Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier: analysis of the composition of the feed, reviews

Nutrition is the basis of a dog's health, quality of life, and longevity. Choosing food for many dog ​​lovers becomes a real challenge. Why? It's simple: the market for pet products today is represented by a huge variety of manufacturers who are ready to offer their food. Each of them assures of the naturalness of the composition, the benefits for the dog's body, the absence of preservatives and much, much more. But who is it really worth believing? Let's figure it out together!

Today PetGlobals offers to get acquainted with the food from Royal Canin (Royal Canin) for the West Highland White Terrier breed. In general, the compositions of different dry feeds of this manufacturer are largely similar, as a rule, only some individual ingredients differ. So this review will help you in deciding whether or not to buy feed from Royal Canin of another series.

This article is not intended to advertise or anti-advertise Royal Canin dry food. Only our personal, unbiased assessment as consumers.

Dry food Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier

Despite the fact that there are a lot of dry dog ​​food manufacturers today, there are those among them that are most "heard". Perhaps one of them is Royal Canin. They have a wide variety of product lines: for adults, senior dogs, puppies, lactating bitches, for certain breeds, veterinary. This allows you to select food depending on the individual characteristics, health, allergies of your pet. What is convenient, you must agree. However, various controversies and discussions constantly arise around the Royal:

Why do many veterinarians recommend this particular manufacturer? Are they not being paid extra for such a "passive sale"?

The composition of the feed does not differ in naturalness.

Feed production can be in Russia and in Europe. The quality, according to the dog breeders, is very different.

Unfortunately, we cannot answer the first and third questions, but we will try to figure out the composition of the feed.

Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier: composition

INGREDIENTS: corn flour, dehydrated animal proteins (poultry), rice, corn, animal fats, hydrolyzate of animal proteins (flavors), dehydrated animal proteins (pork) *, wheat, chicory extract, soybean oil, fish oil, mineral substances, flaxseed (0.5%), fructooligosaccharides, borage oil (0.1%), marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolyzate from crustacean shell (source of glucosamine), hydrolyzate from cartilage (source of chondroitin).

SUPPLEMENTS (per 1 kg): Nutritional supplements: Vitamin A: 29500 ME, Vitamin D3: 800 ME, Iron: 98 mg, Iodine: 5.8 mg, Copper: 6 mg, Manganese: 63 mg, Zinc: 142 mg, Celen : 0.31 mg - Technological additives: Clinoptilolite of sedimentary origin: 10 g - Tea extract (source of polyphenols): 150 mg - Preservatives - Antioxidants.

NUTRIENT CONTENT: Proteins: 21.0% - Fats: 16.0% - Minerals: 6.0% - Food fiber: 1.4% - In 1 kg: EPA & DHA: 3 g - Sodium tripolyphosphate: 3, 5 g

Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier: roster analysis

Agree, nothing is clear. At least if you are an ordinary person without any specialized education in this field. There are many complex names and it is completely unclear what is behind them.

Let's go in order.

First of all, you need to pay attention to the first three or four ingredients: they are the basis of the feed. What do we see there? Corn meal, dehydrated animal proteins (poultry), rice, corn. With rice, corn and flour everything is clear, but what are these dehydrated proteins?

Dehydrated animal protein is dried protein from animal soft tissues. Very often, the packaging does not indicate the animal from whose tissues this very protein is. If, however, it is indicated, then as a rule in brackets and in percentage terms. In our case, it is indicated that this is a bird, but which one is not clear.

This "meat meal" is characterized by a high protein content and good digestibility. It should be noted that its basis is usually those parts of the bird that are not suitable for human nutrition.

What do we have as a result? The feed is based on dubious meat flour, rice and corn. In essence, you are offering your dog a very expensive porridge in an expensive, beautiful package.

We look further.

Hydrolyzate of proteins of animal origin (flavoring additives). A hydrolyzate is a broken down protein. It is easily digested by a dog, but at the same time it is not of high quality, it is usually added to reduce the cost of the product. Again, what flavoring additives? Not known.

Dehydrated proteins of animal origin (pork). The same story as with the bird.

Chicory is added for better feed digestibility.

Soybean oil has a beneficial effect on the health of the skin, the beauty of the coat.

Fructo-oligosaccharides help maintain good gut microflora in your dog.

Marigold extract (source of lutein - important for vision), hydrolyzate from crustacean shells (source of glucosamine - health of joints), hydrolyzate from cartilage (source of chondroitin - health of cartilage).

What can we conclude from the composition of Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier? First of all, it is the fact that its basis is not meat, but cereals. And this is not exactly what I would like to get for a relatively small cost of goods. Plus it is not specified which flavorings are added specifically. Otherwise, the composition contains components that will allow the feed to be easily absorbed by the animals, will be useful for bones, joints, cartilage, vision, skin and hair. Plus, the presence of rice in the composition is also good, since it is the least allergenic cereal for dogs.

Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier: consumer review

By purchasing a puppy of this breed, our breeder immediately said that she is allergenic, and therefore problems may arise with the selection of a suitable diet for the quadruped. She advised “not to reinvent the wheel,” but to opt for dry food. When asked which food to choose, we were told that on her Vestiki Royal Kanin showed himself very well: there are no smudges under the eyes, the coat does not turn red or yellow, the skin does not suffer either. To my remark that the composition is not the best, the breeder said that she agreed and tried to transfer her pets to both the Hills and Akana, for example. As a result: reddening of the coat. With Royal - everything is super.

Actually, the same story has developed with me. First we fed Royal Canin for the puppies, and then for Vestov. I don't know why, but despite the absolutely clean coat and the good condition of the dog, I wanted to try something better. I tried several different manufacturers and their hypoallergenic lines. The coat turned red and very quickly: at the face, in the armpits, on the paws, the skin turned red and periodically covered with acne.

It was decided to return to Royal Canin West Highland White Terrier.

Today my Vestik eats this food with periodic inclusion of canned meat, individual vegetables, cottage cheese, eggs. Coat and leather in perfect condition.

As you can see, despite not the best composition, the food can work quite well and suit the dog. Whether or not to make a choice in its favor is only your decision. We just wanted to show that beautiful packaging and large advertising budgets might not be what you would like to see.