All the RC talk...
 

I know some people are making the switch from RC recently so I've been reading some of the posts. Now, I don't feed the breed specific formula, but have noticed that one complaint is about by-product meal vs. chicken meal. I feed RC X-small puppy formula because that's what Sheldon came from the breeder on and has done great on it...eats it well, healthy stools, healthy weight, good coat, etc. I may switch him to Wellness when we transition to adult food, but I'm still unsure. All that said, I was curious, so I went to look at our bag of food...the x-small puppy is still using chicken meal and not by-product meal. This is a new bag. Just a little something I thought I'd share.

Also, just as a side, If your dog was doing well on this puppy formula, would you switch to a new brand at adulthood or just start the adult version of the same food?

I would just continue with the adult version of the same food. I do not feed mine the breed specific RC, but the adult mini.....chicken meal is the first ingredient listed on the bag. These are the breeder bags, 33# size.....check out the bag of Adult Mini that you get, and see if it is still listed as the first ingredient, if you are concerned about that.

RCs new formula is okay but it is equivalent to a grocery store brand with the new ingredients and the order they are listed on the ingredients and your paying a premium price so I would look for a more quality food than feeding it

Normally, I would use the adult version of the same product, but when the adult version is vastly different, I would look for another product. There is a reason why RC used chicken meal as it's first ingredient, it's a quality protein and dogs need a lot of protein. While the chicken by product still has lots of protein, you have to remember that all protein is not alike and some is much easier to digest and easier on the kidneys and liver. There are quite a few products that are very similar to RC's old ingredient list. I agree with Chachi, this product is now comparable to Purina and other grocery store brands. I don't believe it will kill your dog, but it should no longer be considered a premium food.

It is sad because there are alot of people who are loyal to the brand that probably dont know about the change and they are still paying that premium price for an inferior food. I used to feed Royal Canin and only switched because Chachi had some itchiness that I didnt know if maybe the corn was causing but I still thought of it as a good brand

Yes, I would think they would have to put some type of information on the bag when it's that big of a change. I chose RC initially because of all the recommendations here, you for one, but it really did have some very good ingredients compared to other brands and Joey loved it. I really did trust the company, and now I have lost that trust. I was actually hoping if enough people protested, they would go back to their old formula, but now I think I've found a better food anyway, and both the boys love it.

I don't agree with the recent negativity about RC. I find that it's most important to look for a company first. I home cook though because I hate dog food in general.

This is good to know! The specific version or RC formula that you use. That's something that was missing, I think, from the other threads. I had stumbled on the breed specific RC yorkie formula and only looked at that. I'll dig up some links:
Royal Canin Mini Adult Formula Dog Dry Food, 14-lb bag

The ingredients are different from the RC yorkie formulas(28 and new):
Chicken, brewers rice, chicken meal, rice, corn gluten meal, oatmeal, chicken fat, natural chicken flavor, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), dried brewers yeast, anchovy oil (source of DHA), soya oil, potassium chloride, salt, flaxseed, DL-methionine, choline chloride, sodium tripolyphosphate, Vitamins [dl-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), biotin, d-calcium pantothenate, niacin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), folic acid], salmon meal, dried egg product, magnesium oxide, Trace Minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate], marigold extract (Calendula officinalis L.), L-Carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E) and citric acid, rosemary extract.

That clarification makes a HUGE difference! :eek:

Here's a link to the TWELVE available RC Mini formulas:
Dog - Royal Canin Mini - Free Shipping at Chewy.com

It just couldn't be any easier to select a product appropriate for your specific dog's needs!
(sarcasm, but, I am impressed with what is available)

The RC rep could have done a much better job pointing this out instead of the direction he/she headed.

I'm glad you found this and pointed it out! Here's a link, I can't weed out some of the formulas from the search but there are 4 of the X-Small RC formulas here: Dog - Royal canin extra small dry food dog - Free Shipping at Chewy.com

For me, I tried to include the specific feed formula for all of my postings. I was searching for a specific feed, a tiny kibble for a 5 pound senior with bad teeth and picky eating habits.

Given this new found info about RC, I wouldn't even consider RC's Yorkie offering but I may consider one of their other products..... Damn! This is sooooo confusing!

The pricing on those 14 pound bags didn't look half bad either for dogs that size kibble works well for. Royal Canin Mini Adult Formula Dog Dry Food, 14-lb bag

:) What will you feed instead, Nancy? RC is Harry's go-to kibble, and now I'm not sure....:confused: Sally + Harry x

A couple of points on these ingredients. First they used chicken instead of chicken meal, this allows them to put chicken first because chicken is wet and weights much more then dehydrated chicken or chicken meal. When you see chicken first, look for chicken meal second. The other problem I have is their grain is Brewers' rice. Here's the definition of brewers rice.
Lastly, the have done something called ingredient splitting, so that the protein can be higher up the list than it should be. You can break down all food into three ingredients, protein fat and carbohydrates. Look at all the sources of carbohydrates in this food, brewers rice, rice, and oatmeal. Crude protein of this is only 25 percent, and old RC was 28.

Check out the ingredients on this one... nice!

Royal Canin Mini Special Dry Dog Food, 17-lb bag

There ya go! They split the rice but it's looking better!
Chicken meal, chicken, brown rice, brewers rice, chicken fat, corn gluten meal, dried egg powder, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), natural chicken flavor, dried brewers yeast, brewers rice flour, anchovy oil, soya oil, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), potassium chloride, flax seed, sodium tripolyphosphate, choline chloride, salt, Vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), biotin, D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), niacin supplement, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2)], salmon meal, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), Trace Minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate], L-carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rosemary extract, and citric acid.

