Having been in the pet shop trade for some 17+ years and with questions from customers who often ask which food is best for my dog I have put together an overview of the main differences in complete dog foods that are currently available.I use Royal Canin and that has a 25% protein level and being the medium adult food, you will observe that this is true of the other food in this range. The reason I use Royal Canin dog food is because I was told by my dog trainer and breeder to look for a food that had all natural ingredients with no more than 25% protein, My understanding is that pet dogs can't process to much protein and high levels can effect them in later life, such as contributing to Kidney disease.

1. Here is my overview of Royal Canin dog food in comparison to other complete dog foods.
Having been in the pet shop trade for some 17+ years and with questions from customers who
often ask which food is best for my dog I have put together an overview of the main differences
in complete dog foods that are currently available.I use Royal Canin and that has a 25% protein
level and being the medium adult food, you will observe that this is true of the other food in this
range.
The reason I use Royal Canin dog food is because I was told by my dog trainer and breeder to
look for a food that had all natural ingredients with no more than 25% protein, My understanding
is that pet dogs can't process to much protein and high levels can effect them in later life, such as
contributing to Kidney disease.
It does of course depend on what your dog does etc, all complete dried dog foods have a varying
amount of protein for a reason - ie - high levels of protein are needed for working dogs or those
that are doing activities like hunting or are on the go all day. Puppies and bitches in whelp also
need a higher protein level in their diet because of the stresses and demands on the mother and
the fast growth of puppies and young dogs.
Also the 'quality' of the protein needs to be taken into account, as well as what your dogs do as
mentioned active & working dogs need higher protein levels then senior dogs. Puppies are
always a concern with me as too fast a growth and two higher protein levels can be damaging in
later years and this can also be true between different breeds, this is were Royal Canin come into
their own with their breed specific foods which I can also recommend. If you use a high protein
food for your dog it may be more expensive to buy per kilo but you will need to feed less of it
than if you feed a ‘cheaper’ lower protein dog food.
EG: A 15kg bag of food that is 30% protein on a 30kg dog would last a little longer than a 15kg
bag of food that is 20% protein but the activity level and general appetite of your dog would
probably have an effect on this. You should not feed your dog a 30% protein food just because it

2. is cheaper as it may well not suit the dog.I would only recommend using a low protein dog food
of less than 25% if the dog is old or overweight. These cheaper and low protein foods tend to be
bulked out with more rice and so the dog thinks he / she has eaten more. Basically, it doesn't
really matter what the protein level is - if you have a high protein one, you'll feed less and if you
have a low protein one, you'll feed slightly more - the protein then balances itself out, hence why
there are feeding guidelines.
The average protein level for adult foods is 25% on adult maintenance diets. You'd feed a 30%
protein to puppies or working or show dogs with high activity.I think the ingredient content,
where its sourced from, if its hypoallergenic is much more important. You should look out for
good quality ingredients in the dog food as Royal Canin always use in theirs.
Gordon Bloomfield © 2014
www.allpet.co.uk
Referral Link-:http://allpet1.tumblr.com/
Address:
The Pet & Reptile Ranch
12-14 London Street
Faringdon
Oxfordshire
SN7 7AA
Phone: 01367 244828
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm