Fake dog food..?

harveybobbles

Is there such a thing?

We feed our 4 dogs on Royal Canin mini Junior. Used to buy it from PetsAtHome for about £12 for 2kg.

Found it cheaper online from places like zooplus/petsupermarket for about £9 for 2kg or £32 for 8kg. So bought an 8kg sack.

Noticed the kibble was a different shape/shade to ther stuff from PAH. 3 of the dogs wasn't fussed, but one was and refused to eat it... So bought a 2kg bag from PAH and she ate it like it was going out of fashion..!

Just wondering if the cheaper 8kg sacks are cheap for a reason? Are they left overs or old stock/old recipie? Or counterfiet?

I might phone Royal Canin after Christmas to see what they say.

Fosterdog

It could just be because they are from different batches, or not stored correctly, kept for too long and past it's best, small hole in bag letting air in.

There are a number of reasons that this could happen. It may be worth an email to the manufacturer, they my know of a dodgy batch number or may be able to confirm that the stuff online is not an official reseller and possibly just refilling bags with something else.

gettingready

it can also be that same brand uses different packaging for different companies/countries (zzoplus stuff is coming from germany i believe)

i remember somne go-cat from states, it was completely different to the go cat i buy in uk

harveybobbles

The packaging is the same (havent got the empty 8kg sack to hand as it was thornw away.

We store the food in good quality perpose made air tight dog food containers.

Fosterdog

Sorry I didn't mean that you haven't stored it properly but possibly the place you bought it from doesn't store it properly, it could be someone selling out of their damp filled shed.

harveybobbles

Yes, but the last batch was from ZooPlus.

rising_from_the_ashes

mmm I buy RC from Zoo+ for the cats & haven't noticed any difference from the stuff that I previously bought from the pet shop / PAH.

You could send RC a sample .... is it def the same (sorry for asking) - it's not a "small breed" instead of "large breed" or something like that .... I've done that in the past without realising (with Wain*wrights as the bags are the same colour, same type of kibble etc).

harveybobbles

Nope, I always order Mini Junior.

I'll keep some of the ZooPlus kibble and send it to RC aftwer I've spoken to them next week.

Leven

I too am experiencing a similar situation. I ordered 2x 12kg bags of Royal Canin Pediatric large breed online. i noticed that the colour and texture is different to that of the original bag that I bought from my vet.

I have been a bit worried about this, but thought that maybe I was being paranoid. But, having read this thread am now concerned that if the food is fake, my Labrador pup may not be getting the nourishment he needs to support his health and growth.

It is ironic, because I thought a quality food such as Royal Canin was worth the higher price and now I have 24kg of what could be inferior food. i think I will ring RC too, if only for peace of mind that I am not feeding my pup rubbish.

I bought the food from Petmeds.co.uk

joyful_one

Hi, This is very interesting. Our westie was diagnosed with diabetes around 3 months ago and vet advised Royal Canin Diabetic dry food which we purchased from our local vet. Our dog, to our surprise, loved it and improved greatly. However, we noticed at Pet Supermarket online it was significantly cheaper and bought a 7kg bag. Initially our dog ate this, even though I noticed it smelled very different and was paler - she then began having bad tummy problems and was leaving large amounts of the food - I then realised the food/pellets were much smaller than the bags from the vet. Decided to purchase a small bag, again from the vet, and our dog loved it! It smelled so much nicer too and much larger pellets?

We are very concerned about this and have sent Royal Canin an email this weekend offering to send a sample of the online diabetic food. Apart from the loss of around £35.00 - our worry is that dogs with serious health problems may be eating fake food? Please let us know the results of your contact with Royal Canin. Thanks

UKTigerlily

Kibble will change colour & shape in most good foods, tho RC isn't great. I have no idea on wet food but most state on their FAQ page kibble may change.