Royal Canin...(I can't believe I'm saying this)

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton

I have read/heard about dogs having blockage from sox, underwear, pices of toys, greenies, all kinds of stuff like that, but never from corn glutten in their food.  It that was truly the case, it seems there would be many thousdands and thousands of dogs with this problem.

lol, me neither.  I am an open-minded person, and the whole time we were being told all the RC stuff, I tried my BEST to see if I could "see through" the marketing.  However, I didn't feel like we were being marketed the product, I felt like we were being explained every aspect of our concerns, which made me feel better.  If corn gluten meal was the main source of protein, I would not use it in a heartbeat.  But since there are other protein sources (chicken, chicken meal, salmon meal) and the protein of the gauaranteed analysis is 30%, I think it is more than suitable for my dog (especially since he doesn't have any food allergies at the moment).  I also like the fact that because corn gluten meal has been processed as mentioned before, mycotoxin poisoning is out of the question (which is the only restraints I had against feeding corn or wheat).   I really appreciate all of your concerns, and I think it's funny how my understanding of the "science" behind these foods is evolving, to say the least.   I am calling RC on monday just to ask if it would be suitable for an 8 month old puppy (because on the pkg it recommends no earlier than 10 months) although I can't see a problem because the gauranteed analysis is:
Crude Protein Minimum 30.0% Crude Fat Minimum 22.0% Crude Fiber Maximum 3.0% Moisture Maximum 10.0% Omega 6* Minimum 4.5% Omega 3* Minimum 0.76% ...all of which seems suitable for a puppy.  I also need to ask them the Ca/P ratio because it is not listed on the site.

Has anybody fed the RC "mini" diets and had success?

as I said earlier, I do not feed the "mini" diet, but two of my dog class chums do. One has three min pins and loves it. The other gal feeds it to her papillon and a teacup poodle. This woman also feeds the podle formula to her larger podle (not sure which size, maybe a medium?) Also happy.
 
All the dogs look great and the skin/fur is much improved on the papi. I know of nobody else locally who uses the mini line, but I thought I would mention it (just called them and they all feed the 'mini 30')

Ok thanks, that is good to know.  I am interested in the "mini special 30" for picky/dogs with sensitivities.  I thought about the mini puppy food, but I didn't like how the CGM was listed second or third.  But if you know of anyone feeding the special 30, send the comments my way! []

I jusy called her back - she had just bought some yestrday (how's that for timing?)
 
She said it is a green, tan and white bag, white dog. Top of bag says Royal Canin and has the crown logo. Rest of bag says "mini" in a circle with Special 30 underneath.
 
She said it has a white dog on it. Her poodle (a 'miniature') also eats it due to tummy trouble - had a history of garbage gut episodes. She said the other gal feeds the same stuff - it sounds like it might be the same thing as you are talking about.

Yeap, that's the one! it has a white westie on the front of it....I'm glad to hear she's had success with it....how are dogs weight? Are they muscular or just lean?

they all look very fit - good mucle and tone. One of the minmpins is bit "fluffy" but he is 15 and doesn't work out much, so I make allowances for that. The poodle is pretty good, actually gained weight ( a good thing) and the minpins don't shiver and look all skin and bones like they did. They all have great endurance, which the minpins did not have in the past (10 minutes and they would be dragging thier little butts around the practice area). All have a good muscle and nice coats. Better breath is a pleasant side effect, stools are good, and coat is great. 
 
1 of the minpins had some trouble adjusting to the new diet, but was switched over fairly quickly. Gut calmed down after about 10 days. Poodle (with gut issues) switched cold turkey and had obvious tummy distress, but she had to do it. All calmed down in about 2 weeks, and no more gas from he** or loose stools either.
 
My dog had to gain 25 pounds and we tried to do it very slowly. While he is on a different food line by RC, I also notice it seems to have similar results. I actually have to watch him since he can pack on weight fairly easily if he is not worked regularly (like now) while on the Natural Blend. Could be the food, or could be because he is an 'easy keeper' (and a chow hound, if you know what I mean).
 
