Dog foods, can I run through a few?

[Disenchanted3]

Not literally that would be gross

I want to get my pugs onto a complete dry food and so went to our large pet shop tody to have a look.

I'm looking to get the 15kg bags as there are 2 of them (the KKCS) is still on puppy food.

The higher end 15 kg bags seemed tobe around £50,proplan adult, james wellbeloved, science plan.

Thenthere was Bakers adult at about £30 (but is on special offer at £20 at the moment)

Purina was £27

and finallyJolleys own at £23.

The science plan was also on offer down to £40 from £50 but I have to think what it will be in the long run rather than just this month IYKWIM.

I read that if the first ingredient is meat then we are off to a good start, i found it surprising that the jolleys brand was chicken first at 26% and that eukenuba which is double the price is the same at just 2% more (28%)

Just looking for advice on what I should go for really, I have no qualms at getting the top end ones but if the £20 less ones are as good then I'm happy with that.

Also are these foods complete, do you need to add anything else or just measure this out morning noon and night?

My pugs like to have chicken, carrots and rice in the evening can I add ths to the dry food, I don't want them getting fat!

Thankyou

Thanks for clarification on the chook, Minimu.

Ran the pig trachea past Mr Bella at brekkie. He's up for it - despite having a considerably weaker stomach than me Even floated the idea of having a designated freezer - I have a huge one but it is crammed full of leftover home made food and ice cream

Actually - maybe that was his thinking? He doesn't want to delve in for some bread and fish out a trachea by mistake?

Minimum I do not 'want' anyone to say anything, my request for advice on the best commercial dog food wasn't aimed at you in particular, and I'm not expecting you to reassure me or try to convince me to change to BARF. I just thought that between all the nutritionists, vets, vet nurses, breeders and experience owners that come on here, those of us with less knowledge could obtain some guidance other than basically 'anything except BARF is rubbish'. Surely that's a bit like someone asking a load of midwives and experienced mums for advice on the best formula to give to their baby because they can't breastfeed, only to be told that 'breast is best' and nothing else is good enough, so you may as well feed any old rubbish? Not everyone can feed BARF, even if they wanted to, so I thought it might be useful for people (myself included) to get a more knowledgeable opinion on what is best to feed instead of BARF. I don't believe that ND should be tarred with the same brush as cheap 15p a tin supermarket dog food, otherwise it's like saying to someone "well if you're going to eat a ham sandwich instead of a salad, you may as well go the whole hog and have a kebab". Everything has varying degrees of unhealthiness, and lets be honest most people will choose to feed convenience foods whether or not it's the best option, so I just thought it was better to make as informed a decision as possible in that case.

MrsL I do feed BARF, but I also understand not everyone can/ wants to for a whole host of reasons, so hence I would say Naturediet, Nature's Harvest or Burns are best comercial options - and also looks like Orijen is too - but need to research more. I think that it is good to pick the best comercial food you can afford because that has got to be the best option for your dog. So I agree with you on that point.

The only thing I will say is that feeding raw food (BARF) is easy, very cheap and not as hard as it might seem - just takes a bit of initial research - and ideally some freezer space

I am not perfect - I feed my dog things that many BARF feeders wouldn't (eg. the occasional Naturediet or some cooked leftovers), but I look at it like my own diet and reason that the occasional 'McDonalds' won't kill him

I also totally agree with minimu and her principles - but i do understand that not everyone will be able to feed BARF.

I've narrowed it down to Orijen, ND or BARF, fwiw.

But, crikey - it's like anything. We can obsess over it to the nth degree

One of our healthiest and longest lived dogs when I was a child existed on a diet of steak mince, lambs kidneys (all cooked), milk to drink and a (small) bar of Dairy Milk every so often

That was a long time ago though

Some dogs seem to have tougher genes, that's for sure. I have one whom I sure could live on nothing more than (very dead) rabbit carcases.

lol @ iggypiggy's mcdonalds Thanks for the information, I haven't looked into Burns but will have a nosey tonight.

When I read into BARF and heard how cheap it was, I went to all the butchers in town (five of them!) and asked if they could supply me with stuff, but they all said no. They get all their meat prepacked now, rather than butchering it themselves, so there are no leftovers to give. My only other option is the supermarket (Morrisons) and although I can get the odd bone from them, it's not consistent enough to feed them on IYSWIM. And if I bought 'human' mince it would cost a fortune, and I'd have to go back every other day because I only have a small fridge freezer and don't have room for another, same reason I can't buy in bulk and freeze it (we used to have a chest freezer in our spare bedroom but it caught fire and nearly burnt the house down, so not going down that route again!). Ideally I'd prefer to feed completely fresh (I don't like spending a fortune and getting crap) but it's just not doable for me at the moment without a major outlay at the beginning.

mrsL It does depend on having a good butcher - I am lucky - i get all bones for free - chicken wings are 99p per big bag and I choose cheaper cuts of meat (all human grade tho) and sometimes I get frozen mince or similar. I don't think Landywoods works out that expensive tho? But you still have the freezer issue...

Anyway - is so good that care what you dog is fed - many do not... which is v. sad...

Arden Grange came ...

Poppy loves it,

Lily is turnimg her nose up (but lily loves her wet food!)

Will wait till 1pm and fill their bowl up (just offered them a few pieces each before)

Hopefully Lily will tuck in!

Glad to hear they enjoy it Disenchanted, hope lily eats it!

I'd also like to apologise to minimu for spelling her name wrong earlier, my stupid phone with it's predicitive text obviously decided I was trying to type minimum instead, and I realise it may have sounded like a put-down, which it wasn't meant to

gah! I need to stay off this part of the forum...

I have (finally, after considering it for about a year!) decided the change to Orijen. My husband is going to love me, it is over £50 for 13.5KG, compared to currently paying £22 for 15KG... they practically live off fresh air with the curreny food, so I can't see myself being able to reduce quantities much. I am sure my puppy buyers will love me too, it is £15 for a 2.5KG bag!

I have managed to join the breeders scheme though, so I will be able to get a small discount, thank goodness! Still.... blasted forum...

It's all true...

It's slightly cheaper at Berriewoods midori - although not much! Still under the £50 though, which sounds a bit better. Just do what I do with DH and round up and down - i.e. existing food is nearly £30 a bag and new food is only £40 a bag - and don't mention quantities

i think it would still work out cheaper on the breeders scheme, tbh. Also, have just rang Berrieswoods and they want to charge me £12 to deliver as I am in Northern Ireland, so it's not really worth it.

Can I just ask about chicken wings and carcases - is it ok for dogs to have chicken bones? I thought they were a choking hazard? Ddog would love to have them though.

Okay if raw, Isaid - potentially deadly if cooked

I fed my last dog on Arden Grange all his life, he was fit, healthy and perfect in every way, shiny coat, eyes, good teeth etc - when we got him at 6 weeks the breeder had him on cat food (higher protein) but stupid fuckwittery really...

Anyway, when we got our new boy last year he was on Burns and BARF and we kept him on both for a while, but in the summer i was barfing at the BARF - raw tripe is not a pleasant smell at the best of times, so we gave him some fish (cooked) with his food. Then when we were on holiday with him he went off his food, so I changed it to Arden Grange when we got back and he has scoffed his food like a good boy ever since.

The breeder popped round to see him last week and said he is excellent condition and was really pleased. (he was her favourite pup)

I wouldnt recommend chopping and changing foods - choose one you like and stick to it otherwise you can upset their poor tums.

oh - and i get the AG working dog bags, much cheaper than in the feed stores.

Chicken wings are good for cleaning teeth, and offer excellent, if gruesome, entertainment value while they're being crunched down: our dogs LOVE them, and usually get them a couple of times a week. However, one word of warning - my younger dog's Mr Whippy poo was eventually pinned down to campylobacter, which the vet reckons he probably picked up from a dodgy supermarket chicken wing. Apparently 2/3 of all supermarket chicken has it, which isn't a problem if you're cooking it properly, but obviously can be if you're feeding raw and your dog doesn't have a cast-iron gut (like my older girl).

It's taken 3 different kinds of antibiotics to shift it, and normal poo service seems to be resuming, but in future I'll be getting any chicken from a butcher and/or freezing the wings first, then defrosting individually.

Thanks. Ddog has James Wellbeloved kibble but supplemented with (usually cooked) chicken etc as training treats, and kongs stuffed with the gel stuff that you get left in the pan from cooking chicken.

I always buy organic chickens, so I think if I cut off the wings as soon as I get them home, and give them, it might be OK. I don't want him on antibiotics, though.

Will think about it, anyway. I admire the raw feeding people but could not hack it myself - too new to the whole business.

figgy I always freeze all meat before feeding it raw - is no trouble and does at least kill some nastly stuff. Glad yours getting better tho!

is raw meat ok for dogs thou - I always assumed with my two giving them 'blood meat' as it were would be a bad idea - prob v nieve of me thou. they do love a good beef ribbone each thou - dad crys giving it to them as he likes it for stock but well they don't have it often lol.

thesouthbelle It's fine to give them raw meat - I know dogs that will kill, catch and eat rabbits if they are allowed to - totally natural for a dog to eat raw meat. They have alot more stomach acid than us, and really don't digest food in the same way as humans.

We feed ours Pero Organic - mail order via their website, £60 for 2 x 20kg bags, but there's usually 20% off available.

We used to use Bakers. The main difference is that she now produces less poop by volume, even though she's taking in the same amount of food. So I'm guessing that the Pero contains more digestible foods and less filler than Bakers.

Generally most dogs can eat most things - they're designed to be scavengers eating a mix of meat and carbs - cereals in dogfood. The tricky part is changing them over from one food to another. We had to go very slowly - changing only 10% of her food per day. Otherwise she got a stomach upset.

The other thing to check is the calorie content - how much of each food would your dog need each day - they're not all the same, so the comparison per kg isn't always accurate.

And then it's onto ethics. We're big on environment and animal welfare, so we picked one that's organic. But that's up to you.