Picky Puppies

Errrrrrr!

When I got Dixie she was on Eukanuba (errrgh), so I switched her to Royal Canin Babydog 30 and then moved onto Royal Canin Puppy 33. When I got Nico he was on Eukanuba too so he got switched to the Puppy 33 with Dixie. Then after TONS of research I decided to switch them to a better dog food. So I went to Dogma in Irvine, Ca and they were really helpful - they took out a ton of samples and lined them up. The puppies chose Innova Evo. So I bought it and gradually switched them over. Well, they barely ate it. So we had to return it and after 7 more samples they chose California Natural Chicken Meal & Rice. STILL, they don't really eat it. When they come to work with me on Fridays they will only eat my friend's dogs' food which is Royal Canin Special and sometimes Chihuahua formula. So, I got another sample of Puppy 33 today and they devoured the entire sample in a sitting.

So as you can see, I would LOVE to get my puppies on a premium food! We went to Centinela Pet Supply in Costa Mesa and we got even more samples and they seemed to enjoy the new Innova Evo Red Meat but I am afraid they won't take to it like the first time.

So what do you guys think? Should I just stick to Royal Canin since they seem to only like that brand? I just want them to be happy and healthy!!!

Thanks!!!

I think you need to wait to switch them to an adult food (especially IVO)? Mordy is the whiz and will better answer your question, but I could have sworn you said they were young pups. Mine is 9 months and I was told to wait until about 2 years...

Really? They told me it was for all life stages so who knows?!

How long did you try to feed the Innova EVO before giving them the Royal Canin? Eating a quality, premium dog food is the equivalent of health food for people--so of course the dog is going to choose the better tasting Royal Canin...at first. I'm sure if you tried long enough the dog would eventually eat the Innova (or other premium food). I know, it's tough to watch your puppy miss a meal, but it is better for them in the long run.

By the way, have you tried Canidae?

Ingredients of Royal Canin Puppy 33:

Chicken meal, chicken, corn gluten meal *filler*, brewers rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), brown rice, dried egg product, beet pulp (sugar removed), natural chicken flavor *what is that?*, brewer's yeast, salmon oil, potassium chloride, sodium silico aluminate, rice hulls, fructo-oligosaccharides *sweetener*, salt, choline chloride, salmon meal *there is more sweetener and salt than there is salmon meal!*, dried apples, dried blueberries, taurine, vitamin E supplement, brewers yeast extract (Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles), ascorbic acid, flax seed, marigold extract, monosodium phosphate, folic acid supplement, zinc oxide, iron sulfate, manganese proteinate, biotin, sage, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, calcium pantothenate, dried ginger, garlic, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, vitamin A supplement, rosemary extract, pyroxidine hydrochloride, sodium selenite, niacin supplement, riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplement.

Ingredients of Innova EVO:
Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavors, Egg, Garlic, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals, Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms

Ingredients in Canidae:
Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Herring Meal, Flax Seed, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Sunflower Oil, Chicken, Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Linoleic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Sage Extract, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin (from Chicory root), Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (source of B2), Beta Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, D-Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Papaya, Vitamin B12 Supplement.

If you search there are many threads about Innova and Innova Evo, like this one for example:

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27704

I am having the same problem with one of my cats.

She refuses to switch over to a better food.
She will literally starve herself.

Right now she is on the bad food (not naming it...lol) because I am going away and can not have a starved cat when I get home... but as soon as I get home I am going to try one more time... this time to switch her to FROMM if she doesnt like it I will let her stay on the other food, I dont know what else to do.

My dog on the other hand I had a ton of problems with, she would eat NOTHING. We finally found that she likes fish foods and we switched her to FROMM.

Good Luck Finding a Food...

I Know the frustration

Elissa

I tried Innova Evo for about 3 weeks. I seriously thought they lost some weight during these three weeks! I know dogs won't starve themselves but they really weren't eating a lot and I limited the treats so that they can eat the Evo.

They did better with the California Natural Chicken Meal and Rice puppy food but they still didn't eat too much. Anytime they are around that Royal Canin food, they eat like there is no tomorrow! I would like for them to eat a better food but don't want to force them...

Fructo-oligo saccharides are not a sweetener.

"Fructo Oligo Saccharide (FOS) also sometimes called "oligofructose", is used as an artificial or alternative sweetener."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructooligosaccharide

Yes, it is also a prebiotic, but if the food contains more FOS than salmon meal I'm leaning towards it not being just a prebiotic/digestive aid.

I do not trust everything I read from wikipedia.....it just happens to be sweet because it has fructose in it....that is no what it's used for.

And just for the record, Royal Canin is not a bad food.

It is true that by definition, FOS are short chains of sugar molecules, but it is also a type of carbohydrate that is barely broken down even in the more complex human digestive system - and a dog's is even less positioned for that.

As such, it functions as a source of fiber, and its specific properties make it more soluble than many others, which is beneficial for the intestinal flora. This is especially important for puppies, since they are born with a sterile intestinal tract that must mature over time to develop a normal flora. FOS also have a beneficial effect on the development of the intestinal mucosa. The beneficial effects are widely recognized in agriculture already and used for improving the development of piglets and calves.

FOS have been proven to be very effective for dealing with yeast and bacterial infection and many more serious diseases, such as leaky gut syndrome, Celiac disease, Crohn's disease, chronic giardiasis (again, specifically a risk in puppies) etc., due to its specific characteristic of nourishing beneficial bacteria strains, but not pathogenic organisms. They also tend to help animals to assimilate their food better.

As for the amount of inclusion in a feed, it has to be fairly high to be effective, so of course it would appear higher up on the ingredient list, especially in a puppy food.

It's easy to bash ingredients in food products for what they seem at first glance, but there's a good number of them that definitely do have a functional application.

Couldn't have said it better myself

All right--we're picking at one point I made out of a few as reasons why there are better foods than Royal Canin. I didn't say that Royal Canin is a bad food at all, just that there are alternatives that might be better.

I never doubted that FOS has health benefits. In fact, I acknowledged its probiotic properties. However, FOS just happens to be sweet and can be used to sweeten foods. It is interesting to me that both Innova and Canidae use Alfalfa and Chicory Root for their FOS/soluble fiber, whereas Royal Canin adds the carbohydrate directly.

Chicory root has FOS....on the bags of Royal Canin it says "Chicory root (fructo-oligosaccharides).

Like I said.

By the way, what is the source of the FOS in the aforementioned puppy food. If it is chicory root, as it is for the Innova and the Canidae, why doesn't the Royal Canin list that explicitly?

It does on the bag, but not on the website.....I think they just put that on the website because above it they describe what it is....it's really not that big of a deal

Wellllll... they are loving the RC. Maybe when they are older I will switch them back to a "better" food. Thanks for all the advice.