What do you feed your dog and why??

[time4chat1]

Sounds a really silly question I know but i've just been thinking what my do would say about the food i give them. I do vary what they have from dry different variety's to tinned meat and sometimes our spag bol.

I've discovered that "what do you feed your dog" can become a pretty intense and often charged up discussion. Certain aspects of it often remind me of the breastfeeding/bottle feeding issue.

You will generally find on these boards that -

1. Many on these board swear by the value of feeding a raw entirely meat and bone based diet. The claimed advantages to this include closest to natural diet, cheaper, non smelly firm small poos, no wind, good health, great teeth etc. cons depend on your personal preferences and circumstances and how convinced you are by it etc.

1. Many largely agree that grains and other fillers used in cheap big standard kibble isn't necessary or good for dogs. These include raw feeders but also extend to those who feed dry kibble but only higher end ones that exclude grains.

1. Then there is a large proportion on what suits their particular dog, which is often a good brand of medium range dry and wet foods which contain grains but their dogs seem to do fine on it. Foods like James Well beloved, hills, eukanuba fall under this.

1. Then there are those who feed supermarket brands including pedigree and barkers which I have seen are highly criticised here and for very good reason.

People who practice numbers 1 and 2 above are usually the most strongly convinced about their choices I find.

I belong to number 2. I follow an absolutely no grains diet. She eats. Millie's Wolfheart kibble breakfast and leftovers from breakfast kibble for lunch. Her dinner is Natures Menu mince with some veggies which I serve boiled for five minutes, prepared for a week.

Mine are on burns. We feed it because it's made of actual meat / vegetables rather than "derivatives" and doesn't have any unnecessary additives. It suits both of our dogs and they are doing will on it.

Totally agree with focus' comments

Kirkland puppy food. It's meat based rather than cereal and doesn't upset the puppy's tummy like other meat based kibbles. It's very cheap when Costco stock it and expensive when they don't!

Skinners Duck and rice. No wheat/ gluten. VAT free as a working dog food. So it's very cost effective at £23 for 15kg. Thriving bouncy definitely not working springer.

I feed raw, because thats what our breeder recommends. Dogs do really well on it and apparently there are less occurrences of bloat (which breed is very susceptible too, this is based on research out of the states). I thought it was bit of a faff to start with, but now I am in the swing of it, its fine.

Harringtons because it suits our dogs

I feed mines bakers small dogs only because that's what his previous owner fed him I've now started mixing it with a small tin of ceaser and he gets that morning and tea time!
It agrees with him as he has a really sensitive stomach, other dried food he either gets constipated or is sick

Autarky working dogs food. It's cheap from costco but has 26% real chicken meat, herbs, fruit, seaweed etc. in it. Does have maize, though my dogs seem ok with that, firm not malodorous stools, shiny coats, no skin problems.

Another who feeds raw. Nature's menu mince blocks with various other cuts of meat and offal. No veg. She has lovely fresh breath!.. almost

I feed chappie as it was recommended by our vet. I did feed chappie tins but then the vet said it was better for her teeth to have dry only. She also has whatever the toddler throws on the floor! I used to feed some of the more expensive fancy brands but she seemed to suffer from allergies, since going on chappie she's been great.

Asda or Tesco own brand dry and tins - we inherited two vaguely old dogs (remaining one now 10 yo) and I have tried all the good stuff - fish4dogs, Burns, Eden, natural, etc - all upset his tummy even with careful buildup as I think he's been on rubbish so long, that's what he's used to and he likes it!

Wainwrights cereal free dry food - because grains give him an upset stomach, it's not hugely expensive, he'll eat it and I can pick it up rather than have to order it online.

I am one of those who feeds on Bakers. Our vet says it is absolutely fine. It is the non-multi-coloured one. He came to us at 6 months on Arden Grange and that was affecting his eyesight badly (as I have said on here previously). He also likes raw carrot, tomatoes, apple, any fish, meat, eggs, plain boiled rice, mango...(did you guess Lab?). Regular as clockwork pooing twice a day. He is not overweight, has never had a tooth problem and is 15 years old. Only his hips are a concern.

I feed part dry and part raw. Usually Eden, Acana or Barking Heads grain-free kibble in the mornings and a variety of green tripe, chicken wings, lamb ribs, lamb breast, pork ribs and portioned pheasant or rabbit carcasses in the evenings. Also give Nature Diet, Barking Heads or Wainwrights wet food, various frozen minced meats and tinned sardines and raw egg sometimes, all of which they love. I'm not one of those vets who pushes Hills Science Plan for every dog!

focus post is very concise. We are on millies wolfheart. Storage and hygiene issues of raw don't suit us. Millies wolfheart gives me grain free, high quality kibble which gives our lab a brilliant coat, small firm poos and no wind.

focus has given the best reply I have ever read on MN.

I fed raw because it was the right diet for my dog, others do well on other food.

Wainwright grain free biscuits things and webbox meat. Although the webbox meat is sometimes switched to other brands.
He has an oil supplement on top too. Sometimes the meat is switched to actual meat and veg like chicken and carrots and brocc. Or tuna. He love cucumber.

Just cos it suits him I guess. He was on burns for a bit but his skin got terribly dry.

We would feed raw but he is one small dog and economies of scale and all that. Also freezer is very small so we'd have to buy meat fresh and tbh it doesn't seem worth it. But we would switch if we ever got another dog or a bigger one.

we feed raw, with sardines, eggs and veg thrown in occasionally. It started as a bit of an experiment when he was first diagnosed as epileptic. Unfortunately it made no difference to the epilepsy but he's less windy, has smaller poo's and his coat is lovely and shiny.

Autarky. It's £13.79 a sack from Costco, which is a big plus point, but it's also the only food which agrees with both of my dogs - both are prone to loose stools and itchy, flaky skin. I top with a small amount of Nature Diet (1/2 a tub between them each day) or sardines 2-3 times a week.

I've tried numerous foods, and big dog has never looked as healthy as she does on Autarky. Foods such as Fish4Dogs, Orijen and Acana have proved too rich and she was always a little bit loose. Pup was on Royal Canin when I got him, and had constant diarrhoea; weaned him onto Fish4Dogs puppy food and it made him worse, ditto others I tried. He tried Autarky first at about 7 months and for the first time he wasn't crapping everywhere and seemed healthier, so we stuck with it. It may not be the best on the market on paper, but it suits both my dogs, and suits my purse!

Another Autarky feeder. I knew nothing about dog food 7 months ago and after a lot of research I think it's the best we can get on our budget and most importantly my Choc Lab does well on it.

We order a couple of sacks at a time from GJW Titmuss for £38, might have to check our nearest Costco.

I think I'd like to give raw feeding a try but DH isn't too keen and as most of the dog care falls on him right now due to my job I'll bide my time!

I'm pleased to see a couple of people advocating mixing dry and raw. I know there's no proof that you shouldn't mix but I haven't quite made my mind up what I want to do yet with our next one, except that I'd like to try a bit of both.

I started feeding raw food after advice on here. Both my dogs are much healthier.

I have one dog on raw, along with two different oil supplements, because she can't survive on anything else (allergies and autoimmune problems) and two dogs on a good/high quality dry food. I'll probably switch them to raw soon.

Canagan, because he's completely non food motivated, it's a very high quality dry food and it's about the only thing he gets mildly excited about.

Hill i/d because it produces firm dry stools. Everything else has given him runny, yucky poo.