Geez- I sound like a sales rep! Don't mean to, just turns out I know these dogs and they all happen to do well on the mini 30 special. Of course, I would equally share bad news (like the switch over issues) but just not many feed it around here - at least that I know personally. (Nutro, Innova, Pedigree or Iams are market leaders in this area)

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know...I just wanted to see if they gained fat or muscle.  I think I am going to use it, just in rotation or maybe mixed in w/ EVO or something...we shall see! But if anybody else feeds it and wants to come out of hiding (lol) and tell their results, it's welcome! 

I will come to the rescue of RC, I guess.  Although it is hated by most of this forum I will have to say that I think they have a pretty good product line!  The clinic I work at abolished any trace of Hill's and Euk lines and is now a Walth/RC/IVD (which all merged) distributor only.  Of course I am talking about the side of the vet line instead of the retail brand.  I did although feed my lab the Maxi Puppy from the start and she did AWESOME on it and couldn't be healthier right now!  Both my GSD and my lab are now on the Limited Ingredients Venison and Potato Large Breed which they are doing GREAT on.    I have seen their diets turn the health around on so many animals that I think ppl should have to see before they deem this food unfit for our animals.  On that note, I don't really listen to anything our reps say....of course they are going to come in with the lights flashing and angels singing about their food but you just need to decide for yourself and from SEEING the results first hand before you make that decision.

Thanks for sharing that! That is exactly what I've been hearing from everyone who feeds RC....they have great results.  I am going to call RC tommorow because I want to start the Special 30 mini, but it says 10 months or older, and my pup is 8 months.  I don't see a problem because the gauranteed analysis exceeds the requirements of an 8 month old small breed puppy, but I am going to call just to make sure there isn't anything else (and because I'm almost out of the TO).  If they say it's not appropriate for an 8 month old puppy (for whatever reason) I think I am going to get the "mini puppy 33" until 10 months.  I guess I will see if I get good results and report back.  But I am still interested in more experiences with this if there are more out there! thanks in advance

Our RC ingredients look like super duper premium foods compared to the contents of the same lines but in other countries! I would love to know why other countries dogs arent 'worthy' of the same ingredients as us??
The reason i bring this up is because someone brought up RC on another website(cant remember which country),i said it was an ok food and i got practically jumped on for promoting a "crappy" food,when someone posted the ingredients i was gobsmacked,the ingredients were not at all similar to the US's,and they were horrible,i think chicken by-product meal was the first ingredient,followed by maize,corn gluten meal etc etc [:-]

RC is a decent mid-grade food.  My problem with it, is that it can cost more than Innova.  Now I have FED RC, when I first started my journey away from the lower grade foods, and my dogs did well on it.  But, I'm cheap.....if I'm gonna pay top dollar, I'd rather have Innova

Really? I understand your problem with that, but for me it's free so it makes it worth it for me....but you said that your dogs did well on it?

It was free for us for quite a long time too....unfortunately they "cut us off"!!  JK...but it did cost them a heck of a lot of money to provide everyone at our clinic a bag of free food a month.  I totally agree with you Glenda about the price...the cost for a bag of Hypoallergenic HP is like $80!!  We do now get one free after every 3 we buy at wholesale cost.

gee papillon806, it's free, the ingredients are reasonable, so feed it already. I personally am not willing to spend that much on a bag of food that is mostly brewer's rice, but if it were free, why not?
They obviously put that corn gluten in there so they could list a slightly higher % protein on the label cheaply (the cheaters) even though those excess amino acids are probably going to be useless to the dog, not being the correct mixture of amino acids. Higher quality foods usually have some kind of fish or meat meal listed in that position on the ingredient label instead of corn gluten.
 
Just remember: a diet of nothing but reserved, processed food is not a complete, balanced diet. You should be supplementing with fresh foods. Or at the very least a source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Yes, but the corn gluten meal is indeed digestable, so they will get the protein from it.  The problem with corn gluten meal is when it is more of a protein source than the animal proteins.  And as far as supplementation goes, he gets a derm cap every day which has fish, saffllower, and borage seed oil and vitamin E.