Someone on the dachshund board I frequent asked about the breed specific Royal Canin for dachshunds and someone responded with the following. What do you think? Is it something to consider? I currently feed Innova.
I work for Royal Canin and thought I'd try to help answer some questions for you. First, I understand the concern about the breed specific diets being a marketing gimmick...it's a good question. When I first came to work for the company a few years back, it was one of my first questions. The more I learned about the research that went into each diet, the more that I understood that the foods are actually each formulated for the specificities of each breed. For example, the new Dachshund 28 diet is based on different research that we've done in reference to Dachshunds and their propensity to both gain weight and to develop joint problems (particularly in their vertebral column) due to their chondrodystrophic-type morphology (ie short bowed limbs and long backs). Dachsunds are by the far the most susceptible to disc problems in their spine. So, at Royal Canin, we wanted to address this the best we could from a nutritional standpoint. We want to achieve optimal hydration of cartilage through the synergistic action of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate and also reduce the inflammatory response through omega 3 fatty acids. For their known weight issues, we increased the protein level for them, lowered the fat level, added CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which helps to maintain lean muscle tissue at the expense of the fat reserves, and also supplemented the formula wiht L-carnititne which is a known amino acid that helps to "mobilize" fats for the purpose of more effecient metabolism. Finally, there are a lot of added anti-oxidants to help boost the immunity of the cells: Vitamine E, Vitamin C, Polyphenols. This is just a small list of several other things that this foods helps to accomplish.
And, no, if you feed the Dachshund 28 to your Pug, nothing "bad" will happen. If your Pug could benefit from the formula, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. The only thing would be if your Pug needed to gain weight for example, as this is more of a restricted calorie diet: 317 kcal/cup.
The general idea behind the breed specific diets is to try and help take the "guess work" out of having to mix and match different supplements and foods to accomplish one thing: a healthy dog. You could feed your dog a "low calorie" food, but perhaps it doesn't accomplish the joint support and anti-oxidant suppor that you'd like to have, so you'd have to supplement. We understand the "problems" that Dachshunds could possibly be faced with and we want to try and help "prevent" them for this specific breed.
Hope that helps. If you have specific questions or would like me to mail you more information, just drop me a PM or email me at [email=kelcey.swyers@royalcanin.us]
kelcey.swyers@royalcanin.us[/email]