Which dog food? So many conflicting opinions (any vets on here?)

[DogStuff]

I am having my head filled with so many conflicting opinions - I could understand if people were quibbling about which particular type of kibble or something, but the views are diametrically opposed.

Dog trainer says feed raw, nothing else will do really, but if you have to, feel pouches of meat and a tiny bit of veg. This is how they eat in the wild.

Pet shops says feed 80:20 (80% protein) - Canagan in particular. This is how they eat in the wild etc etc.

Vet and vet nurse says too much protein = overgrowth of bones and could mean hyper dog. Too much protein is not necessary and can upset stomachs. Go for 40% or below for puppy or 30% ish or below for a dog. They also say that what they have read suggests the gains of feeding raw don't really balance the risks (esp with children in the house - raw food on dogs' mouths etc).

Kennel Club website seems to suggest over development of bones from too much protein has been disproved.

Arrrrggghh

The trainer and pet shop say vets only do 3 weeks on nutrition in 7 year of vet training.

Personally, I'd rather trust the three weeks of training, in highly intelligent people with a good background of physiology and biochemistry than however much training a dog food sales man gets to oversell something with high protein to bump up the profit margin.

Am I right to think lower protein is the way to go?

This is really interesting - I feed my CKCS raw food - salmon, chicken carcasses, marrowbone, chicken wings, beef cubes etc in a rotation and she loves it - I love seeing her getting excited about food and enjoying it. I too felt consumed by all different advice - but went with raw because she loves it and seems to suit her. I buy it all frozen from local pet shop its nature by nurture.

As cheerful said, my dogs poo is very small and firm as there is very little waste from eating raw food. This is a good benefit for my dog because she was prone to her anal glands getting full and having to be manually emptied - but the firm poo seems to prevent that from happening.

We feed our three raw, but we own a ranch so its probably easier for us. I agree with cheerfulmary I don't want my dogs eating processed food, they were all rescue dogs and have a crap start in life, so making sure they have good food is important to me. Our dogs can be a bit fussy, they aren't at all food motivated but will happily eat raw. That said, ddog2 won't eat his unless its chopped into small pieces, which frankly is ridiculous for an eighteen stone dog, but his endearing ridiculousness is part of his character.

We have a toddler and honestly so long as you follow good food hygiene I can't see if being much of a health issue. I do feed ours in an outbuilding though as the smell makes DH feel sick otherwise (despite the fact that I'm the vegetarian).

You have to do what's right for you and your dog, we've fed our dogs raw ever since we've had dogs, we did a lot of research and it works for us.

I don't feed my children a raw diet, yet they eat a healthy diet. I don't really feel the need to feed my dog raw meat either. He's not a wolf, he's a pedigree bred pet.

My kibble fed dog ( millies) does one or two small poos a day ! I don't think it's a case of if you can feed a family you can feed a dog , we are mainly vegetarian and fish here ,if my dog could just have our meals he would be more than welcome but I don't think vegetarian lasagne would be sufficient for him .

I am not saying you feed your dogs as you would your children.

I am trying to make the point that dogs diet is less complex than humans so if you are capable of feeding humans then working out how to feed a dog fresh food is easy.

Totally agree MsAdora dogs are not wolves. I am also very glad to hear you do not fed your children raw meat I am guessing you feed them a balanced diet of fresh food which is appropriate to their needs and not a totally commercial processed diet.

My old dog was on a ready made raw diet (bought in 454g frozen blocks of different varieties) and was doing well on it. But after a couple of years he started to get indigestion/gurgling. I spoke to my vet about it and she said that sometimes what a dog used to be OK with changes as they age and to try something else for a couple of months to see if he's better on it. She also said that what works for one dog won't work for another, and that it doesn't necessarily follow that the "best" works for every dog. That some dogs do great on what we think of as crappy food like Chappie and others do great on James Wellbeloved. I've changed him to 3 varieties of JW and so far so good; no wind and inoffensive poos.

When I mentioned to the vet that my dog sometimes eats other dog's poo she said it's most likely because those dogs were fed stuff that wasn't digested properly (rubbish dog food in other words) and it smells of food!

