not sure what is going on .but noticed a change in the medi-cal hypo-allergetic a couple of months ago also in their packaging.our male boxer has been on it for years due too chicken allergies.know our female is sick all the time..more she eats the more she's sick..any-body else notice this also..

You people are obviously selling other products so you come to this site to diss medical which is royal canine. Check the ingredients out and compare to other dog foods. Some are also promoting grain dog foods. DOGS EAT MEAT. If you want something that eats grains, get a parrot. ///My lab was very sick and vet recommended royal canine gastro and he has litteraly come back from the dead. Great dog food and I don't mind the extra few pennies they charge for a premium food. He's only going around once so he gets the best..jmo

I have an over weight dog and need a good food with a fat burner.

I have been feeding my cats medi-cal (1 cat for 16 years and counting, the other for 15 till he died) and my dog for 10 years. It might taste awful but I have saved tons of money on vet bills over the years because the pets never have had health problems like blocked urinary tracts from crappy pet food.

The first ingredient in this dog food is rice, but the type is not named. The second ingredient is soy protein isolate hydrolysate, a loq quality protein additive. The third ingredient is chicken fat, and although not a bad ingredient, should never be the first meat ingredient.

We have been giving our senior dog (lab/shep) "Medi-Cal" for about 5 years. She has been on "reduced protein" and "preventative." She was showing bad kidney values so we tried the vets recommendation and changed her food, she was previously on an Innova product. Her values improved greatly. She is now almost 13 and recently had an emerg surgery and was sent to a major, unreal animal hospital. They had to internally check many organs and they are all FANTASTIC! They were surprised how great her kidneys were and how great her values were, not reflective of a dog her age. "Medi-Cal" has done well for her and that is all we can comment on. We found ingredients readily available and our vet is helpful in explaining what each one does and why it is right for her. No food is perfect for every dog. I'm sure there is somewhat of a "kickback" and the price is certainly inflated but if you need a specialty food and it works then it is priceless, they are our kids after all. :-) P.S. We tried our dog on samples readily given by our vet before we commited to a large, expensive bag.

I would suggest to anyone trying to find a good dog food to go to
dogfoodanalysis.com. It not only lists all the different foods and their ingredients, but also rates them 1 - 6 stars. The added benefit is that it tells whether they recommend the product or not and why

My vet said my puppy NEEDED this food to be healthy and after one week of letting him starve because he hated the stuff I called her and told her he wasn't eating it and what would be the next best brand to buy him. She said nothing would measure to the nutrition he would recieve from this food. So I stopped paying thirty dollars a bag and started paying thirty dollars a month in little ceasers and a supplement that tastes like beef and he hasn't had a medical problem since and actually eats this stuff. I don't know what MEDI-cal is made of but I don't care how many nutrients are in it, if even a starving puppy won't eat it I will never purchase it ever again.

We have been feeding this for years to our 2 Australian Shepherds with no real issues, but over the last 6 months, one of them has started to refuse to eat it. Plus I have just researched it, and it seems like the quality is not there for the money we are paying. We will be switching to another brand.

This food is crap. He was on the Urinary s/o for Struvite crystals and now has oxylate. hmmm.  In addition he has anemia and terrible yeast infection in is ears. I fed it to my dog for 8 years because I trusted my vet's recommendation.  He never thrived on this food but I didn't know any better.  Recently I have been educating myself on dog food (go to the dogfoodproject.com) and now feel incredibly guilty for feeding my best friend such a low quality food lacking in nutrition.  I encourage everyone to be proactive in your dogs health and educate yourself.  Don't just take your vets recommendation on food as alot of them have such little training when it comes to nutrition and the training they have comes from the companies that make this crappy food.

6 months ago, I would have agreed with those who say that Medi-Cal is a great brand. When we first got our dogs, our vet recommended this brand. We fed it to them and we thought they looked great - our beagle was sleek and shiny, our bichon had some health problems, something our vet attributed to his "puppy mill" start (he was a rescue)...everything seemed great. Then we went on vacation in Alberta and our dog food got left at home.

Unable to find a vet in the area that carried the brand (my first sign that something was up), one of the vets recommened that we try Orijen, a BARF-based, Grain free kibble made locally there (they have since increased their distribution.) The difference I have seen in my dogs is nothing short of amazing. Our bichon's coat is the softest it has ever been, all his health problems have cleared up and we have been able to take him off his allergy medications. The puppy has more energy than ever and he seems to be developing leaner muscle than before.

I'm sure our vet meant well in recommending this food, but the truth is that many vets (particularily those trained between 1950 & the early 90's) received little or no nutritional training in veterinary school. A shift in values has occurred in the last two decades and our dogs are more treasured members of the family than pets and more research than ever is being done into the effects of proper nutrition.

