Royal Canin Maxi Junior

[Laylee]

I read the other post about Royal Canin but it's not open to further replies and I just want a second opinion. My breeder says she's raised all her litters and show dogs on Royal Canin and she says it's great. (She gets sponsored by Bob and Lush now so raises her litters on that (organic food, grain-free, no additives, etc) but recommends Royal Canin because it's just as good but less money.

Should I buy it? It has a 2.5 star review on Dog Food Advisor, and alot of you on here don't recommend it either. So I'm guessing the answer will be no! But if my breeder recommends it should I stick to that then switch when he gets older.

He's 8 weeks old, I feed him 4 times a day, and one of those meals is home cooked (and raw meat will be I trounced next week too).

Thanks

 

[Laylee]

PS the one I bought for the moment is Barking Heads Large Breed Puppy which is all-natural ingredients but does contain grains and egg (he seems to be fine but i'm still unsure wether i should go grain-free or not, there's just so much choice out there!)

I was thinking of Acana because that's in my price range and it's a 4 star food. I'm in the UK so I need something that's available here.

 

[Laylee]

Barking Heads is a 4 star food, all natural, etc, so I'd be happy to stick with it unless any of you think otherwise?

 

[Roge]

I've not heard of Barking heads but 4* is 4* however Boxers are not large breed dogs and I don't think it advised to feed it , something to do with over encouraging groth spurts .. And as far as I know a pup as young as yours will not show signs of grain alergy For a while yet .. But Boxers do seem to tend to not do well with it hence encouraging yeast infections .,,
I am by no means an expert on this and am only quoting what I remember reading on some thread or other .., maybe someone more knowledgeable on the subject will chime in ...
Acana is popular and is one of the recommended brands but with all food it is trial and error until you find what fits your boy best ..
I'm with you on the confusion on choosing food it takes me ages to chose one , like you I do not have the large varity that our lucky comrades state side have , it's just a matter of sourcing what's best ...

 

[Laylee]

Thanks! Do you shop on eBay? There's more choice on there and it's where I can get TOTW and Acana, Orijen (way out of my price range though!) etc.

I'm going to buy some smaller bags of a few different brands, plus some Natural Instinct BARF options and try him out with a few. But like you say, he won't have developed allergies yet so I guess he'll do well on anything at the moment. Maybe me switching up his food will do more harm than good at this point. And as you say, if I feed him grain food then it could encourage infections/allergies. Some say they need grains for energy, some (mostly BARF enthusiasts) say it's not "natural" for a dog to eat carbs.

Yeah, some say they're a medium breed and some say large. I go by what his adult weight will be and so he's classed as large. The Maxi Junior is recommended by the breeder and that's for large breeds. He is very big boned etc (the breeder called him "Big Boy") so I don't think the large breed option will do him any harm. I hope :/

 

[Roge]

No I don't shop on eBay , there are lots of online pet stores , shop around as you can pick up some good special offers ... Don't try too may different foods though or his system will go haywire .. You should transition slowly from one to another .. Don't agree with the large breed thoughts though , it's at the growing phase that the harm is done and it's impossible to say what his adult weight / size will be ... Roge's parents were small to average size dogs and he turned out to be much bigger than them .. 38 kg and he is not fat .
Anyhow each to their own ..it would be impossible to agree on everything !!
I think that Grains are used mainly as fillers not because there is a need for carbs .. And I can tell you for sure that your boy will not need carbs for energy , You will have your work cut out for you trying to burn off his energy , boxers usually don't settle into adulthood until about 3 yrs of age But it's all great fun .. Enjoy him as a pup because they grow soooo quickly !!!

 

[Jan]

I agree with Helen. I would not feed large breed food and I would try to avoid grains. You will never find a dog chowing down in a grain field.

Ideally, you should choose about 3 foods that your dog does well on and switch between them every 3 months or so. The foods should have different meat sources and ideally they are from different manufacturers. This will help to ensure that your dog doesn't develop allergies and get a well rounded diet.

Good luck!

 

[Laylee]

Alot of the online stores list their products on eBay. But I should shop elsewhere too and see if I can get a good deal. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice! I just bought Barking Heads Grain-Free Puppy Days. You were both right they shouldn't be fed the large breed puppy food. Even on the Barking Heads Little Big Foot (large breed puppy) food that I have now (only bought it yesterday so he hasn't been long on it thankfully) it says to feed all breeds Puppy Days at first :( Hope it arrives quickly.

I also bought some Natural Instinct Puppy Complete for the raw option, plus some of their raw treats, I'll give him one meal of that a day and the rest will be the dry food.

And thanks, I'll definately do that. I like the idea of switching his food every few months to keep it interesting for him. I'll buy a 13kg bag of Acana Puppy and Junior once BH runs out. I'm kicking myself for not going with my gut and buying that to begin with! The more research I did the more confused I got and ended up making the wrong choice.

 

[Laylee]

Until the grain-free Puppy Days arrives should I just feed him slightly less Little Big Foot? It's 50% chicken and salmon (boneless chicken and dried chicken). The analytical content is 26% crude protein, 17% fat, inorganic matter 7.25%, crude fibres 3%, moisture 8%, DHA 0.3%, calcium 1.3%, phosphorous 1.1%, omega 6 2.2%, omega 3 1.1%

I checked the ingredients of puppy days (regular, not grain-free because they didnt stock it) and little big foot in the shop and they looked to be near enough the same which is why I opted for LBF. I think the fat contents differed by 2%.

 

[Laylee]

Sorry, just an update for anyone reading. I was reading the "Ingredients" section of All About Dog Food (the UK version of DFA) and found that grains like rice and oats (both included in the regular Barking Heads food) are actually ok, they weren't given the red warning sign that grains like wheat were.

So me buying the "grain-free" version of puppy days probably wasn't necessary since the grains the regular puppy days included are highly nutritious.

It just feels like everything is a marketing gimmick and does nothing but produce fear and anxiety in consumers, just like everything else in a consumer-led economy, which then leads people to buy more.

After driving myself insane researching different dog foods and diets it's just left me feeling annoyed and distrustful of brands, instead of confident.