Dog hates Royal Canin - any recommendations?

[cm1989]

Hey everyone. My small dog (beagle x chihuahua mix) was on Orijen Puppy and she loved it. Was always excited about food time. However, she was itchy, and the vet thinks it’s the amount of fish or something with Orijen products (she had an even worse reaction when we gave her orijen six fish treats but does well with Blue Salmon Treats for example). Her stool was not very good as well.

We then transitioned her to Royal Canin Small Breed Puppy. She’s no longer itchy and her poop looks fine. But she simply hates it. She eats it because she’s healthy and knows she needs to survive, but she’s always spitting it, and takes FOREVER to go to her bowl. She sometimes complains when she sees the bowl. She’s not picky cause she eats it, she’s just not happy and always leave a considerable amount of leftovers.

Do you guys have any recommendations? Any experience with a brand that made your dogs eat well? We were thinking about Hills Science Diet but don’t know. Some people say it smells like real food, which was something we appreciated about Orijen (and she probably liked it too). We are just trying to avoid anything too similar to Orijen because of her experience, but we still want something that tastes good. Any tip is welcome. Thanks!

 

[xavier363]

@cm1989 The Pro Plan line with shredded pieces in it is almost always a homerun. It's high quality, research backed, and actually formulated by experts.

 

[berean1611]

@xavier363 I give my dog the sensitive skin and stomach food from proplan. There are lamb, salmon, and turkey options.

 

[keepstronghavefaith]

@cm1989 I had a dog that was a real picky eater. She wouldn’t eat RC. She rather starved. She didn’t like Acana, but ate, didn’t go near Orijen for some reason. Had her on another grain free kibble for a while, which she ate, but not very enthusiastically. Took home a bag of eukanuba one day. I had never seen her drool like that. Also her stool improved and she got a better coat.

 

[yourstruly1]

@cm1989 I'd try Fromm! In my experience dog's go crazy for Fromm. I'd hand out samples at the store I worked out and 9 times out of 10 owners would be switching saying they'd never seen their picky dog drool over food like they do for Fromm. Their Gold and Four Star lines are awesome.

If that doesn't interest you take at look at Merrick or Instinct (they both have freeze dried bits of meat mixed with the kibble)

Adding wet food can also really help get picky dogs out of their shell. Take a look at Merrick's canned foods or Weruva. Those are the best canned food on the market. Both have facilities that are some of the best examples of canning facilities even by human standards!

 

[mikael7]

@cm1989 We love stella and chewy essential grains! I also add on the dinner duster. My cav’s coat changed dramatically after switching btw. So silky and shiny.

 

[cm1989]

@mikael7 Just an update: we tried taste of the wild and she wouldn’t touch it. Today we started transitioning to Hills Science and was her first full bowl in weeks. Optimistic but let’s see how it goes.

 

[rosaryson]

@cm1989 My dogs like the purina pro plan shredded blend. It has freeze dried bits of meat

 

[rd0845336]

@cm1989 The Honest Kitchen is one that my picky dog likes. I have no idea why because to my nose, other food smells so much more enticing.

Farmina is also one of our favorites. I tend to go back and forth between the two.

My current puppy is on Merrick Puppy Food. Pretty good, and he likes it — but not as much as the Nutrisource the rescue fed him. Haven’t yet decided what I’ll feed next but I can’t wait for the two to be on the same food!

 

[anaperez]

@cm1989 Not hills! They’ve had a ton of recalls. We love Acana!

 

[xavier363]

@anaperez I don't understand why people automatically assume recalls are a sign of bad quality. The goal is to obviously not have a recall, but things happen sometimes.

Recalls cost a TON of money, and the only reason a lot of smaller brands haven't had them is because they literally cannot afford one (meaning they leave potentially dangerous food on the market).

Hills isn't my top pick out of the foods that meet WSAVA guidelines, but they are better than foods that don't meet those (very simple) guidelines.

 

[anaperez]

@xavier363 I completely understand what you’re saying and yes, things do happen, but they’ve had way too many recalls recently for me to be personally comfortable giving their food to my pet. A recall randomly might be a sign of them being willing to do what’s right and maintain the quality of their food, for sure. But multiple recalls just seem very concerning to me, especially considering that animals have died because of these issues with the food that they’re recalling (their lawyer admitted that hundreds of dogs have died because of the 2019 recall). Most recently, they’ve had recalls in 2019, 2015, 2014 and 2007. To each their own, but it’s not for me is all I’m saying.

 

[xavier363]

@anaperez Oh I'm not telling you that you're wrong for not being comfortable feeding their food. I don't feed it either, but I was just clarifying that it's not always a sign of issues. Hell sometimes it's as simple as a bad supplier (often the case when it's vitamin/mineral related), which can happen to anyone, especially once you get up to the market share that they have.

 

[cm1989]

@anaperez Yeah, we considered Acana, but it’s almost the same as Orijen. We think she’ll like it but might run into the same health issues we had with Orijen Puppy.

 

[sheba92766]

@cm1989 Literally avoid anything by the big 3 companies, hills, purina, and mars. I second acana. They aren’t as top quality as orijen but they do have formulas without fish.

 

[mullygrubs]

@cm1989 You should check out meat feeding options also

 

[h%C3%A5ndflade]

@cm1989 lol the vet got ya good! XD

 

[cm1989]

@h%C3%A5ndflade …Why? We didn’t buy anything from her and, well, coincidence or not, my puppy is no longer itchy after we stopped feeding Orijen, and Orijen six fish made her worse. So what the vet says def makes sense…

 

[loser82070]

@cm1989 I switched my blue pit from orijen to Victor and she doing even better..