Food choice?

[Kingsroadie]

What food do you feed your dog/puppy? Our vet recommends Science Plan (and it is sold in our local petshop), but I have heard others recommend Burns, Orijen, Garden Grange.

Thanks!

Crap

Those strike outs worked in the preview

am just going to mention what suits some dogs doesn't suit others, and to add that some breeds often do better on a lower "quality" food. I am thinknig specifically labradors who if they are fed on orijen or similar tend to be scavengers as they never feel full, but put onto burns or jwb (for eg) often are better as burns lets them eat a bit more per meal and makes them feel fuller.

I have 7 dogs including a Lab rescue, came as a foster dog and stayed, all are fed Orijen or Acana and none scavenge. They also get a bit of tripe now and again and raw bones for their teeth.

I don't believe in feeding dogs cereal so wouldn't use Burns etc as it's got lots of rice.
Also, as you feed less of grain free food it does not cost as much.

Fish4 dogs is also a good one.

That's interesting, Slubberdequllion. Do you have any recommendations for reading material?

Our whippet has very dry, flakey skin and I'm hoping that a more natural diet without gluten and other irritants would help with that. (Plus both my ds's suffer from multiple food allergies, so I'm keen to give the dog food that I know the contents of iyswim).

Raw Meaty Bones by Ton Lonsdale (a vet) is a good read.

My dogs are prone to skin problems too and when they were fed raw or if they are on cereal free complete food their skin is great.

If you search BARF or raw feeding on here there are a few threads about it.

BritBarfUK, a yahoo group is absolutely excellent, a wealth of information from very experienced and well read raw feeders.

Some of the raw food suppliers (Landywoods and Natural Instict come to mind) also have links on their sites for further reading.

I have seen several times recommendations for the book midori has suggested too.

Thanks both .

We feed Salters ,Otto is 2.5 years and we have only just had our first incident of tummy upset,probably eating something on walk.

He has a beautiful glossy coat and is a perfect weight .It is expensive but worth every penny in my opinion

Thanks everyone - really interesting to hear about people's choices and why and ideas etc.

Shine - have decided to try the fish4cats for my cats! (although still going to feed science plan/almo wet food as they will eat it...)

Naturediet; occasionally Nature's Menu for our lurcher because he prefers it. Both thriving - our springer is ten and is regularly mistaken for a puppy.

Acana don't do a puppy range but an "all ages" range. Do people think that would be suitable for a young puppy? I would imagine so as it is advertised as such but has anyone fed to their puppy?

I've just started to gradually switch my puppy over to Acana pacifica from Purina Pro Plan Puppy (she is 5 months). She seems to love it (it really pongs) but her poop has gone quite soft. I'm hoping that it's just the change and things will firm up soon!

The chap at the local pet shop said that you can switch between the different Acana 'flavours' quite easily to give your dog a bit of variety. Have other Acana purchasers found this to true? And, if you don't mind, could you tell me what your dog's poo is like on this food?

My mutts prefer Orijen to Acana. Maybe the amount of protein??

But I switch between the flavours/varieties of Orijen without any problems.

The only problem I have is getting the Doodle to stay out of the box as I pour it in!

we also feed barf. the dogs eat laods it seems. but we have found a good local butchers to supply the main source of their diet. but this week they are due a bit of liver. mmmm yummy. dh will be sneakign some off for liver bacon and mash.

its been fun finding what fruit and veg they will and wont eat. seems that they dont like their greens. love root veggies.

our main reason for switching to a raw diet was ralphs hyperactivity. he is always on the hunt for food, always want to chew no matter how many walks a day he gets.

also the cost. before we were spending close to £100 per month on their food.

now its around £40-50 depending on what we get from the reduced sections, and how many boxes of carcasses we can get from the butcher. this week i have a 3day shortage of meat between freezer stock running out and butcher getting more carcasses and bones in, so they will be fed on cheaper meats from the supermarket.

their poo isnt as bulky and sloppy. they are calmer, their coats are fab, their breath smells better, they are happier dogs.

I have recently switched my collie puppy to a raw diet. Her breeder recommended Royal Canin but her poo was grim - massive pools of liquid green poo We then switched to Orijen which my big collie boy loves. My puppy's poos were brown but still very soft and ots of it. She is now getting a meal of Natural Instinct ( pre-prepared raw dog food) in the morning and meaty bones in the evening. She is LOVING it! Her poos are small and firm and her coat is amazing - really, really glossy. I don't think I will ever feed any dog of mine a commercial food again.

My dp used to work for Mars (who make Royal Canin). He worked at the pet food research site. The storys he came home with about their approaches to pet nutrition mean we would never consider buying any Mars branded pet food.

oh no! stories like what unseenacademicalmum?

I don't want to give specific e.g.'s for fear of recriminations. However, let's just say that the quality of the ingredients was not all it should be.

My brother works in a cereal factory which makes Bakers, among others. A fairly random selection of cereal goes in, so the formula is never consistent- a nightmare if your dog is allergy-prone.

I feed our 16week Cav puppy a combination of nature diet wet food, and some dried food from the local grooming parlour which is very high quality.

Like Shiney, I have found that you don't need anywhere near the amount that the food manufacturers recommend.

Personalclown - reduce the amount you are feeding by 20% and the stools will firm up. It is easy to feed to much of Acana / Orijen, as I found out.

Just a quick resurrection as I took my puppy to the vet yesterday for jabs and asked her what food she feeds her dog and she feeds royal canin. She said he had runny poo on Orijen and she understood what I was saying re the lack of grains etc but it just depends on the dog. I am still feeding Burns as the breeder did as I want to give him at least a week or so on that living with us before changing it and so I haven't decided - think I will try fish 4 dogs though.

Does anyone use pro plan puppy? Our baby lab came home on that, so didn't want to rush an extra change on her...

Our puppy came to us on pro plan puppy and we kept her on it for a good few months. I think it is an ok food, just not as good quality as some of the others out there.

She is now happily on Acana - we went for the pacifica (fish) variety as she is prone to dry itchy skin. Her poo was a bit soft when we first swapped but, as suggested on this thread, we reduced quantities and this sorted things out.

OK, which are the better quality one's?