7 year old Lab: Low Fat Food Recommendations

[DazedandConfused]

We have a 7 year old Lab who recently suffered from a bad bout of pancreatitis. We normally feed him Chuddley's dry food but the vet has recommended switching him to specific low fat Royal Canin tins (which we need to buy from him).

These cans are ~2.5% fat but 80% water meaning the dry fat % is ~10% which is about the same as what he has normally anyway: has anybody had any similar experiences or recommendations for alternatives?

Note: not to be really tight & we care more about the dog than the cost, but the existing bags are £12 for 4-6 weeks as opposed to £2 per tin (needing 3-4 a day)!

[bexVN]

I cannot go against your vets advice but for people needing to be careful with their pennies (and I'm fully aware that Royal Canin can be expensive) we often suggest trying chappie, it is a very easily digested food and low in fat which is what you need after a case of pancreatitis.

There is no guarantees the condition won't return (though I hope for your dog it doesn't, such a painful condition for them ). What may be an idea is to use Royal Canin for the next month and if you don't get any further problems, slowly (and I mean VERY slowly over several days) change over to Chappie (as long as your vet is ok with this).

To play safe and you've probbly been told already, NO other foods/ treats/ dental chews anything for quite a while. Easy to say I know but try your best.

There are other low fat foods (I think Burns do one) but I'm not so familiar with using these in cases like this.

[DazedandConfused]

Thanks for the reply BexVN.

The incident happened ~ 2 months ago and we kept him on the Royal Canin tins for about 6 weeks. Last week we started him back on a different dry mix (fish based as the Vet suggested fish was easier to digest) - which, touch wood, has had no ill affects.

He gets no deliberate scraps or leftovers (but we have a 5 year old and a 7 year old who drop food with alarming regularity and it's amazing how quick a Lab can be going for food).

Really my question is: Bearing in mind we really don't want a re-occurrence, is there anything else about the Royal Canin that makes it good for his condition or is it just the low % fat (as it doesn't seem that low to me!).

I'd probably prefer just to prepare food from scratch which would be significantly less % fat if that is better e.g. I had a dog before that was told to go on a chicken breast / rice diet that couldn't be more than 5% (can't say I checked but the chicken alone is 6.5% according to the first google hit)

Sorry for the long winded response but looking at your profile you look like the person to ask.

[bexVN]

http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/vet/clinical_diets/can...

This link has pdf files which you may find interesting to look at (unless you've seen them before)

Comparing food contents of different diets is tricky as the ingredients shown in % can be done as dry matter whether wet or dry and vice versa and they don't always say how it's been measured thus it becomes misleading

19g fat/ 1000kcal is low compared to many diets and is significant it doesn't mean your dog won't cope with slightly higher amounts though.

I'm not sure if this is of help or not but it would be useful to try and compare this to e.g. one of Royal canins standard diets to see the differences.

Home made is defintiely achieveable with care (more than ckn and rice as very limiting nutritionally) but time consuming and not necessarily cost effective.

Edited by bexVN on Wednesday 17th November 13:28

[bexVN]

The fat in their Lab diet (the dry kibble) is 13%, their Low fat dry is 7%, they probably reduce the fat in their lab specific diet a little already because labs are easily prone to weight gain, so it does show quite a difference.

Sorry for the bits and pieces answers, I keep having to run off after my 7.5 month old . Plus the mouse on my laptop is playing up!

[DazedandConfused]

Thanks Bex. The Burns stuff looks like a good bet: they say it is a direct comparison for the Royal stuff (~7.5% fat) but is a quite a bit cheaper (£45 for 15kg).

[madbadger]

I'm sure it is biased to Burns, but you can call the burns nutrition helpline. 0800 083 66 96. They are very helpful.

Our Lab was overweight when we rescued her and lost about 12kg (over a few months) on regular Burns.

[bexVN]

DazedandConfused said:

Thanks Bex. The Burns stuff looks like a good bet: they say it is a direct comparison for the Royal stuff (~7.5% fat) but is a quite a bit cheaper (£45 for 15kg).

I thought they did, sounds good, go slowly with the change over, do get some people report that Burns didn't seem to suit their dog but you get that with all diets, what suits one won't suit another, good luck.

[Myc]

My dog needs to lose a couple of Kilos so I'm going to try splitting his usual CSJ dog food with 50% usual and 50% CSJ Low fat dog food.

I'll let you know how he takes to it.

Price wise I don't think anything can touch it.

[parkem50]

Dogs are all related to wolves. Wolves only eat raw meat and bones. Kibble is junk. Every breed of dog has a stomach that can digest raw meat and bones. Do a search for raw feeding dogs. There is a host of information out there. Sorry if I sound like a preaching tw*t, but honest to God raw is the only way to feed your dog. Even older dogs will cope. Modern commercial dog food contains grains and vegetables a dog can not digest, and does not need. It is filled with oils and carbs a dog is not designed to brake down.
If you want the best for your dogs, do a little research and I promise a whole new world of dog ownership waits. It can be cheaper to feed raw if you find a good butcher who throws out off cuts. Read this:

http://rawfed.com/myths/

[bexVN]

^^ You seem to forget the genetic mutations that we have inflicted upon the dog which means it now bears very little resemblance to the wolf it was once related to which isn't just the external appearance of the dog.

Bones are great until the dog ends up needing an ex lap to remove those stuck in the gut of a dog that is supposedly able to digest them and dogs that bleed out rectally due to them. I seen numerous dogs suffer and also die due to bones (of all kinds) being eaten.

btw I am not actually against the raw food approach if done properly but it is not the miracle answer you make it out to be.

Plus dogs are not obligate carnivores they are in fact omnivores/ scavengers so their digestion isn't just solely designed for meat and bones.

[parkem50]

The dog has been bred to look different!!!! Breeding has not changed the internal structure and ginetic make up of it. Cooked bones splinter and may become a hazzard, but raw, non weight bearing bones are fine. Dogs teeth are designed to crush bone! Their stomach walls and acid are stronger than ours and are not affected by bacteria which would make us very ill. If an older dog doesn't manage whole pieces then minced meat that containes some crushed bone will be fine. The Dog is not an omnivore! It is a carnivore. All dogs are related to wolves! Wolves need no vegetation in theire diets.

[Mrs Grumpy]

I feed my dog raw too, but there was a change in the genetic make up of the gray wolf for it to evolve into the domestic dog.

[bexVN]

Yes I stand corrected, I didn't explain that very well, there is an ongoing debate re this, dogs certainly have the make up that says they are carnivores, however they can do fine on a mixed diet (even vege if forced though I would never advise this!) so they are often called omnivores. My point was they are not obligate carnivores, like cats, try a cat on a vege diet, even if it ate it, it would die.

Having seen a dog die from eating bones (and yes they were raw), it haemorrhaged out rectally, it puts you off the idea of feeding bones to your dog! aswell as the dog that almost choked on a bone lodged in it's throat, the ex laps I've witnessed, some due to cooked, some due to raw bones.

[pikeyboy]

I think arden grange do something suitable, might be worth giving them a call, I found them very helpful when I rang.