dog food royal canine vs eukanuba...witch one is my best choice??

Answer 1

Out of those two, Royal Canin is better than Eukanuba, but neither brand is very high quality.

Here are reviews of these two foods:

Royal Canin (2/6 stars):
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=276&cat=all

Eukanuba (2/6 stars):
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=107&cat=all

While they both receive the same rating in the reviews above, Royal Canin is slightly better because it has higher quality grains early on in the ingredients, and also doesn't have as many byproducts as Eukanuba.

If you want a food that you can buy at Petco or Petsmart, Solid Gold, Blue Buffalo, and Natural Balance brand foods are higher quality than Royal Canin and Eukanuba.

Below the double line is my general advice on choosing a dog food.
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Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food.

Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog ingredients:
1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!).
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don't want to see any byproducts.
4) I don't want to see a lot of fillers.
5) I don't want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don't want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don't want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
8) I don't want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)

Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

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There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What is best for one may not be the best for the next. And just because a food is good quality, it doesn't mean it will jive the best for your dog.

What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on.

Here are some examples of high quality foods:
* Artemis - http://www.artemiscompany.com/
* California Natural - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/california-natural.asp
* Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/
* Chicken Soup - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
* EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp
* Fromm - http://www.frommfamily.com/
* Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
* Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Nature's Variety - http://www.naturesvariety.com/
* Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/products/
* Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Taste of the Wild - http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/
* Timberwolf Organics - http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/

Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)

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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, etc.)

Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not always mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.

Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. "Hill's scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine" (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?JSESSIONID=HMz2B3Jn3hv0rnSoxCobfbBhOec35ODG7yh5t3P0vcvhOtzRlQ9M!598359213!167846923!7005!8005&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026072&bmUID=1196192566575 )

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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.

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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells "Solid Gold" and "Natural Balance" brands and Petsmart sells "Blue Buffallo", which are all quality foods, but most of the foods aren't.)

Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.

Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores

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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
.

Answer 2

Yes. My cousin feeds Royal Canin to her Chihuahua. I dog sit often for her. He will not touch the food unless he's hungry. He doesn't like it much, and it does make him itch a little more than normal. I do not recommend this food. I, personally, would not feed it to my dog. It's a low quality kibble, and contains ingredients that aren't good. I would recommend a high quality dog food such as Canidae, Wellness, Innova, Solid Gold, Timberwolf Organics, Taste of the Wild, Evangers, Fromm, Merrick, Orijen, Artemis, Natures Variety, etc. If you're looking for something you could find at Petco or Petsmart, I would recommend Natural Balance, Pinnacle, Blue Buffalo, Solid Gold, or Eagle Pack Holistic. I'm not sure how big the kibble sizes are, but Natural Balance has some "small bite" formulas you may want to consider. There are a lot of better choices out there. I must agree tiath Royal Canin isn't one of them.

Answer 3

Well, my vet recommended Royal Canin after trying 7 other brands. My older dog has a very sensitive stomach and she just threw her food up all the time....after finally switching to Royal Canin, my dog is blessed with a healthy stomach and hasn't thrown up since. ITs been over a year!!!!

I wouldn't say that any food is BAD or GOOD for your dog..it all depends on the dogs stomach, if they are allergic or if they simply like it. Ive never tried Eukanuba though. I have a neighbour with three working therapy dogs and they are on it...they seem happy and look healthy. So it can't be bad.

Answer 4

Royal Canine

My lab has been eating for over a month now and loves it. And she looks beautiful - she came to me about 2.5 months ago from a rescue after being a stray and ending up in a kill shelter. She had puppy mange and was still very underweight when I got her.

She was on adult Purina Pro Plan (the rescue doesn't exactly have tons of money to spend on dog food), so I switched her to Science Diet large breed puppy. It didn't do much. She only gained a couple of pounds and her skin and coat were still in pretty bad shape.

After going on Royal Canin Large Breed puppy, her skin is healthy, her coat is beautiful, she is at her ideal weight, and she is getting really well-defined muscle structure.

A lot of people around Yahoo Answers go only for holistic foods or raw diets. So after doing a little research and locating a dealer in my area, I have tried two different kinds. Natural Balance from PetCo and Nature's Variety Raw and Prairie foods. My dog will not eat any of them. She deals with the Natural Balance, but it does a number on her stomach - gas and very runny stool and I can tell a very upset tummy. The Nature's Variety she won't even touch. As when switching any food, I started mixing it with her old food - she literally eats around the raw food and picks out her old food. She was only getting half her old food and she would not eat the raw food. After a couple of days, I gave up.

I am very happy with Royal Canine.

Answer 5

Royal canin is considered a premium dog food and is a good choice. Eukanuba is not

Answer 6

I have never heard of roayl canine, but Eukanuba is total crap. My vet recommended Eagle Pack Giant Breed for my two Bull Mastiffs, but I found it smelled/looked like s**t. and they weren't too interested in eating it either. Now they are on an almost all natural diet, which they like because they think they are eating the same things as us!

Answer 7

Of the two, the Royal is a better choice as Euk is crappy food.

But, I still don't like that brand. Solid Good, Merrick, Wellness, Natural Balance, Pinnacle, Innova, Pet Promise, and even Blue Buffalo are all better choices.

Answer 8

Eukanuba (aka IAMS) is total crap food from a company with horrible business practices and completely unethical and immoral testing procedures. Your choice should be pretty clear!

Answer 9

I would chose royal canine

Answer 10

Neither one is a good choice...better choices would be Canidae, Wellness, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, Innova, Timberwolf, Solid Gold, Merrick, Fromm just to name a few.

Answer 11

Both are about the same in quality. Don't let people here tell you either one is bad food. The dog food analysis site is very biased in there opinions. I don't put much value in anything they say. If your dog is healthy, don't worry about it.