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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Credit crunch quality dog food

33 replies

traceyinrosso · 01/12/2011 18:26

All you dog lovers out there I need some help. My 3 year old lab is on Burns chicken and rice at £24.99 for a 7.5kg sack (ouch). I really could do to cut the price without going for a rubbish quality food. Has anyone got any suggestions ? I know they need less quantity on the better foods but this is getting too pricey to continue long term. Help gratefully received !

OP posts:
toboldlygo · 01/12/2011 19:12

Skinners duck/salmon/turkey and rice, £21 for 15kg, VAT free as marketed as a working dog food. Exactly the same ingredients (in the same percentages) as Burns. :)

Just avoid the other ones they do like the muesli, they have added fillers and grains.

LeBOF · 01/12/2011 19:15

My groomers do their own brand of high quality dried food for half the price, and I mix it with Nature Diet wet food at 75p a tray, which does four portions.

Original poster
traceyinrosso · 01/12/2011 19:19

Thanks toboldlygo where do I get skinners from ?

OP posts:
WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/12/2011 19:20

Harringtons is not bad and very reasonable.

[[http://www.petsathome.com/shop/gifts/brands/wainwrights-premium-dog-food-luxury-dog-accessories/ Wainwrights is okay too.

If you have a good local butcher, raw can work out to be ridiculously cheap.

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/12/2011 19:20

Wainwrights is okay too.

toboldlygo · 01/12/2011 19:48

Feed merchants often stock it (Countrywide/Mole Valley Farmers type places) or it's available online: www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-food-cat-food-skinners-dog-food-c-62_420/skinners-field-and-trial-duck-and-rice-dog-food-15kg-p-2434 :)

misdee · 01/12/2011 20:03

raw food.

TarquinGyrfalcon · 01/12/2011 20:03

Another vote for Skinners, we were feeding Burns but the cost became prohibitive.
The dogs love it and are looking very well on it.

peggyblackett · 01/12/2011 20:07

Lidl's Orlando. Seriously, I have switched our boys to this and can see no difference in condition. Our lab went to the vets this week and DH was commended by the vet on lab's condition .

It is 1/3 of price of Burns.

peggyblackett · 01/12/2011 20:08

PS lab was going for boosters, not through illness due to poor diet!

wildfig · 01/12/2011 20:15

Skinners is good - my dog loved the Salmon & Rice, and I've just moved her onto the Turkey & Rice with Joint Aid to see if that helps her ageing bones a bit. It's slightly more expensive at £27 vs £21 or so for the Salmon/Duck/Turkey but if you shop around on the internet someone nearly always has an offer.

toboldlygo · 01/12/2011 20:37

The Lidl food is 96% cereal, 4% meat and animal derivatives and contains E320/321 which are carcinogens - appalling stuff.

peggyblackett · 01/12/2011 23:09

Heck. Looks like we should switch to Skinners too then.

toboldlygo · 01/12/2011 23:33

Sorry, I'm a bit evangelical about dog food. Blush I'm just continually amazed by the stuff that companies put in it, package it up with clever marketing and often charge top dollar for what is a completely alien diet for a carnivore. Nobody would put down a bowl of wheat, corn and a sprinkling of dried powdered carcass for their dogs but people pay anything up to £50 a bag to do just that.

peggyblackett · 01/12/2011 23:36

It's good to have the feedback TBG. We have always taken great pride in our dogs condition, however £70 a month to feed a lab and a beagle x was starting to border on the daft. Skinners looks like a good bet :)

wildfig · 01/12/2011 23:36

to be honest, in an ideal world, I would feed raw too but at the moment it's just not practical, for various reasons. If you've got the freezer space, the time and the routine, it's worth looking into.

ditavonteesed · 02/12/2011 08:23

I feed mine half raw and half barking heads, just looking at the skinners and not sure it is that much different to barking heads so might be consdiering a change over as loads cheaper.

glitch · 02/12/2011 08:41

My dog has Skinners maintenance (the food that working dogs have when they aren't working so much) and it is about £17 for a massive sack. She loves it and I love the fact it is so cheap Grin

lucidlady · 02/12/2011 10:43

I feed mine raw - he gets mince, brown rice, bran and veg in the morning, then chicken in the evening. The mince, veg and chicken drumsticks are bought frozen from tesco. He is a big dog so prob costs us £5 - £7 a week to feed. The vet put his own dogs on our diet after seeing how healthy and glossy our mutt is Smile

mountaingirl · 04/12/2011 14:02

My dog has Eden Grange senior. It cost quite a bit more than Skinners. Is there a difference?

FestiveFriedaWassailsAgain · 04/12/2011 14:08

Ours have Skinners too, from here Delivered free if you get 2 sacks.

Would have gone for the maintenance one but one dog is quite old and creaky these days so went for the food with jointaid instead.
Great value, dogs are in good condition, tidy poo.

JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 04/12/2011 18:28

My dogs are fed on Arden Grange. Loofa is on white fish and rice. Pupstar is on large breed Chicken.

I am on the breeder range as my dogs are working so I get it a bit cheaper - actually a LOT cheaper than buying it from a feed place. But looking at skinners... I am going to have a look at the ingredients as my boy cant eat certain things. Arden Grange was a good compromise after paying £75 per bag for Royal Canin OCean White Fish and Tapioca! But he is worth it.

JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 04/12/2011 18:32

I think you have to be careful which Skinners food you buy. Some have maize as their 1 ingredient, stick with working dog duck/chicken/salmon and rice.

MsLillyBeth · 23/12/2011 21:54

Raw meat. My large Rottie costs under a pound a day to feed, and that includes eggs, tinned fish and raw veg. It's more natural than processed biscuit type dog food (with god knows what crap in it!) too, and he does much smaller, firmer poos than when he was on a dry complete.

lisad123 · 23/12/2011 21:57

Raw food here too, a hell of alot cheaper than old food of nature diet