Mid price complete food recommendations

[Rollerbird]

I am looking for recommendations
My 3 y. o. lurcher has dry food topped up with extras like leftovers eg meat, fish, veg, odd tin of fish, egg etc.
We have yet to find a dry complete food that's reasonable quality, she likes, doesn't make her poo for England (aldi), doesn't make her lose weight because she either hardly eats it, or some other reason (skinners puppy food(best so far), gain greyhound, wagg, barking heads), or give her loose stools (James wellbelovwd) or very dry ones (gain)
We haven't swapped these frequently and caused stomach upsets, she's tried them for a couple of 15kg sacks worth each time.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Sorry should be Lurcher in first sentence, fat fingers,

[Lonecatwithkitten]

As you have a Kutcher ( prone to dilated cardiomyopathy) you should be aware when choosing a food that in the last 18 months a link has become apparently between feeding grain free diets and dilated cardiomyopathy. A lot of the grain free diets are what are described as boutique foods and whilst adding up the components on paper they seem a complete they have not carried out bioavailability studies to ensure they are nutritionally complete ( as these are expensive). It seems that many of these diets are deficient in taurine leading to DCM.
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Selecting-the-Best-Food-for-your-Pet.pdf this link takes you to the world small animal veterinary association guidelines as to how to choose a dog food and what questions to ask of the manufacturer.

[Louise24902]

@Rollerbird when we gave ours Chappie it was the dry food biscuits rather than the meat so that helps with the teeth.
It's £24.99 for the 15KG bag in pets at home!

[libertyminty]

I’ve seen the Chappie dry food sacks in The Range

[libertyminty]

I usually buy a 24 can pack in Asda for around £14 but during lockdown I struggled to get it, I ended up ordering from Fetch which was delivered quickly. Also I have a dog toothbrush and paste that I clean my dogs teeth with as I was worried about her teeth being on wet food.

[TelephoneTroubles]

Oh and they do a dry food too, if you’re worried about teeth. I find the antlers that you can buy in pet shops brilliant for keeping their teeth clean though.

[TelephoneTroubles]

We feed some of the foster pups Chappie when they have digestive issues (usually after giardia) and they do really well on it. My own dogs do really like it, but it absolutely reeks and I couldn't face feeding it everyday.

That’s funny, I actually think Chappie is by far the nicest smelling dog food! However anything with turkey or tripe in it makes me want to retch...

I think Chappie’s worth a try OP, I don’t think it’s especially high in protein, but it’s very gentle. When my mum was a veterinary nurse assistant about 30 years ago it was the food they provided for dogs who had to stay in.

[Rollerbird]

Where's the best price for chappie?
Also would worry about keeping the teeth clean?

[libertyminty]

Our mega fussy hound came to us with a huge bag of royal canin. She went off that and we tried loads of alternatives, she would like it to start then refused to eat it. Our vet recommended Chappie, which I was hesitant about but 6 months on she’s looking fantastic, her coat is shining and she’s not getting any of her dry patches on her skin like she used to. Her poos are small and firm, unlike the mountains she used to produce on dry food. Also she used to be quite windy on other food, I can’t remember the last time I smelt a fart from her. 😊
I don’t mix it with anything else, just give it as it is and she wolfs it down.

[Slothfull]

Blimey Canagans is expensive for the quality!

[IckleBear]

I get a German brand called Markus mühle on Zooplus.. It's cold pressed food so it breaks down in the stomach rather than blow up bigger so it's easier on my dogs stomachs. Very good poos with it and very good value for money.

[rottiemum88]

Would recommend AVA Sensitive from Pets at Home. My two have very sensitive stomachs and one has sensitive skin and it's been great for both. They also like the taste and will happy have pieces of kibble as training treats, which they never did with any of their previous foods

[vanillandhoney]

We feed Harringtons - for a supermarket brand it's pretty good. You can get it grain-free or standard and they do wet food as well. My dog loves it. He gets 200g wet a day plus some of the biscuits. We pay about £25 a month for food and he weighs 17.5kg if that's any help.

[Maestro7]

We give our dog the Canagans mixed with a teaspoon of salmon oil and his cost is lovely and soft.

[Maestro7]

I recommend Canagans. Check out the reviews.
www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0666/canagan

[Louise24902]

Forgot to mention that her current food is giving her itchy skin/dandruff. Which of the above would avoid this as well

The AVA sensitive skin and stomach that I posted above is really good for the dry skin too. My boys always had dry skin/dandruff and that food has helped clear it right up!

We used to give him chappie as it was recommended by our vet for his stomach, it did help with his stomach but didn't find it made any difference to his dry skin.

Also, you could try putting cod liver oil capsules on his dinner. We used to pierce one of the capsules and squeeze the oil on to his dinner and it helped with the dry skin too.
Or I work as a dog groomer and a few of my customers have tried giving their dog a tsp of coconut oil a day aswell on their dinner and that has helped with their skin massively. That's something you could try with any of the foods been suggested to help with his coat!

[SlothMama]

Go onto all about dog foods website you can put in your budget and it'll list foods and their quality.
My dog was incredibly fussy and eventually I gave up feeding her wet and dry food, so she's now on raw. She's doing really well on it, eats all of it and her coat is fantastic.

[Rollerbird]

Canine choice is a bit pricy for me. But worth bearing in mind if the others are not great

[Rollerbird]

Would you feed chappie with kibble? Or just the tin?

[TheDogsMother]

Have you looked at Oscars complete ? Online only and they deliver to your home.

[CMOTDibbler]

We feed some of the foster pups Chappie when they have digestive issues (usually after giardia) and they do really well on it. My own dogs do really like it, but it absolutely reeks and I couldn't face feeding it everyday.

One of the things I've found is that you have to find the food that works for your dog. All the ratings in the world don't matter if your dog won't eat it, or it goes straight through them

[VeruccaSalted]

I also heard about Allaboutdogfood.com on here. I went and checked the Lidl food we had in the cupboard, which was 6% nutritional value. So I went down the list of top rated ones and picked the first reasonably priced one, which was Acana Regionals (94% nutrition). Our local pet shop gives you a loyalty card and you get the 7th (or 8th) bag free. Our dog's a bin though, will eat anything.

[MumpsimusMaximus]

AVA rates 81% max on the all about dog food site. Canine Choice rates higher at 91%.

It’s very slightly more expensive but you might get away with feeding slightly less as it’s higher quality.

[MumpsimusMaximus]

I feed mine Canine Choice. Look it up in the all about dog food website.

Highly rated, free delivery and more importantly it totally cleared up my dogs itchy, scurfy coat.

[Stellaris22]

We've also used the Step Up naturals sensitive which went down well with her.