'prescription diets' to healthy dogs?

I'm switching to Royal Canin and have been wondering which variation to go for. I found this: Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Canine Early Cardiac EC 26
(link: www.bestpetpharmacy.co.uk/detailed_product.asp?id=13464) and thought people here might be interested in it.

I've been told my bitch needs to lose a tiny bit of weight (she's not obese, she's just not quite lean enough) and also has a vitamin C deficiency (whitish nose).... She has no heart condition at the moment to the best of my knowledge- but as a Cavalier should I feed her this? Or the RC Mini Adult? Or the RC Mini Adult Light? EEk! Too much choice.... :yikes

Interesting question. I looked through my Royal Canin veterinary diet info and just found the description: "Optimal levels of arginine, carnitine, taurine, sodium, protein, and EPA/DHA for heart health"

You should probably check with your vet to see if this is something you should feed her. My inclination is to say it's not necessary unless she already has heart disease. I think the diet works to minimize stress on an already compromised heart, but it can't prevent the mostly genetically determined, degenerative changes associatd with MVD.

She'd probably be best serviced eating a high quality, balanced diet towards her overall health.

Well, the breeder said Royal Canin, and people here seem to think well of it. I think I'll order the RC mini adult version- it has all the vits, including C and since Holly only needs to lose a tiny amount of weight, simply feeding less should do the trick.

Consider that diet foods have little to them other than more filler to make the same amount of food have less calories. So it makes sense to me to not pay for filler.

For an overweight dog, just feed a bit less and try supplementing if you'd like with something low calorie but healthy -- like a handful of frozen green beens, or some carrot chunks, etc -- these all bulk out the meal and are good for the dog while having few calories to add to a meal. I almost always add fruit or veg to the foodbowl every day.

I like the RC small bites. Just keep in mind that feeding is very individual and that amounts on a bag are just guidelines -- depending on your own dog you might need to feed more or less than suggested (usually less, in my experience); and also foods vary so with one food you might feed a lot less than with another,

Trouble is, Holly often gets a runny tummy if you mix her dry food with 'real' food! I've fed her fruit (peaches- she loves them), cubed raw carrot (she's frightened of them in sticks :roll: ) and tomato lately, as well as cutting her dry food from the rec 105g to 40-60g per day. I couldn't find the Royal Canin, so I got Wainwright's which had a nice ingredient list with no cereal or soy fillers, and have started introducing it to her ordinary dry- obviously adjusting the quantities so she's still getting about 60g. So far she loves it- polished it off last night, even though she's usually scared of this particular bowl! Only prob is it's potato and salmon- and you can smell the fish, it has a genuinely fishy odor. I never got that identifiable smell from pedigree chum's dry, so I'm assuming its a good thing :shock: