking and dull hair and softer poop. But I was in a catch-22 because of my lack of trust in most dog food companies but also not really wanting to feed him certain things. So Farmina has been working for us. We're on our 3rd 5.5lb bag (but had been feeding many sample bags before this too) and all is running very smoothly this far.

Not sure why some think that RC is the end-all-be-all food. Yes they do a lot of research and have good quality control -- that is why I DO like them, but RC has some of the most excessive mineral levels out there! Some even higher than grocery store foods. They are not perfect. I actually liked RC the best out of the 3 more popular brands of food, but I have always said they are over-priced for a lot of their foods. One of their RX foods I looked at a while back was like $40 for an 8lb bag.

I'll need to do that too, how long do they take to deliver and are the code dates fresh?

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
What scares me is there are actually people that will BELIEVE this opinion that is based on...........??????? We all have our preferences for the food we feed our babies. Do your OWN research about a dog food....dont condem or critize ANY dog food that is based on information you are given by people with their own agendas, people that follow what everyone in the crowd subscribes to, people that condem a dog food because they subscribe to the belief that vets are out to snatch your very last penny from you, etc. What is a great food for one persons pup, may not be acceptable for another pup, because of a history of production issues, recalls, etc..... Then there are digestive issues and allergies to ingredients in some foods.....just do your OWN research and dont blindly follow the herd like a lemming.

What I would do in your situation:

If my pup had a condition that required an Rx food, I would not hesitate to use it. (In fact, I did that a month ago and didn't even look at the ingredients, I just wanted to do what it took to get her better). I considered that food to be the best choice at that point in time.

If I needed to feed something long term (as in forever) but felt uncomfortable doing so, then I would get a consult with a veterinary nutritionist that could custom design a recipe based on my pup's needs and home cook.

I don't think it's the end all be all food but I think it's better then some of the pop up over night and start making dog food without food trials and a vets on staff stuff and I trust it. I will pay more for trust. Farmina has put a bad taste in my mouth by this guy who I think must work for them and down grades every other food because his is the "best" and frankly he is spreading false info. Vets don't make lots of money off of dog food.