Is Royal Canin the best food for shih tzus? What would you recommend? And why?

Question

Chicken soup for the puppy/dog's lover soul? Canin? Wellness? Innova?

Answer 1

Scoring Your Dog Food
*Please note that the following is for entertainment purposes only and has not been researched by DAN and may not be a "true" grading of food. If you have any questions regarding the food you are feeding your dog consult your veternarian.
This is a very interesting way to check out the quality of the dog food that you are feeding. It's interesting, because sometimes paying more, does not get you more and vice versa.
The scores are rather interesting.
How to grade your dog's food: (Some brand reviews already calculated here)
Start with a grade of 100:
1.For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2.For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal
or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3.If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4.For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5
points
5.If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer rice", "rice flour" are all
the same grain), subtract 5 points
6.If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2
meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7.If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8.If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9.If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10.If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2
points
11.If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic
to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12.If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13.If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points
14.If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
beef), subtract 1 point
15.If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1.If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2.If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or
nutritionist, add 5 points
3.If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4.If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5.If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6.If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3
points
7.If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2
points
8.If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9.If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10.If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11.If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12.For every different specific animal protein source (other than
the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein
source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13.If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14.If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are
pesticide-free, add 1 point
94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 = F
Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.
Brand Dog Food scores:
•Authority Harvest Baked: 116 A+
•Bil-Jac Select: 68 F
•Canidae: 112 A+
•Chicken Soup Senior: 115 A+
•Diamond Maintenance: 64 F
•Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice: 92 B
•Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula: 99 A
•Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium: 122 A+
•Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato: 106 A+
•Foundations: 106 A+
•Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold: 93 D
•Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium: 73 D
•Innova Dog: 114 A+
•Innova Evo: 114 A+
•Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables: 110 A+
•Nutrisource Lamb and Rice: 87 B
•Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy: 87 B
•Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice: 23 F
•ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley: 103 A+
•Purina Beneful: 17 F
•Purina Dog: 62 F
•Purina Come-n-Get It: 16 F
•Royal Canin Bulldog: 100 A+
•Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult: 106 A+
•Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice: 97 A
•Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+: 63 F
•Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies: 69 F
•Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken: 110 A+
•Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold: 97 A

Answer 2

I answered a question similar to this earlier, so here's what I put for that, hope this helps:

Science Diet, Pedigree, Iams etc are decent, but NOT the best. They have artificial fat preservatives that can turn rancid if the food sits on the shelf to long. This is why a lot of dogs stop eating a particular brand halfway through the bag. What you need is something with natural preservatives, and something that has meat as the main ingredient, NOT meat by product, there's a big difference. Try something like Innova, California Natural, anything by Merrick, or Canidae. You'll spend more money per bag but since it's a better quality food, you'll be feeding less so in turn not buying food as often. You can find some of these food at some boarding kennels and other stores, but if you can't find it there try contacting the company's directly through their websites. I'm sure they would be willing to send you some free samples. I put my great dane and my lab on Innova and they are in so much better shape

Answer 3

I feed my 2 Shih-tzus and my LabX Innova EVO, but some of them don't do well with the high protein content; regular Innova would probably be better in that case. The reason I chose this particular food is that it is 100% grain free which seems to help my LabX with her spay incontinence.

I prefer to feed my dogs foods that use human grade ingredients with no by products and no junky fillers like corn, and that use natural preservatives.

Some of the other brands of food that I like (based on their ingredients) are:

Wellness
California Natural
Natural Balance
Timberwolf
Fromm
Canidae
Solid Gold
Wysong
to name a few, I'm sure I may have forgotten a couple others as well.

Answer 4

If you're happy with the food you're using, simply put it in a Ziploc and use a meat hammer to break up the food pieces into smaller shapes. I'm not sure about which brands you have available in your area, but I know that Innova, Healthwise, California Natural, Canidae, and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul are all available in your province (perhaps not in your city, though). EDIT: I would go with the Wellness Super5mix or the Canidae. I'm not really impressed with the Royal Canin myself, though many owners are happy with the results of feeding it.

Answer 5

No matter what breed you have, one with NATURAL ingredients is what I'd suggest you look for. The "really good dog food companies", like Eukanuba for instance, use by-products, road kill, euthanized animals, and lots and lots of grains

I'm not familiar with the ingredients in RC, but I know Innova offers a natural diet and I think RC does also, right? Look for those that have REAL chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, beef for the meat and REAL fruits and vegetables. I've used Innova, but prefer Merrick because I like the ingredients they use. Check that brand out next time you shop (at the pet store) and compare the ingredients used by the different companies.

Answer 6

I'm curious to know how Royal canin can injure a dogs stomache.

There are so many foods out there. The foods that are the best are the ones that are free of byproducts and corn. Foods that have the top 3 ingredients listed that are protiens are better ,such as chicken ,turkey ,lamb and so forth. I personally use Canidae ,now i'm Nutro Natural to. It's not the best .Canidae is better .

Answer 7

I would suggest Blue Buffalo dog food. It is super expensive, but well worth it. The line was developed by the owner who had a dog, named Blue, that was diagnosed with cancer. He started making the food for his dog and the dog got better. There are lots of advantages of BB. First, it is overall more nutrituos than other foods. Blue Buffalo uses human grade quality meats. Also, they do not over-cook the food. Most dog food companies over-process the food so much that by the time it is canned it has lost the majority of its vitamins and minerals. BB slow cooks the food so that the food will retain its vitamins and minerals. In addition, they add something that they call "Lifebits" to the food. Lifebits are used to supplement the food to make up for any vitamins that are lost during the slowcooking stage. In addition to health benefits, you will feed your dog less food per day and you will have less poop because it contains less fillers than the majority of brands on the market. You can buy BB dog food at your local Petsmart. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

i think wysong is the best dry food for dogs however you can also research the pet food quality if you look on the computer under dog food. just do not give your pet anything from the supermarket because of the byproducts. royal canin is actually a good food if your dog likes the taste good luck.

Answer 9

royal canin can injure shih tzus stomachs
give them iams small dog formula