How do you decide what to feed your dog? Share with tails.com – £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

For many of us, dogs are part of the family. Choosing the right food for them can feel really important – but with so much choice, how do you know what’s right for your dog? Share your experiences of finding the right food for your dog, and be in with a chance of winning a £300 voucher for a store of your choice.

To get us started, here’s what Sean, the Head Vet at tails.com, has to say: “From raw feeding to grain free, we are seeing more human diet trends crossing over into the world of dog food. While trends come and go, I believe in three founding principles of a good diet to improve and extend your dog's life. High quality ingredients, tailored to your dog's individual needs, and fed in the right amount to keep them in great physical shape. The question is how do you find the food that meets all three principles?”

What do you prioritise when it comes to choosing food for your dog? How can you tell if the food you’re giving your dog is beneficial to their health and general condition? Do you have feeding tips that you’d like to share with new dog owners? If your dog has ever gone off their food, how have you encouraged them to start eating again? And if you’re thinking of getting a dog, what do you think you’d feed one - would you buy generic dog food or would you think more deeply about their diet?

Everyone who posts on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice.

Tails.com have supplied a 1 month free discount code - if you'd like to use this please click here.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[Ginorchoc]

My dog already received food from Tails.com and so far is happy, they changed it once as she wasn’t eating the first bag and seems happy with the replacement so far. Only concern I have is I think she’ll get bored with the same food every month. Hopefully I’ll still be entered in the draw, it’s her 1st birthday tomorrow

[Ginorchoc]

*recieves

[Ebeneser]

I feed my dog Wainwrights grain free wet food. She won't eat dry food. I'm not sure what, if any allergies she has, but she used to have really loose stools and very bad farts (I got her as a rescue dog). On this food she is much improved. I prefer Wainwrights as the ingredients tell you how much meat etc is in the food, and there is no corn filler or "animal derivatives" like there is in cheap dog foods.
For treats she likes bones and treats like Wainwrights grain free duos. She won't eat any biscuit type treats.
On the rare occasions she goes off her food, I feed her plain rice and chicken. She also has had salmon and rice in the past as I had no chicken!

[CMOTDibbler]

I have two dogs, and usually two foster puppies as well so spend a lot of time thinking about dog food. Ddog1 (part saluki lurcher) is very fussy, and has a sensitive tummy. He won't eat plain kibble (no turkey, wheat, or gluten) and it needs to be mixed with a high proportion of wet food.
Ddog2 (lurcher with heft dose of doberman) will eat just about anything.
Current puppies were very undernourished coming in, and have had colitis issues, so lots of meals and easy to digest, not too rich food.

Its really hard to balance the needs of two different dogs, and I can't think of the money we've wasted on food ddog1 won't/can't eat.

[ladymelbourne1926]

I feed my dog Nature's Diet organic food and James wellbeloved dry rabbit flavour kibble. She has a sensitive tummy, can be very fussy and this food is best for her by far. Her coat also looks amazing which it didn't do on some other diets. I haven't changed it for years now despite it costing a fortune.

[LostInTheTriangle]

I have a greedy black Labrador who will eat anything. But only two types of food don't give her the runs; raw food and Evolution dry food.

We were thrilled to find Evolution, because raw food is not practical when travelling or with young children. Having raw food out defrosting is just grim. It did suit my dog and I'm sure it's better for her, but the dry food we use is ideal as it fills her up, smells good and gives her firm stools which is of paramount importance to me.

Cost is secondary. Evolution is not cheap, but is grain free and has a high percentage of meat. We are thrilled with it. Having some sort of loyalty scheme and free delivery is also very important to me as we spend about £40 per month on dog food. It's nice to get the odd coupon or opportunity to buy two bags for a slight discount.

[DuckBilledAardvark]

Lily’s Kitchen grain free lamb dry food, plus fresh veg when I’m cooking.

It’s a compromise for me between quality/appropriateness and convenience. I’m always open to feeding him a more appropriate diet but it would also need to be convenient, my husband feeds in in the mornings. I’ve no idea what tails food is but I may have a look!

[DragonMummy1418]

We feed our dog the cheapest complete dry food.
We figure it's all the same, it's all got the nutrients needed.
She enjoys it.

[Floralnomad]

After trial and error with a few foods to see what agrees with him our dog now has Millie’s Wolfheart Ranger mix kibble and Natures menu chicken / rabbit light pouches . He likes a mix of wet and dry as he seems to find kibble a bit boring on its own . I did take time to find what I consider to be a good quality food , dog foods are not all the same and the cheap , supermarket type brands are generally just full of fillers and crap that the dog doesn’t need .

