What to feed my labrador?

[MrsLovely]

My lovely lab is just turning a year old and I want to introduce her to adult food (she's just finishing the last of her puppy food).

Until now she's been eating Iams puppy food, and as a typical lab she will also eat practically anything else which comes within reach of her mouth! Do all you knowledgeable people out there recommend carrying on with the Iams? or is there something better?

I'm aware of introducing anything new gradually as she is quite prone to getting an upset stomach...oh, and (sorry if TMI!!) is there anything that will cut down on her pooing? She seems to go at least 3 times a day! Or is this normal??

[Bast]

Not Iams!

There are concerns up to the current day about their practices.

Royal Canin and Hill's Science plan both do good options for sensitive stomachs (but I'm not sure of their practices!).

[Caz10]

Burns? Seems to suit ours!

[hephaestus]

Raw/BARF, Fish4Dogs, Orijen, TOTW, Acana, Arden Grange and JWB a bit further down the list, Wainwrights, Skinners (budget option, duck/fish/turkey and rice working varieties only).

Iams v. bad, as is Hills and Royal Canin - overpriced, full of wheat and similar fillers/allergens (upset stomach often wheat allergy), fillers = poop!

[sharbie]

my choc lab has tinned food and is always fine with it

[Bast]

Can believe hep, vet was happy with one, recommended the other. My vet can't be trusted. However, a RC food did work for dietary sensitivities where other foods failed.

[MrsLovely]

Thank you all!


Will go and check it out today, would be great to cut down on the poo and not spend a fortune!

P.S blardy vet told me Iams was fine.... can't trust them!

[Batteryhuman]

Another Skinners Duck and Rice fan here. Cheap, good quality and my lab's skin has improved since he started on it.

[Eddieshead]

We feed our Lab Burns Alert. Its VAT free as its designed for 'assistance dogs' (as in guide dogs etc) but is almost identical to normal Burns, and is cheaper.

Dont know whether its important to you, but its not just Iams who undertake testing (as opposted to tasting) on animals. More info here although I'm not sure the scheme is still in force. It does help you know who to avoid though.

[merrydebs]

Hi, my one year old lab loves Arden Grange! x

[Ephiny]

We use Orijen, which seems pretty good. Dog has a sensitive stomach and used to be sick regularly on previous foods, which hasn't happened once since we switched. I suspect Orijen works for him because it doesn't contain cereals/grains, it may have been the rice etc in his previous food that he couldn't tolerate well (though I think rice is considered better than wheat for dogs).

[cedmonds]

Hi we have all our breeding bitches(8) ON Symply and have the GSDs on trustee. The symply is fab and seems to suit all dogs and has defently cut down on the ammount of poos and there coats etc our in fantastic condition.

[walkersmum]

Another Orijen and Acana fan here,

look at www.dogfoodadvisor..com

and www.dogfoodanalysis.com

Foe independent reviews, Most UK food are on their

[follyfoot]

Orijen is said by many people to be one of the very best you can get. We put our girl on it for a while but I have to say it didnt really suit her - she was constantly drinking water. I dont know whether it was the high protein levels that Orijen has, but in the end we changed back to Burns.

[MrsLovely]

Thank you all, I'll spend the evening looking at the links into this.

Feel terrible about the Iams and testing link....what an idiot I am not to think that food manufacturers might be involved in this, never crossed my mind, let alone that it might also be crap!

BTW do labs need calcium supplements? Or do they get enough through their normal food?

[lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs]

Our doddle couldnt get on with JWB, but does very well on naturediet :)

[Olihan]

Both our labs are on RAW. It takes a while to get into but drastically reduces the amount of poo as they use 99% of what they're fed so there is very little waste. If you're not squeamish about handling raw meat and have a bit of spare freezer space it's a fantastic way to feed a dog. It's also very unlikely to cause upset stomachs because there's no nasty fillers or 'stuff' that they don;t really need.

There's masses of info on the web if you google it - check RAW rather than BARF though, some BARF sites can be very full on in their beliefs.

[Avantia]

Ardan Grange is very good .

Any food that is for 'working dogs ' is VAT free , they also tend to be higher in protein. We will be going on adult food in a couple of months too.