My advice to you is not to trust the opinions of the few people on this website, but rather to do some research and to go ahead and try a few differnet brands to see if your dogs perform better on one or another. I found the below website very helpful when trying to decide if the switch to Orijen should be a permanent one. Good luck!

www.dogfoodproject.com

medi-cal made my dog's condition worse, I'm sick of vets recommending this low quality food. Most people who say it improved their pets condition were feeding their dog the cosco specials like mainstay and whiskas, anything is better than these. If you want to test the true caliber of this food try feeding him timber wolf (the old formula), orijen or another quality food (not poor foods like iams.) I tested it against both orijen and timberwolf the old formula)which clearly reveiled to me that medi-cal is overpriced low quality trash. It just can't hold its own against the premium brands.

my dog has just started taking medi cal gastro formula can i give him that food for the rest of his life

We inherited 13 yr old labX 1 yr ago who was quite overweight. We fed her Fibre Formula for 9 months and she lost 10 lbs. She started out at 60 lbs and now weighs 50 lbs. We fed her 1 cup in the am and 1 cup in the pm along with a little Science Diet Senior canned food to make it tasty for her. She also got a total of 6 Medi-Treats daily, but nothing else. We have now switched her to Weight Control and she has maintained her weight over the past month since we switched. I did find that while on the Fibre Formula, her coat was dull and dry, but since on the Weight Control, it has improved. She has lots of energy and loves the food! It seems expensive, but when you work it out, it really isn't. An 18 kg bag lasts us a long time. I find that the food is really utilized and stool sizes are quite small (not so with the Fibre Formula as much).

My dog lately has been vomitting bile 2 days a week from eating Nutro Natural Choice. My vet recommended me to switch to a "higher" quality brand of dog food. They told me to put him on the Gastro Preventative. I did, it was quite expensive for something that doesn't list the ingredients properly... The recommended feeding guide for my dog (45lbs) was 4 cups a day... WHAT IN THE WORLD..... I have been feeding him at most 2.5 cups a day from other brands. Why does he need to eat so much of it?? Well anyhow. My dog didn't like the food. He had to be hand fed to be able to eat it. Personally I tried it myself lol... AND IT TASTED AWFUL. His other dog food didn't taste quite as bad. My dog usually is a very easy easter. I am disappointed my vet has recommended me to waste so much money on a bag that my dog won't even go near. And I try to find the ingredients... they are certainly hiding something.

I have had severe problems with Royal Canin dog food, who also owns Medical. The ingredients are not top quality and I was told that the Medi-cal preventative is one of the lesser quality foods that they sell(from the food rep.) Then why on earth would a vet endorse it??? Ask your vet if dog food companies donate any money to vet colleges.... MMMMMMmmmmmm.
The problems are actually my own fault because I didn't do my research...

This food looks like garbage on par with Hills science diet.

It is the only dog food I've seen where you canonot find the ingredients listed anywhere.  Not even on their website.

To access their ingrecients you have to be a vet and type in a password!

What poor quality ingreds are they trying to hide?

Even Science diet with there byproduct and corn diets show their ingredients. 

(even though if you ever looked at their bags and cans of food you need a magnifying glass to read the miniscule fonts they print them with)

Stay away from this food and if your vet reccomends this trash change vets.

I have two Chihuahuas that do not eat very much so I buy the more expensive food, however my dogs are healthy and happy and I would not change even if I had a large dog.
In fact my youngest dog was very picky as as puppy and would not eat very much at all. Since we have been feeding her medi cal wieght control she eats regular and the proper amount.

I been giving my two black labs medi-cal for the past 6 years. Their coats are beautiful, their teeth are clean and healthy. I would recommend this over other products, especially with the recent recalls of other brands. Yes, my Vet recommended it, but dogs love it. I occasionaly supplement the Medi-cal with chicken or turkey pieces when we have it. Their weight is ideal and they have enough energy to keep me exercised daily.

I just had my two small dog's teeth cleaned at the vet. The vet recommended that we use the Medi-Cal dental diet from now on. I looked at the package and saw that corn is the main ingredient, along with chicken meal and wheat flour. We've been using Organix brand dog food (kibble) for a couple of years and our dogs really like it when we add a little protein to it. Organix formula's main ingedient is organic chicken. I'm not sure how the dental formaula helps stop plaque, and why vets promote this product with so much corn in it.

Medi-cal is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a quality commercial diet for their pet(s). All of their foods are tested by third parties and regularly analyzed for quality. Please keep in mind that ingredient lists can be confusing. For example by-products are in some medi-cal products, however, if you ask the company they will tell you that these by-products are spleen. They do not use feathers, hooves etc like cheap pet food companies do. Corn is another ingredient people tend to avoid. Again good quality whole corn is used to acidify the urine ph to prevent crystal formation. It is only sold in vet clinics so that the clients are properly educated on the products.

Medi-cal is a perscrition veterinary diet that is only available through veterinarians. If your dog has a true medical need, then go for it. However, any of the maintenance diets can be easily replaced by something of better quality. Their nutrients are not always derived from the best ingrediants. Here is their website: http://www.medi-cal.ca

Hi, I have been searching for information on Medi-Cal dog food. I can only find this site to rate it but I can't find info on the food. Our Vet suggests feeding it to my Newfoundland. But I have three large Newfoundlands which eat free choice & it is awfully expensive at our Vet Clinic. Can anyone point me to a website telling about the food? Also is there somewhere cheaper to buy it than our Vet clinic in BC, Canada? Thank you. Sincerely, Joanne Seabloom