There are a lot of ways to review dog food.

You can analyze protein percentages. You can debate ingredients. You can discuss prebiotics, dietary fiber, intestinal flora, caloric density, and all the other terminology that makes feeding a dog sound roughly as complicated as maintaining the International Space Station.

Or you can own five dogs.

At that point, evaluating dog food becomes considerably simpler:

Put food into dogs. Observe dogs. Observe what eventually comes out of dogs.

Using this highly sophisticated testing methodology, we’ve had remarkably good luck with Royal Canin Digestive Care.

We use both the Medium and Large varieties depending on the size of the dog involved, and our dogs’ guts seem to genuinely love the stuff. Diarrhea is extremely uncommon around here. Vomiting isn’t much of a problem either.

It goes in.

It stays down.

It eventually exits through the manufacturer-recommended opening.

Honestly, with five dogs, that’s about as glowing an endorsement as I can give a dog food.

Five Dogs Make a Pretty Good Torture Test

A lot of owner reviews are based on one dog.

Nothing wrong with that, obviously, but anybody who’s owned multiple dogs knows their digestive systems can have completely different opinions about life.

One dog can eat something questionable off the ground and continue with his day like nothing happened. Another can look at a french fry from across the room and apparently require gastrointestinal negotiations with the United Nations.

We’ve got five stomachs processing this stuff on a regular basis.

And Royal Canin Digestive Care has been wonderfully boring.

That’s exactly what I want dog food to be.

I don’t want excitement from dog food. I don’t want surprises. I don’t want to wake up at 3:14 in the morning to that unmistakable sound every dog owner knows, followed by an Olympic sprint toward the nearest exterior door.

I want food to go into the front of the dog and, several hours later, evidence of that transaction to appear at the opposite end in a conveniently collectable format.

Royal Canin Digestive Care has done that exceptionally well for our pack.

Apparently There’s Some Science Behind the Boring Poop

Our observations actually line up pretty closely with what Royal Canin says the food is designed to accomplish.

The company says its Digestive Care formulas contain highly digestible proteins and a combination of prebiotics and fibers intended to support digestion, intestinal flora, and stool quality. The company also formulates the food differently according to dog size. [royalcanin.com], [royalcanin.com]

That’s important because we’re not feeding just one size.

We use Medium Digestive Care and Large Digestive Care.

According to Royal Canin, its internal 2017 study found optimal stool quality in up to 91% of dogs fed the Medium formula and up to 97% with the Large formula. Those are Royal Canin’s own study results, so they shouldn’t be confused with an independent clinical trial, but stool quality is clearly one of the things the company designed these foods around. [royalcanin.com]

And that’s the interesting part for me.

I didn’t need a laboratory to notice it.

I’ve got a backyard.

The Medium and Large Kibble

We buy both versions of this stuff because we have different-sized dogs.

The Medium Digestive Care formula is specifically marketed for adult medium dogs, 12 months and older and weighing 23 to 55 pounds. [royalcanin.com]

The actual idea behind separate size formulas isn’t just putting bigger pieces of kibble into another bag. Royal Canin says its Digestive Care formulas use differing balances of fibers to suit the digestive characteristics associated with different dog sizes. [royalcanin.com]

From our perspective, though, the distinction is considerably less scientific:

Big dog gets big stuff. Medium dog gets medium stuff. Everybody quits looking at me and eats breakfast.

Both have worked well for us.

Does It Help With Loose Stool?

This is probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

Diarrhea isn’t a regular problem among our five dogs.

That’s our experience, not a promise that switching your dog to this food will magically fix chronic diarrhea.

If your dog suddenly develops diarrhea, has persistent digestive problems, is repeatedly vomiting, or otherwise seems sick, that’s a veterinarian question rather than something you should diagnose from a smartass dog-food review on the Internet.

But as owners feeding Royal Canin Digestive Care to five dogs, stool quality is one of the primary reasons we’re happy with it.

Things are generally firm, predictable, and boring.

Never underestimate boring poop.

You don’t truly understand what a beautiful thing uneventful bowel movements are until you’ve owned several dogs at the same time.

What About Throwing It Up?

Also uncommon in our experience.

That’s not to say one of our dogs never gets gaggy.

Sometimes a dog just gets gaggy.

Dogs occasionally seem to approach dinner as though eating has suddenly become a competitive sport and the winner receives another dog.

But routine vomiting of the food hasn’t been an issue for us.

Most importantly, the stuff generally stays down and appears to agree with all five digestive systems.

Again, that’s not a medical claim.

It’s simply the observation that after feeding this stuff to a small furry committee, we’re not constantly cleaning partially digested kibble off the floor.

I’ll put that in the WIN column.

The Stuff Looks Surprisingly Fresh

Here’s something I don’t see mentioned much in dog-food reviews: the kibble actually looks fresh when we open the bag.

