Hills vs. Eukanuba vs. Royal Canin for Puppy?

Question

OK, after much research, the "best" branded dog foods I can get my hands on for my 14 week old Cocker Spaniel are Hills Puppy, Eukanuba Puppy & Junior Medium, and Royal Canin Medium Junior.

I am currently feeding her Hills Puppy, and she doesn't like her food much. She doesn't eat all her meals unless I add something to it, like some of the Hills Puppy canned food or some chicken mince (slightly microwaved). FYI, this pup comes from a breeder who raises her pups on the BARF diet, however I have taken her off it due to the complexity involved, especially for a puppy.

Considering the vital stage of her life, I don't want to sacrifice anything by possibly making a mistake on nutrient ratios, etc. So, I think it would be best to stick to a commercial food for now - unless I have a good alternative.

Please can you help me make a decision.

Answer 1

If the choice is only those three, I would have to pick the Royal Canin.. I would however prefer to feed Canidae or Wellness... I

Answer 2

Royal Canin Medium Puppy

Answer 3

I am a professional breeder of Golden Retrievers. I've tried all sorts of "premium foods." I finally did some digging and research and found out what REALLY goes into dog food. I suggest you go to these websites and read about the ingredients of the dog foods you are choosing. After much reviewing of these website and lots of label reading, I chose Canidae.



I would also be very careful about trying to "spruce up" your dogs food just so she'll eat it. If she's being too picky and starving herself, then she'll eventually get hungry enough to eat. Just make sure what she's getting is quality.



You will probably get a lot of differing opinions about food depending on who is answering, so I suggest doing a little research on your own.



Good luck!



http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

(You'll find that both Royal Canin and Eukanuba only got 2 stars or less based on the findings on this website)



http://www.doberdogs.com/menu.html

(Great website to help you understand labels)

Answer 4

I don't really like any of those four foods either. Eukanuba and Iams are made by the same company, are on the recall list, and include corn in the first five ingredients. Some of the Royal Canin formulas don't have corn, but most of them either have corn or are really heavy on the grains. Bil Jac also has corn in the first five ingredients, but seems less heavy on the grains overall than the other three. Blue Buffalo seems like a decent food, although I have never tried it personally. I really like Canidae. They have good ingredients and are very reasonably priced. This is what I feed my dogs and they do great on it. Diamond Naturals also seem to have fairly good ingredients and are pretty inexpensive. I don't like the ingredients nearly as much as the Canidae, but my dogs were on the Diamond Lamb and Rice (name changed now to Daimond Naturals Lamb and Rice) and they did well on it.

Answer 5

From the three that you can get your hands on, I would go with the Royal Canin. If you have the PetSmart where you live, go with the :Wilderness" by Blue Buffalo. A much better food. CAll around to the groomers, sometimes they carry other foods that are excellent. Innova EVO is one. If you don't want to feed Raw, then this is the best next thing to feed. Feed Stores is another place to check.

Answer 6

Your puppy is probably still adjusting from the BARF diet to the kibble our Greman Shepherd was from a breeder too and was on the BARF diet it became a little difficult too for the same reason's you said with balancing the right amounts regarding nutrience and so forth.



We had switched her on to Royal Canin and her coat was shabby looking and she wouldn't eat it unless we put wet puppy food in it slightly microwaved...so we switched her to Nutrience dog food the same brand our Lab is on and she loves it ...she looks great her coat is shiny and she looks really healthy..her teeth are as other people tell us pearly white...you can try that brand or try Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, Innova Evo they are grain free and suppose to be really good for your dog.



If you want to stick to the current brand your on...everytime you feed your puppy slightly decrease the wet puppy food in her kibble over a period of time then as time goes by there will be less wet food in it and soon she'll be eating just the kibble.

Answer 7

I would go with a more quality food especially since you are very concerned with your pups well being, and I commend you for this. Canidae or Innova Evo are a couple of the best foods on the market. Stay away from foods that can be purchased in grocery stores, marts. Canned dog food is not good for your pups teeth. I would only give that on occasion.

Answer 8

Soild Gold Wolf Cub, all of these foods that you named are alright there are alot worse for your dog but you can do so much better, I have good experinaces with Soild Gold and Innova, very good products and my pup and my dads pup (when I see him) both look great good healty heavy coats clean teeth and energy through the roof, I have a 6 month old black lab (65 lbs) 4-5 cups a day Solid Gold Wolf Cub

Answer 9

Of all those. Royal Canine. The others are crappy. But not even Royal Canin quite meets my personal standards. My reccomendation is Merrick puppy plate kibble and canned.

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/









OH WAIT A SEC! Your breeder had her on barf? I agree, barf is way to complicated with all the fruits,veggies,and other stuff you have to throw in. Why not just feed a traditional raw diet that includes basic chicken,fish,organ meat,and eggs. My dog gets raw chicken(with bone),fish,organ meat.



I get fish,chicken,and eggs from my grocery store while i'm shopping for myself. And I buy chicken liver and chicken heart on hare-today gone tommorow.com.



http://www.rawlearning.com/

Answer 10

Honestly, I vote "none of the above".



