Should I switch my overweight dog from Merrick to Royal Canin?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Royal Canin is a great brand. It has been around for a very long time, and the company performs a large amount of testing to confirm that the food has the appropriate levels of nutrients. The weight control diet likely has a larger amount of fiber in it to keep Chloe satisfied longer. To help Chloe lose weight, you can also cut down the treats and replace with things like ice cubes, string beans, or baby carrots in small amounts. I hope this helps!

Hi there! Let me see if I can help you with Brownie. I always recommend "The Big 4" as far as brands, as they are the most balanced diets on the market for dogs and cats. They are Purina, Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Eukanuba-Iams. That being said, I always point out that when changing diets we go slowly over a week to ten days' time. You can follow the guide in this link to try to avoid causing any gastrointestinal upset like vomiting or diarrhea: https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/nutrition-feeding/how-to-transition-my-dogs-food I would check the bag and make sure that you measure the food and stick to the recommended calories per day, taking into account any additional calories like treats, table food, or dental chews. We can sometimes be surprised how many calories are in a milkbone even. You can try a reduced fat or weight loss diet made by one of the brands mentioned above, and see if that helps. Before starting I always recommend a vet visit. An exam can be very helpful in making the initial weight loss plan. I will often discuss trying cutting out snacks and treats, a reduced fat diet, and monthly weight checks. If there isn't a difference in about 6 weeks, I will recommend checking thyroid levels to see if that is functioning OK. If not, that can slow down metabolism and cause weight gain. And if all is well and we're still having trouble, there are prescription diets that we can try to help reset the metabolism like Hill's metabolic. I hope you find this answer helpful. Best of luck!

Pro Plan is actually a good dog food. So unless your dogs have a problem with the food, I would not change. If you do indeed need to change dog food you can change to Royal Canine, Hill´s or Iams or any other reputable feed brand. Make sure you get a complete food for the size of your dogs. There is so much choice that it would be too much to list. I do not recommend Blue Buffalo as I have seen quite a few dogs on that brand who are not doing so well. Yes, definitely stay away from grain free dog food.

In general, it is not recommended to feed dogs a grain free diet unless they are known to have a grain allergy (which is very uncommon). There are many misconceptions about pet nutrition circulating. While the link is not yet understood and has multiple factors, something about the grain free diets may be allowing heart disease to develop in certain dogs. I recommend to feed a high quality brand with a good reputation and minimal problems with food recalls. The brand I like the most is Royal Canin. They conduct feeding trials to measure the digestibility of their diets. Most pets who eat this brand have excellent coat and stool quality. They also tend to produce minimal stool which is a sign the diet does not contain fillers and is highly digestible. I also recommend Nutro and Purina Pro Plan. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Great question! In my opinion, grain free diets are a current fad. There is actually no scientific evidence that grain free diets are beneficial to dogs at all. Grains are fine for dogs, they provide a source of fiber which helps fill them up and keeps them satisfied. It sounds like Koda is letting you know he likes grains if he's picking the Royal Canin over Blue. Also in my opinion, Blue is a terrible food and you will find many, many veterinarians agree with that opinion. It is not a well regarded food in the veterinary community. Many vets have seen terrible cases of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in dogs in Blue, as well as a lot of gas. In addition, they have been caught a number of times lying about what goes into their product, false advertising, and no quality control over how their food is made (they don't own their own factories, they send the recipe out to be made). Royal Canin is an excellent brand of food, and the best part of it is that they have veterinary nutritionists on staff. Blue, as far as I'm aware, does not. I would think a veterinary nutritionist would be best to know what a dog does and doesn't need in a diet. If Koda likes the Royal Canin, I recommend feeding that to him. Just be sure to switch his food over slowly so that he doesn't get GI upset from a quick change. I hope this helps!

It's really important to consider your sources when it comes to information about pet foods. For example, a popular pet food "review" website here in the US is run by a human dentist with no veterinary training. I recommend feeding balanced diets that meet the World Small Animal Veterinary Association nutrition guidelines (https://wsava.org/global-guidelines/global-nutrition-guidelines/). Examples of these good quality brands, which I recommend, include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, Iams and Eukanuba. All of these brands have been formulated by a veterinary nutritionist and have been appropriately tested. I think Royal Canin (or one of the other brands I'd mentioned) is a much better option than Merrick. I hope this helps and that all goes well!

Yes, Royal Canin is one of the best diets available and it’s what I feed my own dogs and cats. Get the large breed puppy or the golden retriever puppy diet and feed this until he is 1 year old. Make sure to transition the diet over 1 week to avoid causing GI upset. I hope this helps.