Every new bag we’ve opened has had that slightly oily glisten to the kibble.

And there’s a reason fat features fairly prominently in the Medium formula’s ingredient list. The current ingredient list includes chicken fat, fish oil, vegetable oil, and GLA safflower oil among the formula’s ingredients. [royalcanin.com]

Now, I’m not going to pretend I can perform laboratory freshness testing by staring into a bag of dog food.

But there’s something reassuring about opening the bag and seeing kibble that doesn’t look like it was excavated from an Egyptian tomb.

It looks fresh.

It smells fresh.

The dogs immediately start hovering.

Those are all favorable signs around here.

Does Royal Canin Digestive Care Taste Good?

I can’t tell you.

The dogs seem to think so.

I’ve considered their opinions on the matter to be sufficient.

Despite my commitment to thorough product testing at ShouldIBuyThisCrap.com, there are limits to my journalistic integrity.

I’m not eating the dog food.

If one of the dogs would like to submit a guest review discussing flavor, mouthfeel, aroma, and finish, I’ll happily publish it.

Until then, five empty bowls will have to serve as the tasting panel.

What’s Actually In It?

If you’re one of those people who turns the bag around before buying food, good. You should know what you’re feeding your dog.

For the current U.S. Medium Digestive Care formula, Royal Canin lists chicken by-product meal, corn, brewers rice, chicken fat and brown rice among the first ingredients, followed by ingredients including corn gluten meal, brewers rice flour, beet pulp, fish oil, vegetable oil and pea fiber. [royalcanin.com]

The guaranteed analysis lists a minimum of 23% crude protein and 16% crude fat, with maximum crude fiber of 3.7% and moisture of 10%. Royal Canin lists the energy content at 321 kcal per cup for that formula. [royalcanin.com]

Will that ingredient list satisfy every dog-food philosopher on the Internet?

Absolutely not.

Nothing will.

You could feed your dog freshly caught wild salmon prepared by a personal chef and somebody on Reddit would explain why you’re killing him.

I’m considerably more interested in how the food performs for the animals actually eating it.

And ours do extremely well on it.

The Downside: Royal Canin Ain’t Giving This Shit Away

Here’s the part where enthusiasm meets the credit card.

Royal Canin Digestive Care isn’t cheap dog food.

And feeding five dogs has an interesting way of making the price of dog food rather noticeable.

Current listings illustrate the point. Royal Canin lists its Medium Digestive Care in 17- and 30-pound bags, and retailer Chewy likewise lists 17- and 30-pound options. Prices and promotions obviously change, but this is decidedly premium-priced kibble rather than bargain dog food. [royalcanin.com]

Would I like it to cost less?

Of course.

I’d also like gasoline to be 89 cents a gallon and the veterinarian to occasionally say, “Don’t worry about it, this one’s on us.”

Yet there’s another kind of cost involved in feeding five dogs.

There’s the 3 a.m. diarrhea cost.

There’s the carpet-cleaning cost.

There’s the What the hell did you eat? cost.

There’s the standing-outside-in-Colorado-weather-waiting-for-a-dog-to-finish-having-a-digestive-crisis cost.

I’ll pay something for boring.

Who Would I Recommend It For?

I’d particularly consider Royal Canin Digestive Care if you have an adult dog with a somewhat sensitive stomach and you’re looking for a food specifically formulated around digestive support and stool quality.

That’s exactly what Royal Canin says the Digestive Care line is intended to address. [royalcanin.com], [royalcanin.com]

But I wouldn’t treat this, or any dog food, as a substitute for veterinary care.

There’s a big difference between “my dog seems to do better on this food” and “my dog has persistent gastrointestinal problems.”

We’re firmly talking about the former.

Our dogs eat it.

Our dogs tolerate it.

Their poop is generally good.

Nobody routinely pukes.

That’s the review.

Sometimes consumer testing doesn’t need to be complicated.

The Verdict: Expensive Food, Boring Guts

After feeding Royal Canin Digestive Care to five dogs, using both the Medium and Large formulas, we’re pretty damn happy with it.

Our dogs’ stomachs seem to genuinely get along with the stuff. Diarrhea is rarely a concern. Vomiting isn’t common. The kibble looks impressively fresh when we open a new bag, and the dogs certainly don’t seem reluctant to eat it.

Is it cheap?

Hell no.

Does that annoy me?

Hell yes.

But dog food is one of those products where the cheapest possible option isn’t necessarily the victory it initially appears to be.

With five dogs wandering around this house, I’m buying an astonishing amount of future poop.

I’d prefer it to be good poop.

And Royal Canin Digestive Care has delivered remarkably consistent results on that front.

Should You Buy This Crap?

Yeah.

If your dog does well on it and you can stomach the price, ironically enough, this is some pretty good crap.