What do you think of this food?

[ginaldo]

Aldo is currently on Royal Canin for Junior and after reading all of the info on this site and other places I am not thrilled. Plus Aldo does not like it unless we add something to it. Raw is not an option for now but I think I may have found a decent choice. There isnt much variety here in france, unless I am not looking in the right places. Anyway, what do you think of these ingredients? The cooked cereals and soybeans make me nervous....at least there is no beet pulp, etc... :rolleyes: any input??

Dehydrated meat, cooked cereals, animal fats, cooked soybeans, vegetable fibres, maize proteins, linseed, purified clay, sea salt, fructo-oligosaccharides, vitamins and trace elements.

With anti-oxidants : EC additives.
Thanks,
Gina and Aldo

[gmacleod]

Umm. Purified clay? ROFL

I couldn't find the food formulas, let alone ingredient lists on the French site, so I went to Royal Canin's UK site... I would have thought that the two would be the same, since they're both EU countries (but that's not guaranteed).

In the UK foods, the ingredients do include a large amount of maize (corn) and beet pulp (though at least quite a long way down the ingredient list). The ingredients for RC Medium Junior in the UK are:
Dehydrated poultry meat, maize, animal fats, maize flour, maize gluten, dehydrated pork protein, beet pulp, poultry liver, minerals, poultry protein isolate, yeast, vegetable oil, fish oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, trace-elements
(including chelated trace-elements), yeasts extract (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), DL-methionine, taurine, egg powder, marigold extract (source of lutein), vitamins.

I also note that the overall crude protein level is up at 32% and fat at 20% - both of which are too high. Protein should be around 24-26% and fat around 12-15%. So I wouldn't buy the UK food.

Well, that looks a bit different to what you've got in the French version of the food though.

I would be a bit concerned about the cereals and the soy (soy because that can cause allergy and other problems, cereals because I don't know which grains they actually are).

What else is it possible to get where you are?

[ginaldo]

Sorry, I think my post was confusing. He is currently on the Royal Canin, which has the exact ingredients you described GMacleod...sorry you had to type them :( . The other ingredients I found was for another brand called Mastery...I thought it seemed better than the Royal Canin but perhaps not. The Vet gave us a sample of Hills Science Plan and Purina Pro Plan :eek: . This other Mastery brand seems like the best choice out of everything...their website is www.dogcatinter.com and there is a flag at the top for english. Its so annoying that all the pet stores here have nothing good, I have checked many!! Aldo doesnt like his food, poor baby! I would love to put him on the Fromms that you recommended GMacleod, but its not here... :( !
Thanks,
Gina

[ginaldo]

THere is another brand I can buy on line... Nutram. Again lots of corn...here are the ingredients: Chicken meal, ground rice, ground yellow corn, chicken fat (preserved with Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, chicken, chicken digest, potassium chloride, salt, dicalcium phosphate, whole dried egg, lecithin, choline chloride, dried cheese, yucca schidigera extract, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Vitamin K (menadione), Vitamin B12, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), riboflavin, niacin, dicalcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, biotin, ferrous sulphate, iron proteinate, manganous oxide, manganese proteinate, zinc sulphate, zinc proteinate, copper sulphate, copper proteinate, calcium iodide, cobalt proteinate, sodium selenite.

What to do, what to do...

[gmacleod]

I don't suppose driving to the Netherlands or to Switzerland to buy dog food is a realistic possibility? ROFL If you just happen to visit either one of them regularly, I note that Naturapet has outlets in each of those countries. They are the makers of Innova and California Natural - both of which are excellent foods (actually, I think Innova is one of the best it's possible to get). Website is www.naturapet.com