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

I researched dog food as I have lost too many of my dogs to cancer and have now moved onto raw feeding. Raw meat and offal for dogs taking into consideration the dog's body weight so we mostly buy Bulmers raw dog food and have a separate freezer for it. Not only is my dog in good health but also he moults a lot less which for a German Shepherd is really good. He loves green tripe which is more filling and better for him although the smell can be like nothing else on Earth!

Stanley has always had James Wellbeloved which seems to be gentle on his stomach. He doesn’t agree with grains so it hs to be grain free. He always has a mix of wet and dry food. It is very rare for him not to eat his food but if he is off colour we don’t push him to eat it.
Generally if he has a tummy upset starving him for a few hours and some rice and egg or rice and chicken do the trick.

We went through a variety of different foods with our dog when he was a puppy until we found one that he liked and he settled on that one

feed them whatever we can get on offer

It has to be Grain Free

I research which brands are best and actually have high meat content, even though its more expensive

What will my dog eat in one sitting, not something that they will graze on over the course of the day.

My 13 year old English Pointer has always been a fussy eater and for two years we tried some many brands to get one he liked...Vitalin Active,he'll eat that.

My dog is a bit of a fussy bugger, so i usually just go with whatever he's willing to eat. Seems to be okay with Pedigree at the moment, so i'm buying that. Sometimes i cook a chicken and mix that in with it. Always trying to get him eat kibble, never works though.

my dog loves Lily’s Kitchen dog food was recommended by a friend whos dog loves it too!

We buy from our local pet shop who seem to give great recommendations.

online reviews and whether my doggy will eat it!

He has always had a delicate stomach so I get the best quality I can and these days go grain free.

we just check on the ingredients and the percentages, we feed them James Wellbeloved.

I don't follow any trends. Most of the time my dog just gets fed home cooked food supplemented by some store bought minimally processed foods.

We have gone through lots and lots of websites, friends recommendations and comparison sites for the right dog food. We have to be careful as our dog has a very sensitive tummy. We then got recommended a food from our vets and we have used that for the last month and he seems better. We always got told that packaging stating grain free and allergenic free is not always 100% true as it seems to be a fashionable thing to put on labels now. Read the ingredients before you buy

I first used wet food, then switched to dry, however for my next dog I will be changing to raw food. Probably using the BARF diet (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food)

Whatever they like and agrees with their tummies.

We have a lab and The breeder had her in a very detailed weaning plan, so we just kept her in that, if we changed I know we have to do it gradually so not to upset delicate tums

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.

It has been trial and error but find organic food goes down best such as from Nature's Diet

I find plenty of local cats for dogfeed. Yum!

we tried our dog oreo on a few different brands of dog food. He settled on Bakers dry food mix and wet mix. He seemed to like that the most so thats what we continued to buy x

Our cross breed Keith has grain free - we found it better for her (yes, a girl called Keith!) and it doesn't upset her tummy and her poos look good (well,as good as poo CAN look!) She has Butchers tinned occassionally but not too often, and the odd treat of a piece of chicken! She's bright eyed, bushy tailed and full of mischief so I'd say we're not going too far Wrong!

We were about the third owners of our Standard Size Yorkshire Terrier. When we got him we were told that he ate canned meat dog food and biscuits. However, he always had a bad stomach and really bad wind! We were told about a kind of dry food that you add water to and we fed him this for a while. His health improved but he wasn't keen. Finally, we moved him onto a high quality dry food with occasional treats of grilled chicken!