Breed specific foods.............huh?

mommakatx2

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#1
I'm looking into switching our bully from Beneful to something better for him. He came to us on Beneful and I didn't want to upset his tummy by switching right away. Bully's are known for their sensitive stomachs (and, ahem, their flatulence), so I'm trying to find something that will be kind to his tummy and his skin.

I came across some "breed specific" foods...like Royal Canin. Do you think breed specific foods are just another dog food ploy or could they be on to something there? Royal Canin is ridiculously expensive...about $45 for a 20ish lb. bag.
 

noludoru

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#2
They're complete nonsense, there to trap gullible and/or ignorant consumers with pretty packaging and promises of a food that is perfect for their dogs.

And I can't believe they cost that much - I'm feeding Kirkland right now, and I pay $22 for a 40lb bag. . .
 

~Jessie~

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#3
+1.

It's just another way for Royal Canin/Eukanuba to play on owners' emotions. A food that promises a shiny coat for your poodle or scentless poop for your Yorkie sounds like such a great idea to most pet owners...However, inside those pretty bags there's nothing but corn midlings and bone meal that doesn't discriminate by breed.

I would definitely recommend checking out www.dogfoodproject.com .
 

SizzleDog

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#4
Scam, total scam. :) The shapes are entertaining, but not enough to ever convince me to buy that cr@p.
 

ihartgonzo

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#5
My BIL's Bulldog was eating Pro Plan with HORRIBLE tummy problems and gas, and I told him he should upgrade... of course, he went and got Royal Canin for Bulldogs. It did absolutely nothing, because the ingredients were still poor quality and chock-full-o' undigestible fillers & allergens. D;

Once I coerced him into buying Innova Evo, his Bully had no more issues and he even slimmed down! My BIL admitted it reluctantly.

Look for foods with absolutely no corn, wheat, soy, dyes, preferably very few or no grains, no by-products, and with high meat content (at least the first ingredient should be a whole meat, or even better, the first few ingredients). Practically anything will be an enormous step up from Beneful, because that really has an assortment of ingredients that will cause bad reactions - dyes, corn, sugars, etc. If you go for a premium kibble that is low or no-grain (Evo, Timberwolf, Taste of the Wild), you might be paying $2/lb, but you will be feeding much, much less because it's so calorie-dense and I'm sure you will see a huge change.
 

vanillasugar

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#7
These foods drive me CRAZY!

I had a customer with a bulldog that had BAD allergies. She was feeding Wellness Lamb, and he was doing okay on it (though there are other foods I would have reccomended, she was stuck on lamb). One day she came in and I noticed his skin looked AWFUL. Much worse than normal. She also hadn't been in to buy food in awhile. When I asked, she said proudly that she'd switched him to Royal Canin Bulldog.

This was two years ago. In spite of my suggestions that a) the food was a downgrade in quality to what she was feeding, and b) he's doing VERY poorly on it, she's completely sold on the marketing ploy, and is still feeding it.

*shakes head*

I echo the suggestion that you check out dogfoodproject.com, it's a lot of reading, but WELL worth it!
 

Gerald

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#8
I think breed specific foods are designed specifically to get your money, and are just marketing.
 
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#9
there was this guy at the dog park the other day saying how he feeds a high quality expensive food...turns out it was royal canin. I Laughed.

Aparently bulldog owners really love the shape of the bulldog kibble...


Its totally a gimick. In reptiles they slap an iguanas picture on everything even very inapropriate items and then people buy it because they have an iguana.

Good marketing i suppose.
 

SizzleDog

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#10
Its totally a gimick. In reptiles they slap an iguanas picture on everything even very inapropriate items and then people buy it because they have an iguana.

Good marketing i suppose.
Same thing with hamsters, rats, and snakes. Ugh.

But I must admit, it almost worked on me - Innova RM has a Doberman on the bag, and I was soo close to buying it.. until I calculated the cost and realized it was cheaper to feed the original EVO than it was to feed Innova RM. Sorry, I'll go for the cheaper grain free kibble. ;)

But since Ada recently told me that her tummy does funky things on EVO, we're going to get a small bag of Innova RM for her. Mwaha, I found a way to get the Doberman bag, woohoo!
 

Fran101

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#11
im guilty of it, lol when i got my first dog. i was reading the label on the royal canin breed specific labrador food and they just made it sound so good. so i bought it, and my dog did HORRIBLY so she went back to wellness

a friend of mine got the min pin royal canine, and the coker spaniel one
only to discover that both foods are EXACTLY the same lol
 

Romy

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#12
But since Ada recently told me that her tummy does funky things on EVO, we're going to get a small bag of Innova RM for her. Mwaha, I found a way to get the Doberman bag, woohoo!
For the one non-doberman in your household, :rofl1:

I don't know if it is "Breed specific" or just a coincidence, but a lot of the borzoi people I know say their dogs do better on red meat. I know mine does. There are also certain supplements that have the effect of making many borzoi's blow their coats, when it does amazing things for other dogs (the ones I know personally happen to be beagles and collies).

There may be something to it. Filas are adapted to handling spicy chiles and things that would have any other dog clearing a room. :lol-sign: No dog food company has ever put in the time and research to develop something that they could say, definitely, has an edge to it for one specific breed..except possibly Eagle Pack's large breed dog food and great danes. They actually did multi generational feeding tests with that food to perfect their large breed formula, and were pretty successful with it too. They don't advertise it as breed specific though, just large breed.
 
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#13
I have met several people who were gullible enough to buy the same crappy ingredients they were feeding their dogs, but in more expensive form (Royal Canin, Eukanuba). I feed Kirkland Signature, and like it. And its inexpensive, and my dogs do great on it. So little people actually know about it, so I try and talk to people when I go to the dog park about it.
 

Shadow945

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#14
my pit bull has tried them all. He hasn't really had digestive issues with most of them. He did throw up a few times on Nutro, but other than that he hasn't really had problems. But he has had allergy problems with a few of the foods. Right now he's on Taste of the Wild and hasn't had any problems.
 

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