Raw Vs Royal Canin

[Baby Dragon]

I currently feed VAN and raw (chicken frames/offal/fish etc) but I'm thinking of switching to Royal Canin.

Has anyone tried feeding both at different times? Which did you find was better for your dog, and what were the pros and cons?

Royal Canin would definitely be much easier for me, but I'm more concerned with what would be best for my dog. He's a Lab x.

Thanks

Edited August 16, 2009 by Baby Dragon

[Staranais]

I currently feed VAN and raw (chicken frames/offal/fish etc) but I'm thinking of switching to Royal Canin.

Has anyone tried feeding both at different times? Which did you find was better for your dog, and what were the pros and cons?

Royal Canin would definitely be much easier for me, but I'm more concerned with what would be best for my dog. He's a Lab x.

Thanks

I've fed both raw and Royal canin at the same time to my dog (different meals), and was quite happy with combining them. Royal canin is a pretty good kibble, but raw meat and bones are also healthy and particularly great for teeth. Combing the two was pretty convenient, since I'd do a kibble meal when I was rushed for time or when I wanted to use his meal for training purposes, and a raw meal when I had the time to defrost the bones and supervise him eating.

I'd say give it a go and see if your dog thrives on it.

[Baby Dragon]

Thanks Staranais That sounds like a good option.

How did you manage to keep the raw balance right (meat/bones/offal/liver) when combining the two?

[Staranais]

Thanks Staranais That sounds like a good option.

How did you manage to keep the raw balance right (meat/bones/offal/liver) when combining the two?

Well, just feed a mini version of a raw diet, use the same proportions of raw foods as you would feed if you were feeding only raw. My version of raw is approx 40% chicken frames, approx 40% raw red meat, 5% liver, 5% other organs, and the remaining 10% made up of fish, eggs, veges, and fruit.

So for the half of the diet that my dog gets raw, she gets those same proportions, just half as much food as she'd get as if she were eating only raw.

Come on over to the raw thread if you like.

[Baby Dragon]

Ahhh that sounds confusing!! But it's probably really easy... so what I'm feeding now (100% raw), just half everything, including the VAN? Then for the other half, feed RC?

[Staranais]

Ahhh that sounds confusing!! But it's probably really easy... so what I'm feeding now (100% raw), just half everything, including the VAN? Then for the other half, feed RC?

Yup that's what I do. Feed half as much RC as you would if you were just feeding RC (guideline should be on side of packet), and half as much raw as you'd feed were you just feeding raw.

[WreckitWhippet]

We mainly feed raw , but when we do use kibble ( for travel and certain dogs here ) we now use R.C.

I've been very happy with the condition the dogs are in.

[Baby Dragon]

Thanks guys ;)

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

RC has many different formulations. I'd be trying to get that right if you do decide to combine it with raw foods.

I have trialled Lilly (greyhound) on two RC formulations: the vegetarian one (worked okay) and the large dog (can't remember which formulation now, it was years ago), and she had enormous poos, lots of farts, and plenty of tummy gurgles so I eventually discovered raw and haven't looked back.

My allergy dog has had RC when travelling, which was okay for her but I wouldn't use it regularly. Raw just suits us better - the dogs' health comes first, my convenience second!

I've got no problems in defrosting their meals. If I happen to forget to get something out of the freezer, I defrost it in the microwave oven - great inventions! The real issue here is the cost - feeding raw is quite expensive in Darwin (as is everything else).