Is Royal Canin Cavalier dog food 25% protein safe for heart health?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Unless your vet had given you specific diet requirements for a specific disease (kidney disease for example), this percentage should be fine. I will warn that some dogs actually develop diarrhea on high-protein foods, though I have seen many pets do great on it. Best wishes to you and Chloe!

Yes, provided that Chloe is at a healthy body weight, 18% fat on a dry matter basis is fairly average for most dog foods and should be perfectly fine. I can't comment as to the volume of food that she is being fed because the caloric density of foods can vary widely. However, if you have further questions about feeding Chloe an appropriate amount, feel free to request a consultation or post additional questions.

It will make little difference in the long run. Dogs rarely develop heart disease due to a high fat diet like humans do. The heart disease a Cavalier is predisposed to stems from a failure or weakening of the heart valves that control blood flow through the heart. As long as Chloe is active and not overweight, the diet change is fine. Switch food gradually to avoid GI upset.

Hello, neither of them are wrong or better than one another. The difference being is that the food with the higher protein is likely leaner (more energy is derived from protein) and has less carbohydrates or fat associated with it. Now, unless your dog is working dog, she may not need that much extra protein. Vice versa, the lower protein food may have a higher carbohydrate or fat percentage. Both foods however, if formulated for "maintenance" should meet the AAFCO requirements for energy of an adult dog. Meaning, you're going to be feeding the same amount of energy to Chloe, except one is going to be coming mainly from protein and the other one from fat and/or carbs. AAFCO recommends a minimum protein content of 18% in canine dog food formulations for maintenance. Therefore both of the foods you were feeding meet this minimum requirement. One of the contraindications for a high protein food is if your dog has kidney disease. With kidney disease, excess protein may worsen this disease and therefore, kidney diets actually contain less protein. Hope this helps.

Hi and thanks for your post! Since Chloe is lightly active, I would choose the lower protein option (20% verses 25%). Higher protein foods are more appropriate for working dogs and highly active dogs. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Royal Canin diets are all formulated with pre-biotics which help support a health gut bacteria. You could add in an additional probiotic but you may not see a huge amount of benefits BUT it will not hurt anything. Purina makes a very nice probiotic called FortiFlora and that would be the one I recommend. The Bio-Cardio may be beneficial but to the best of my knowledge, no testing has been done to know for sure if this is effective or not. Royal Canin does make a diet specific for Cavaliers that has additives for heart heath. They also make a diet for pets with heart disease or even just heart murmurs. They have done some studies indicating that these diets do impact heart health. Your fatty acid supplement does help to maintain heart health through its natural anti-inflammatory properties. I would recommend to look into the other diets and discuss with your vet if these may be good option for Chloe. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

This is a great question, and thanks for taking such good care of Chloe! Salt is added to most dog food to improve the flavor, and it is not common to have variable amounts depending on the food. We do not recommend salt restricted foods unless a dog is already in Congestive Heart Failure, at the recommendation of your veterinarian. What is most important for Chloe is that you are feeding a high quality diet that helps her have a healthy coat and normal, formed feces. Hope this helps!