Royal Canin #24 - Page 4

Mine were on Royal Canine Large Breed Adult for the past two years.  Before that my older two were on Blue Buff.  They've done extremely well on both foods but my younger working line male couldn't handle the Blue Buff.  It was just too rich for his system. 

I've had to make a change just recently because of the cost (30# went to $44.99 here). So now I'm got mine on Taste of the Wild. 

Below are the ingredients from German Shepherd#24

If you look at the ingredients before the chicken fat (everything before the first fat source is what makes up the bulk of the food) you will see that it is an okay formula. My problem with it is that it is, like so many others, made up of mostly grain. The rice and brown rice combined are most likely a much higher percentage of the food than the chicken meal. After the fat source it contains soy, oat, and barley. More grains and that is what you are feeding your dogs when you use this food. Certainly not horrible, but, there are better products on the market. The other thing that seems to be lacking in this food is any probiotics or prebiotics. When I tried to feed it to my dogs they looked at it, laughed, and said NEXT! Another thing that I would consider a negative with this food is that it is owned by M&M Mars. They also bought Nutro last year and I believe they own Pedigree, as well. Sounds like they are trying to compete with Nestle Purina

To the person worried about "Beet Pulp". This is not a bad ingredient. It is a well tolerated and beneficial source of dietary fiber that helps dogs and cats digest a diet that is much higher in carbohydrates than would be eaten naturally when fed kibble. It is also a source of nutrition for the beneficial bacteria that live in a dogs intestines.

Ingredients: Chicken meal, rice, brown rice, chicken fat, soy isolate, oat, pearled barley, natural chicken flavor, cellulose, sodium silico aluminate, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), anchovy oil (source of EPA/DHA), soya oil, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, dried egg product, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, DL-methionine, L-tyrosine, taurine, dried brewers yeast extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides), 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), riboflavine (vitamin B2), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), Trace minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], tea (green tea extract), chondroitin sulfate, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of Vitamin E) and citric acid, rosemary extract.

I hope this helps!

Below are the ingredients for Royal Canin German Shepherd on their UK site, as you can see the first ingredient in rice, by law the ingredients must be listed in order, ie the first one is the ingredients that the food is mostly made up of. So this foods primary ingredient is Rice and secondary is poultry meat.

The food is ok, but for the price that the user is charged do you not think that you should be getting the quality. Also as you can see the food contains soya, this is known to cause upset.

However to say the food doesn't contain prebiotic....not too sure on how accurate that is, is manno-oligo-saccharide (MOS) similar to FOS which is a prebiotic?

Yes royal canin has been bought by Mars, as far as I know it was shortly after that the ingredients changed, from Meat being the primary ingredient to be the second....so we can know sit back and watch a much loved and respected food slowy get worse as raw materials increase in price.

Ingredients:

dinnerlady,which food did you list above?The  Royal Canin GS24 here in Canada is not the same as what you have listed.Here it is as another poster listed above with those ingredients.Im just curious to know if the ingredients are difeerent in different countries cause if thats the case then there goes there theory about it being a food specifically for the German Shepherd.One example is the corn(maize)in the list of ingredients dinnerlady has kindly provided,there is NO corn in the formula for Canada or the USA.

Domenic...the food I listed was Royal Canin German Shepherd 24......it is indeed extremely interesting that the ingredients differ SO much

The most comprehensive dog food evaluation I've seen is by "The Whole Dog Journal" in which they look at both canned and kibble. Here's some of their criteria:  they look for foods that contain a lot of high-quality animal proteins; they reject any food containing meat by-products or poultry by-products; they reject foods contain fat or protein not identified by species, they look for whole grain and begetables; they eliminate all foods with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives; they eliminate all foods with added sweetners and they look for products containing organic ingredients.

IMO RC 24, or RC German Shepherd is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and it sounds like they vary their ingredients - probably based upon what they can buy the cheapest.  BTW, the Whole Dog Journal will not rate ANY food for which the makers will not disclose the origin of manufacture.  Royal Canin USA, Inc previously made that disclosure but have stopped as of Feb, 2008.

Here's a few of the approved dry dog foods:  Bench & Field; Breeders Choice;Canidae Corp;Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul; Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance;Merrick;Natura Pet Products;Old Mother Hubbard;Wysong. There are move, but too many to list here.  Most of these foods have a "use by" date on the label plus their address and telephone number.  My dogs like Merrick and they love Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover. I do also hit them with 2 or 3 months of raw chicken every year, don't even ask if they like that!!!!!

WDJ is subscriber supported, NO ADVERTISERS to influence them.

good luck,

Mike

Who is Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover made by?

I feed a mostly raw diet but some Orijen. When I open a new bag it smells fresh. I have to keep it rolled up tight and something on top of it or my young girl will help herself. This in itself tells me the food is a good quality when a dog likes it that much, when her diet is mainly fresh raw food. My other two eat it readily too but have better manners and don't get into the bag. Here is a link to Orijen (Champion Foods) FAQ. It doesn't sound like it is alot more than RC24 or alot of other brands, it is grain free too. http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/faq/#Kidneys  My dogs coats look great and they all are active and healthy. My sons dog eats the opposite of mine. Mainly Orijen and a smaller amount of fresh raw food. Her coat and energy level is also very good. I (we) have used Orijen food for over a year with absolutely no ill dogs, no barfing, diarhea, poor coats, itching etc.

I would not have a problem with the price increase because nearly everything I'm buying has gone up. The problem is the dogs are not maintaining weight on the same amount we normally feed. I'm having to increase the food just to keep weight on the dogs (and there are no health issues). I didn't check the ingredient list but suspected that they changed the formula. Seems to be a trend with the dog food manufacturer's lately more grain, smaller bags and higher price.

The Reason RC does not disclose that information any more as of Feb 2008,   is because that is when they changed hands and has merged or sold out to :

Wilson Pet Products ,   Chicago, IL

and if it is like any other merger,  they probable had RC change the formula prior to the Merge, that way they could tell everyone that  nothing changed.    They would say that they are using the same formula. 

That's exactly what happened to Iams and Eukanuba.