I fed kibble,(Origen, barking heads) for a while. Endless diarrohea, scratching, dreadful wind and a dog that had no interest in food. Then I thought, why am I feeding dried food, that's been heated to such extreme temperatures that all the enzymes and vits are killed off, so that artificial ones then have to be added, just because it's a 'complete' food. Would I feed dried biscuit to the kids? Why isn't fresh food better for a dog? It's better for just about everything /one else. As long as it's properly balanced. So, moved to raw. No scratching, no wind, no doggy smell, and a dog that loves his food. No, he's not a wolf. He has a digestive system, that, at a push can digest starch better than a wolf, but he has the teeth, the digestive tract of a carnivore and the stomach acid of a raw food eater. Sure vets see problems with raw. Some people don't feed a balanced raw diet, some feed a mix of raw and kibble, some feed raw bones but mainly kibble, all of which cause problems. But, they also see the results of kibble every day., ie a processed food diet. Cancers, skin conditions, bad breath, rotten teeth, bloat, digestive upset. I asked my vet what was in the large breed puppy food he recommended that made it a 'large breed puppy food'. He didn't know. He hazarded a guess that it had more calcium. Wrong. It has less calcium as large amounts of calcium in kibble cause bone abnormalities in large breeds. He didn't even know that, and he is an orthopaedic vet. Don't feed raw though unless you're committed to it and can cope with lots of people telling you how dangerous it is, and how good is kibble. And by the way, there are plenty of vets that do support raw. It's just that there are loads that don't.

To be honest, your dog will let you know, in short order! We tried all the posh, organic, fancy ones for our dog when we first got her.... She wouldn't touch them. Through process of elimination we've now hit on the winning formula of waitrose own brand chicken and pasta dog terrine and Lily's kitchen dry food.

I would say don't bulk by anything and see what the dog is happy to eat!

I'd consider a raw food diet if I had a massive chest freezer and didn't have to leave my dog with my mum now and again - she's so not going to be feeding lamb's necks any time soon...

My dog's had all sorts over the years - JWB, Fish4Dogs, Skinnners, etc - but does best on lower protein kibbles. Not all of them scored well on that allaboutfood site because they bias towards higher protein content, and it just didn't suit her. We both really liked CSJ, which was formulated for working sheepdogs (her, because it tasted nice; me because it was inexpensive & good), but I've just changed her onto Specific for senior dogs after a friend's recommendation and it's fantastic. Not cheap, but the difference is visible: her coat's really glossy, poos are small and kickable, and I don't need to supplement it with Yumove.

After a lifetime of feeding dogs kibble, I started raw feeding my current lab when she was about 6 months old, after dog sitting a friend's dog who was raw fed and noticing the difference in poos.

She is calm, in great condition and has near perfect hips, so I don't recognise any of the warnings from your vet in my dog. And my vet raw feeds his dogs and cat and thinks it is great (despite the hefty profits he could make from peddling special kibble diets...)

We have a standard fridge freezer and give over one drawer to the dog's food - predominantly frozen Nature's Menu blocks from Pets At Home, supplemented with chicken wings and veg.

We take her on holiday with us a couple of times a year, and have to switch to kibble because of a lack of places to buy and store raw food for her while we are away. We've tried Millie's, James Welbeloved and Lily's, and they all have the same effect on her
Rancid, stinky Mr Whippy poo, farts galore in between, and stinky breath. The poo difference alone is enough to convince me, but I just can't believe kibble is doing long term good when it creates such short term minging breath.

She is only ever on kibble for a few weeks (a week or so phasing it in, exclusive feeding for 1-2 weeks while we are away, and then phasing it back out) so I can't compare coat condition and energy levels, but nothing can convince me kibble feeding is worth the lack of hassle factor.

And I've noticed more and more people with working dogs (who perhaps have a more vested financial interest over pet owners for their dogs to be in top shape) are feeding raw, which I think speaks volumes for the benefits over kibble.

I've removed myself from the Raw Feeding facebook groups though, because some of the members are frankly insane with their militant views on kibble...