Hill's Science Diet Puppy (1/6 stars)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=139&cat=all



Eukanuba Puppy (1/6 stars)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=114&cat=all



Royal Canin (2/6 stars)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=278&cat=all



None of them are very good.



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Here is what I look for in a dog/puppy food:



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!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.



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".)



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Here are some puppy foods I recommend (these are my top choices)



Merrick Puppy Plate -

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20280



Chicken Soup Puppy -

http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/products/dogs/dry_food/puppy_formula/



Innova Puppy -

http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=502



Canidae ALS -

http://www.canidae.com/dogs/all_life_stages/dry.html



Wellness Just for Puppy -

http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/dog_wellness_dry_just_for_puppy.html



Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken -

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/showproduct.php?id=2&code=110





Most of the ones listed above are available at places like

- small, locally owned petstores

- holistic pet food stores

- dog boutiques

- feed stores



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If those are hard for you to find, here are some available at Petco/Petsmart (not all stores carry all brands)



Blue Buffalo Puppy -

http://www.bluebuff.com/products/dogs/lp-puppy-chick.shtml

http://www.bluebuff.com/products/dogs/lp-puppy-lamb.shtml



Natural Balance Ultra Premium -

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogform...



Caster & Pollux Natural Ultramix Puppy -

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/store/natural_ultramix/natural_ultramix_puppy_formula



Nutro 'Ultra' Puppy -

http://www.ultraholistic.com/puppy.shtml



Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken -

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/showproduct.php?id=2&code=110





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Here are a couple decent foods from other stores. (Not quite as good as the foods above, but better than Hills, Eukanuba, and Royal Canin.)

Kirkland puppy food (available at Costco)

Drs. Foster & Smith puppy food (available at Target)

.

Answer 11

Eukanuba is the best out of the three. But if you can get your hands on Iams, go with that. Definitely the best I've found.

Answer 12

Hills, Eukanuba, Royal Canin etc are all horrible horrible foods and I would really really suggest staying far away from them. You want the pup to be on the best food from puppy hood to adulthood.



I agree if she was on BARF you are seriously downgrading and you should really stick with that, it is the best way to go about feeding your dog. What do you mean "especially for a puppy"?



This is when she needs it the most, while she's growing and developing.



There are companies that make premade raw diets that you could use until you have done more research on how to create your own. I'll list those for you.



Here's my list of foods that I would highly recommend, especially the grain free foods.



The bad thing (or good thing depending on the opinion) is most, if not all of these foods can not be purchased at chain pet stores such as Petsmart and Petco. They can be bought at smaller independent feed, boutiques and supply stores. Just go to each website and go to the "where to buy" then place in your address, that will get you many stores near you that sell these foods. And who knows, this was how I got one of my jobs after I walked into an independent holistic store for animals looking for ferret food.





Grain Free Foods

Innova Evo

http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp



Orijen

http://www.acana.cz/orijen/orijen/



TimberWolf OceanBlue & Wild and Natural

http://timberwolforganics.com/pet-foods/...

http://timberwolforganics.com/pet-foods/...



Merrick

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/cann...



Wysong Freeze Dried (only the freeze dried version though)

http://www.wysong.net/Merchant2/merchant...



Natures Variety Raw Pellets or freeze dried

http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...

Instinct Grain Free

http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...



Wellness Core

http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/dog_welln...



Barking at the Moon, Solid Gold

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/...

Natures Variety Instinct



Foods that while not being grainfree are of higher quality



Nature's Logic

http://natureslogic.com/



California Natural Sweet Potato and Herring (only this one is suitable for dogs from the California natural Line, others are low quality)

http://www.californianaturalpet.com/prod...



Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul

http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssou...



Innova

http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.a...



Wellness

http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/dog_index...



Life’s Abundance

http://www.healthypetnet.com/HealthyPetN...



TimberWolf (Not the ones mentioned above, the rest are not grain free)

http://timberwolforganics.com/



Solid Gold (Not the one mentioned above, the rest are not grain free)

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/



This is not a complete list, but the best ones I could think of off the top of my head.



When looking for a good dog food you want to keep your eye out for a few important things.



1: The first ingredient should be a whole meat or a meal such as Chicken, Lamb, Venison etc. You will want to avoid food that has a by-product as the first ingredient.



2: Do not buy a food that has by-products in it. These are the leftovers of the leftovers and provide little to no nutritional value and can be harmful. They can be anything - including hooves, horns, feathers etc. They are ingredients from the animal that do not contain enough meat to be called meat.



3: Do not get a food that contains corn of any sort. Corn is an incredibly cheap filler and a grain that all dogs have trouble digesting, and is the cause of many allergies in dogs.



4: Avoid foods that contain soy or wheat. They are indigestible grains that are prone to causing allergies.



5: If you can, buy a food that does not contain any grains at all. Dogs did not evolve to eat grains and their digestive track is not suited for it. It can cause many allergies and health problems. A food free of grains tends to have a higher meat content and higher quality ingredients.



6: Avoid any food that has ingredients such as a "meat by-products/meal" or "poultry by-products/meal". These are non-specific animal remains.



Keeping an eye for all of these factors when choosing your dog food will help insure that you are at least getting a decent quality food.

Answer 13

here is a site that gives you a definition of what is in your dog food www.justfurpets.com