I was choosing between Wellness toy breed Toy Breed Complete Health Adult Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Peas Recipe

and Wellness small breed Small Breed Complete Health Adult Turkey & Oatmeal Recipe and both have proteins as the first three ingredients. Toy breed is 30% crude protein and small breed is 28%.

I decided on Nature's Logic CANINE DRY KIBBLE - CHICKEN - Nature's LogicNature's Logic and there are many things I love about this food. Its a all life stage food and the boys are getting up in age, it's high protein, 38% crude protein, the carbohydrates come from millet and here are some of the benefits of millet:

Lol, I did some research on millet last night, I think I better buy some millet for me! All I knew about it before was that it was easy to digest. Those are the two main ingredients, it contains other things because they don't use synthetic vitamins and their vitamins and minerals are added through foods. The boys had no problem switching and I did a sudden food switch, there was no tummy upsets at all and this tells me that there food is easy to digest. Oh and the company has passed the AAFCO feeding trials and this is very important to me. Another plus is it's cheaper than Royal Canin!

Absolutely right! Unless I'm missing something. I hadn't looked at these more generic, multi breed, formulas before at RC so I don't know what they were. This was not the RC Yorkie 28 or the new RC Yorkie.

I do like the point of getting to the percentages... I suppose I'd have to go to RC's website for that and that is a very important step in selecting a nutritious diet for our pups regardless of the brand or formula that you choose.

In this posting, I was trying to point out something I was unaware of previously, the number of offerings RC has. By all means, don't even consider the breed specific RC Yorkie formula that is currently offered unless you are already using it and don't see a need to change of course, still a (clears throat) free country. ;)

For the loyal or prospective RC customers, there are other options within the brand. I'm committed to my bag of Wellness Complete Health Toy Senior unless Gucci rejects it completely, at this point.
:confused:

that was the best one I found so far... determined to stay with RC, cause I tried Wellness, , Natural balance, natures recipe, Blue and Nutro and RC so far and they looked at me like i stole christmas with every single one except for RC. They carpet farmed, stalked the cats food, started eating the bark outside and just licked the wet food off that i tried to disguise the dry kibble with , but left the kibble. I tried wearing them out so theyd be exhausted and hungry and less picky. Nada. Nope. score Yorkies 5 Shawna 1. i scored once. With RC. So I am not looking forward to having to go through that again. lol.

although maybe i might try this and see if they like it... Sounds worth a try at least.

There's an guaranteed analysis on every bag. You'll find crude protein, fat, fiber and moisture. I'm not seeing it at Chewy, but Petco has it under "ingredients" Petsmart also shows it. Royal Canin MINI Adult Dog Food - Adult Dry Dog Food from petco.com

I hope I remember to look this one up again when it comes time. I love it when someone does all the work for me! Years ago, I did a tiny bit o research on millet. Some states considered it a noxious weed because it grows so easy and is a prolific self seeder. (spreads easy)

Thank You! That G.A. placement makes it much easier!:thumbup:

That's funny, score, yorkies 5, Shawna 1! :D

Im witty when my tyrants are sleeping.... once they wake up Im just another baby talk babbling victim of cuteness... Ive got two hours of witty potential left to go before the awakening of the Yorkies... lol;)

Ha Ha! Where's the like button? :p

That's the only thing this site is missing! Well, that and free bedpans with registration for new members who spend hours on here without getting up at all... Like me. My name is Shawna and I am an addict. :rolleyes:

I definitely liked these ingredients better, but is it a big deal that it is 8lbs to whatever the top limit was? I am quite certain Sheldon won't reach 8lbs. Hmmm...now I'm going to look around some more. Lol.

By-products may sound gross, but they are not automatically bad. I would feed the food unless your pup does not do well. It is not even close to an untested grocery store brand.

Yep! LOL My name is Mark and I'm a yorkieholic! OR, a Gucciholic! :D

That, I don't know. Is it the kibble size or the formula, or both, that limits it to size of pup/adult/senior? I read in another forum about an adult eating kibble quickly and the kibble getting stuck above the stomach causing a blockage.... vet's advice for that dog was canned for the rest of it's life. All I could get out of that is, every dog is different... and... for me.... I'm emphasizing, leaning towards, the tiniest of kibble for my 5 pound senior. Even Fromm's grain free is too big for my dog, and that is small, smaller than Orijin by far. I'm ok with a filler that is fibre, gentle, because it's reccomended for us humans to keep things moving. I'm ok with a higher volume of poo associated with fillers or gentle fiber as long as it shows a normal shape and consistency, moisture. Most of the time, I can't even see Gucci's from 10' away, need to wear my glasses more often. LOL When he was consistently eating Nature's Choice? Nutro Toy Senior, he had good volume and consistency... but he quit eating it and here we are, searching for a replacement. I liked what I saw in Wellness Complete Health Toy Senior but I don't know if it'll be our long term choice. It's been a tough sell with my, our, little guy. We're doing the add a few chicken pieces and broth to keep his interest up, a bit of shredded cheddar cheese at times... it's frustrating at this point... I hand fed him the last of the Orijin the other day, I think THAT caused a MAJOR set back.... he wouldn't eat it out of his bowl the last couple weeks, but he did eat it out of my hand.... We're still walking 3 miles a day most days... I see a little less energy but he is eating less... If I can just get him to eat more,,,, I'm hoping his energy will pick back up. I'm thinking it's time to cook up a batch of salmon for him... I'm soooo confused! LOL Ideally, he'd eat his 1/2 cup of kibble and get his treats of chicken from his momma. Heading out for a walk, have a great day!