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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

What's the best dog food

26 replies

Laceup · 19/10/2017 21:31

Sorry to ask for more advice...following on from my other thread...I want to put her on a better food...she's on AVA advanced nutrition,optimum health for small breeds.which is hypo allergenic free from wheat and gluten...but I've just looked and it has egg in....so what's the best food out there? And where can I get it? Thanks in advance

OP posts:
BiteyShark · 19/10/2017 22:02

Really the best dog food is one your dog thrives on. I used allaboutdogfood.co.uk to pick a good quality one but it has taken me months to get the right flavour and wet/dry combination to keep him interested as he is fussy and easy on his stomach as anything used to give him soft poos.

cocopops88 · 19/10/2017 22:14

I use forthglades wet food. my fussy dog likes it and it's got no rubbish in.

Original poster
Laceup · 19/10/2017 22:32

I've looked at butternut box..that works out at 50 every 3 weeks..that's a lot...but is there anything similar on the market but a bit cheeper

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BiteyShark · 19/10/2017 22:36

You can use that website to filter on types of food, their rated quality and if you put in your dog details it will give you a rough cost per day as good quality ones don't always cost more as you use less quantity.

RaininSummer · 19/10/2017 22:42

My dog seems to thrive on Lidl meat fine and chappie dry food with extra veg when I have some for him. Fed my last dog on Burns hypoallergenic stuff but he died young of cancer. I doubt that means anything but as above, what your dog is healthy on must be good I guess.

Original poster
Laceup · 19/10/2017 22:49

Was looking at naturo.seems similar to butternut box but half the price

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Original poster
Laceup · 19/10/2017 22:50

Bites,couldn't get that web site to work..kept saying,nothing matches my search

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BiteyShark · 19/10/2017 23:02

Well for just 'fresh complete' it is showing just the butternut box so doesn't look like there is anything else around for that.

Are you after wet, kibble, raw?

LilaWithTheBigBag · 20/10/2017 06:02

Naturo isn't fresh food like Butternut Box - it seems to be standard wet food. It also seems to have high proportions of rice or potato. It looks like Butternut Box is unique in its fresh cooked food approach as BiteyShark mentioned. I've not found any other brand who do this.

Link for the website mentioned upthread:
www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

Raizel · 20/10/2017 06:11

I think it’s really down to what your dogs like. We have a shih tzu and not to over share she did the worst poo’s but we switched her over to wainwrights dry grain free and she has been a lot better since then. I think for her it was going grain free that really helped though.

Original poster
Laceup · 20/10/2017 08:16

I'm on that web site...it's showing nothing at all suits..butternut box looks amazing,but £50 every 2 weeks..I could buy fresh chicken from Tesco for cheeper

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Original poster
Laceup · 20/10/2017 08:19

Actually......bearing in mind people feed raw food....could I buy ready cooked meat,chicken,turkey,beef,like you would buy if you were making a sandwich.and give her that.???

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ButFirstTea · 20/10/2017 09:23

Ready prepared meats like that have higher water, salt etc content so they aren't the healthiest. We feed raw and our dog loves it. He's super healthy and a great shape for his breed.

If you don't want to feed raw then I think as high quality wet/dry as you can find would be okay, plus any meat or veg scraps (with seasoning washed off) to top up nutrients.

BiteyShark · 20/10/2017 09:31

I guess you can buy meat and cook it but probably will be trial and error on how much to feed. How old is the dog? If young I would be worried about getting the right amount of nutrients if still young whereas for raw you can get prepared amounts.

You can get good quality wet foods now. The one I use comes out at 5.0 on the website and contains no fillers, grains, chicken or egg etc.

Original poster
Laceup · 20/10/2017 11:45

I want her to have proper food.....the problem is we are all vegans.so no chance of scraps

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BiteyShark · 20/10/2017 12:18

With regards wet food you can view the ingredients on the tin so you can see exactly what they are getting. Mine has big chunks of meat/fish and veg and some of the good quality wet foods look better than what I eat.

I guess your options then are either to pay for the butternut box, get fresh and cook it all yourself and experiment with quantities, pay for raw completes or look for a good quality wet food.

ButFirstTea · 20/10/2017 12:32

Are you able to feed raw? It's really easy and not as expensive as I was expecting. You can buy complete minces containing the right amount of meat, bone and offal that you just defrost and portion up according to how much your dog needs to eat per day.

Original poster
Laceup · 20/10/2017 17:27

I really don't think I'd cope with raw feeding...she's quite delicate,and I'd think would need the food cooked..raw as in,straight off the bone of the animal,no sterilisation?

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ButFirstTea · 20/10/2017 17:54

Any bacteria is killed during the freezing process, just as effective as cooking in terms of killing germs. There have been cases of salmonella from feeding kibble, so both are a (small) risk but if you take normal precautions eg washing your hands then it's perfectly sanitary.

You can buy ready made minces so you can't see any bone or offal, it just looks like a packet of minced meat. You can feed things like chicken wings, pork ribs etc too but if that's not for you then you don't have to of course.

There's loads of information on the Raw Feeding UK fb page if you want to know more!

passmethewineplease · 20/10/2017 21:47

We went for a high quality kibble.

She's on Millies Wolfheart and she adores it. Still gradually changing over but she will pick out Millies first.

Frillyhorseyknickers · 20/10/2017 22:10

Dry dog food index:

www.petforums.co.uk/threads/the-updated-dry-dog-food-index.255727/

WeAllHaveWings · 20/10/2017 23:10

Our 4 years old lab is on millies wolfheart too. Not the cheapest, but very good quality and a bag last ages because you feed less.

SwimmingInTheBlueLagoon · 20/10/2017 23:44

Kibble wise - Green Dog 80/20 grain free. Personally I think it's far better than other high rated kibble, as it uses whole ingredients (rather than things like 'pea fibre' found in other 5 rated food on the all about dog food website).

If you can get the 12kg bags, it's actually quite cheap for its quality too (helped by the fact it's vat free - as the 12kg sack is for 'working dogs' - even though it's exactly the same as the 'small dog' version just with standard sized kibble rather than smaller kibble).

Wolfiefan · 20/10/2017 23:48

Depends on the dog! Mine reacted to kibble.
We use raw. It's a mix. Frozen in a block and I just defrost what I need. No gnawing on animals involved! No butchery either. But you might want a separate freezer if you feed frozen tripe!

SparklingRaspberry · 21/10/2017 00:00

You can't beat a raw diet

Why couldn't you cope?
I'm a vegetarian and cope just fine. You can buy blocks of meat that you just thaw and put in the bowl or you can diy or even a bit of both. I am a strict veggie but when it comes to my dog I love watching her tuck into a bowl full of meat bone and organs Grin

If she's "quite delicate" even more reason to feed raw. It sorts out so many allergies and health problems.

There's no such thing as high quality kibble just there is no such thing as high quality junk food.