Which dry food that is *not* grain-free for standard pup?

I know food can be a controversial topic and I suspect I may get some comments saying Royal Canin is not a good food (as I too believed until recently) but I did just switch my mini to Royal Canin due to the ongoing studies involving nutritional DCM. He was previously on Fromm Gold Puppy and did fantastic for some time, until out of the blue he started having soft stools. This started while he was on the Fromm Gold Puppy and continued when we switched him to Fromm Gold Adult formula, and while he loved the puppy food in the past he didn't seem to like the adult formula.

At the same time all the grain-free issues starting coming to light, and while Fromm Gold is NOT grain-free, I started reading more and becoming concerned that it did not meet WSAVA guidelines and saw that even the grain-inclusive Fromm had been implicated in some DCM cases. I'm in no way blaming Fromm on his stool issues, or saying it's a bad food, I was just no longer comfortable feeding it until more research came out, and took the digestive issues he was having as a good reason to transition to something else.

I had always been very anti "the big four" and wanted a dog food from a small manufacturer with an ingredients list that sounded good to me. When I was looking for our first puppy food, Royal Canin and Purina were not even on my radar as I considered them "junk" foods. It took me some time to make the decision to switch based on science, and I'm still not 100% sure I'm doing the right thing, but honestly I feel better that I'm making the best decision I can at this time with the information available.

We first tried the Pro Plan, but saw no improvement in his stool (we had gone with the salmon based sensitive skin and stomach formula because of the soft stool). After giving it several weeks and seeing no improvement, we then decided to try Royal Canin Poodle formula. I had initially chosen Pro Plan over Royal Canin because like you, I didn't like that Royal Canin had corn listed as the first ingredient. I was going to try a different Pro Plan formula, but didn't want to do the Savor because of the soy, and my local stores didn't stock the Adult Bright Mind, only the Senior formula. So that's how I ended up giving Royal Canin a shot. We transitioned him over a few weeks, and once we got to 75% Royal Canin, we started seeing a huge improvement in his stool. He's now been fully on the RC for a week or so and things are continuing to improve.

One thing to note, I'm not sure about the puppy formula, but the adult poodle formula isn't meant for standard poodles (I don't understand why they only have one for smaller poodles).

Sorry I rambled on, but that's just been my experience and I wanted to share as someone else who struggled greatly with this same decision, and is now feeding Royal Canin.

Because of the whole DCM and grain freee food issue I changed Poppy to Purina Pro Plan Sport, the chicken variety, about 6 months ago. She had an easy transition and has done fabulously on this food. I chose this one because it is formulated for working and sporting dogs. She is so high energy she would lose weight if on another lower protein formula. Poppy also LOVES her PPP!

I chose Purina because Our family had fed Purina from 1954 to 2001 and our dogs were always healthy, no major illnesses and they lived a long time. Also, because of the recommendations of the veterinarians and veterinary nutritionists who have studied the "grain free DCM issue".

I order it on Chewy because they have the best price and deliver in 2 days to my door. Also, they have great customer service and I know they would take care of me if the food did not agree with Poppy.

For those who are concerned about corn in food you might find this article interesting. Corn is not used as a filler. It supplies some very necessary amino acids which dogs need in their diet.

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/De...YfMn1VmVIDc7mU0SbCAlwJ_HL-tPdE97TvQ-A2hPJtKft

I am presently using Victor. (the blue bag) And I've started using Pro plan as well because it was recommended, even though I don't see that the ingredients are all that great. I switch them around with different foods. Victor has a ton of protein that is from animals. I like that. Some formulas have some rice, some I think have peas. But the one I'm feeding has no peas or other legumes. It is not just grain free foods that are associated with DCM. The studies are not showing that is necessarily the problem.

But at any rate, I do agree with the corn. If it doesn't cause trouble, it has some very good nutrient properties. And even if it doesn't all digest, some indigestible food is good for their colon. My little Maurice, who has had some trouble with various foods...constipated one time, colitis another time...mucous covering his poo and since using this one...consistently good consistency. :amen: It's more like when I use to feed raw...dark and firm, small, not as much pooping. I always add some water in there with it too because it does have the potential to make the poos almost too firm. You might have to add a wee bit of pumpkin sometimes. I like foods that supplement with a little taurine too. (just in case they need it)

I also give them other things like eggs or sardines here and there during the week. (sardines only once a week)

Also, in my continued studies on dog food, I came across (don't know where it is now) an article regarding by products. We've always been told they are no good. Well, we wouldn't want them as the main ingredient. But they contain things like chicken feet, which are nutritious, having glucosomine in them. There may be things like heads or tails of something...no big deal. The only thing I worry about is necks of animals. Necks often contain thyroid hormone and dogs have been poisoned with an over dose of thyroid hormone...really very dangerous. So even when I was feeding raw, I stayed clear of necks or anything that was in near proximity to the thyroid gland because it's been found to be bad news. Those trachea treats...maybe they've been cleaned. I do not know. But that's something that could be affected. Anyhow, good luck finding a decent food. It's no easy task. Commercial food pretty much sucks generally.