[WolfieGreen]

I always feed my dogs a vegan brand of dog food called Benevo. My puppy used to have really bad guts until I put him on this stuff. He always eats it all and is super exited to eat it.

[Royalsteph]

I feed my dog on Wainwright's hypo-allergenic dry food. She was previously on Aldi dry food and another brand which I can't remember but her skin was horrendous. She scratched so much it bled, her fur was falling out. It was so sad to see. As soon as we put her on Wainwright's her skin cleared up and she has a beautiful coat of fur. She does eat a lot of scraps what the kids drop on the floor at dinner time and the occasional treat of ham or chicken.

[OutComeTheWolves]

Our pooch has a lot of stomach issues so we use food prescribed by the vet.

[Patienceofatoddler]

We feed Natures Menu wet and Naturediet wet to our Rottie.

To me meat content and lack of cereals / grains where possible is most important then cost although cost is naturally a factor.

[tooearlytobeup]

We use tails for our two. We ran out this week and the younger dogs stomach issues worsened notably, was very relieved when the delivery arrived today! I’m really impressed with the quality and the convenience of it arriving automatically.

[Amber0685]

Iames low fat female dry food. Was recommended to me by a vet years ago, never had any problems so stuck with it. I buy big sacks off Amazon. I have been thinking about treats lately, after my dog walker showed me a article about Bakers ones, (luckily I have never used them) so have decided to bake my own. I bought a bone shaped cutter off eBay yesterday and found some recepies on Google.

[IreneWinters]

My eurasier is on Millie's Wolfheart. She seems to get bored eating the same thing for several meals in a row, so we switch between countryside wet, turkey and veg wet, and hunter mix kibble. For treats, she has Thrive dried liver, peanut butter Smart Stick chews, Lily's Kitchen bedtime biscuits, and homemade biscuits made from whatever ingredients I have in - usually oats or oatmeal mixed with some combination of peanut butter, banana, apple, pumpkin, cheese, tuna, egg...

[Pumpkintopf]

Started first dog off on Royal Canin as recommended by the vet - cost a fortune and he didn't like it. Now have three dogs, all fed on Chudleys with leftover veg etc mixed in and occasionally mixed with wet food for variety, supplemented with Yumega for their coats and yumove for the elderly greyhound.

[itshappenedagain]

When we first got our boxer ( 5 year old rescue) he was on wainwright's and had the worst flatulence and his breath knocked you sideways!
We moved him onto the wainwright's dry but that gave him the runs, so now he's on dry step up, alternating between turkey and Salmon.
We still get the occasional flatulence but his breath doesn't knock you down and his stools are solid. He's much happier and his coat is lovely.
We feed him wet and dry if he's going to training class where he'll use s bit more energy. And treat wise we use dehydrated chicken or salmon.

[meme70]

Our dog Teddy has dog IBS
He can only eat Chappie and iams if he has anything else he has constant upset stomach and drops weight quickly

I have ibs and so does my husband think Teddy was meant to be with us as we can empathise
We had him at 6 months old he was skinny was messing all over the house stressed tired and his owners we think didn’t work out what was wrong with him
He was up 3-4 times every night. We had him checked at vets worked though so long nights and days and found Charlie and iams are the only foods he can eat sadly He’s full of health now only thing is he does scratch a lot vets can’t fnd a reason bless him

[Strugglingtodomybest]

My two will eat anything, but I swapped to James Wellbeloved dry food after reading on here that Bakers Complete was bad for them.

[ScreamingValenta]

I go by what he seems to like - there are several brands I get but most often I buy him Wagg. If he seems to be putting on too much weight I switch to a weight reduction food until he is back in the healthy zone - he has a mild heart murmur so it's important that he stays a healthy weight. He also gets our meat leftovers on occasion.

[rupert23]

my two dogs have worker wagg and butchers tins. They seem to like it. They are an english springer and a labrador x. We changed from bakers on a vets advice and they seem happy and the correct weight on it

[peronel]

We have a great local pet shop. The guy recommended giving our dog a sack of food meant for working dogs. His dog eats it and being for working dogs means that it is VAT exempt. Our dog wolfs it down and is bright eyed and bushy tailed!

[JaimeLannister]

My 6 month old Golden pup has grain free food as grains seem to give him flatulence and waxy ears. He has a mix of wet and dry as I use wet to stuff in his food toys to keep him busy.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

We use Royal Canin which is expensive but we have pedigree dogs and only the best will do