Puppy food

[onemoresmartie]

Hi all I have a 15 week old cockerpoo he's thriving and is fed small amounts 3 times a day. He's currently on bakers but I have just looked at the ingredient list and I feel I could be giving him something a bit more nutritious.....

Does anyone have any recommendations please? He is on dry kibble only and I would prefer him not to have any wet food

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

If you look on All About Dog Food directory, they rate the dog food you can get.
I believe Bakers is really poor.

Orijen looks to be the best listed, but have a look through.

Our girl is on Origen puppy - it’s one of the best kibbles that you can buy in terms of ingredients. Pricey but worth it. We also give her wet food or fish/chicken daily as well, in all honesty I do think that feeding solely dry food is very cruel and not natural in the slightest

Butternut box and James and Ella for my dogs! Wet food but so good for them.

They all had royal canin until they were adults - recommended by my sister (vet)

Bakers is awful! If you can afford better definitely do it 😀

Royal Canin is rubbish. Vets recommend it because they often sell it. Lots of excellent suggestions on this thread. Mine are on a kibble made by Pero but sold under a local farm shop label.

This. If you haven’t already noticed, you will very shortly that mn go absolutely batshit when it comes to animals, it’s not the best place to go for advice. Look up foods in your price range that you like the look of, and then look it up on this website. I will say royal canin is advised by vets as an endorsement, but it’s no better than bakers, so I would avoid that (as recommended by the link)

Millies wolfheart. Excellent food, excellent customer advice line.

DDog was older when we got her but we started her off on Pooch & Mutt and her condition really improved.

The only reason we moved away from it is they she seems to like wet food more and I couldn't afford to feed her with their wet food.

We use Millie’s wolf heart - the only thing I don’t like about it is the kibbles themselves are huge and can’t be broken up, my puppy gulps them down whole (but she’s a 6mth old lab) and they are too big for training/treats so it’s hard to give her from her allowance, I have to buy different ones for training.

Two of my friends feed Bakers I must say they are some of the happiest healthiest dogs I know beautiful shinny coats bright eyes and most importantly not over weight! Another feeds anneven cheaper dog food I’ve never looked it up on the website mentioned but I’m sure it wouldn’t score highly again happy healthy bright eyes beautiful shinny coat. All have been fed these since puppies. Someone else I know feeds one frequently mentioned on here as the best her dog has a dull coat lacks energy and always looks fed up with life.
As @User13579367337 says MN is “absolutely batshit” when it comes to pets I’m old now but have been round dogs all my life mainly on farms when dogs were fed some sort Pedigree biscuits as a mixer, scraps left over from dinner and maybe 1/2 a can of pedigree chum if there weren’t many scraps again happy healthy dogs with shinny coats .

Lots of people say that. My sisters practice doesn’t sell it or get commission and she still recommends it. And it’s done wonders for all my dogs.

The fact it’s rubbish is an old wives tale much like ‘all dogs are trainable’ or ‘it’s the owner not the dog’

Honestly, on here is mad. Feeding kibble only is cruel 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ I’ve had 5 labs, none of them have ever had wet food. None of them have complained 😬 I find it easier for portion control as with all of them, weight gain has been a concern.
The current three all get Wainwrights, which is very middle of the road. They’ve all seemed to do well on that. Can’t comment on palatability though- that’s not an issue in this household 🤣🤣🤣

My Cockerpoo used to have the Royal Canin gatro intestinal kibble when he had stomach upsets and it was amazing. He'd be perky and back to his old self after a few days.

He does prefer wet food, but for some reason he'll only eat dry kibble out of a spinning plastic daisy with little compartments that I found in Tk Maxx. 😂

So we do half and half - Ella's Kitchen wet and Edgard Cooper kibble. He likes all the flavours but particularly Salmon.

Can’t comment on palatability though- that’s not an issue in this household

Can't imagine it would be with a Lab!

We took ages getting the right food for our pup.
Finally discovered Millies Wolfheart.
Agree with an earlier poster, their customer service is fantastic.
And for a good quality food it really can't be beaten on price.
No grains or allergens.
It's been a game changer for us

A friend of mine fed hers on the cheapest Aldi moist kibble. It is dirt cheap and scores very low on allaboutdogfood. She said her dog is really happy on this, but when I brought her some Fold Hill terrier mix after my dog died, her dog much preferred it to the Aldi stuff. I think that must say something... (Mine just had a little terrier mix with their 'proper' food)
Her dog also was overweight, and died aged 10 from a brain tumour. Who knows if that was connected, but I will be spending more on my pup's dinner then that! (Although not more than on my own food,v that seems crazy to me)
Will be trying Millie's Wolfheart along with Butchers tripe mix plus other stuff for variety.

My daughters a veterinary nurse and is feeding her puppy Ava puppy food - the green one, from pets at home ( we have a 14 week cockerdor )

Like people what works for one dog won't work for every dog. My dog is on Eden which is very 'clean' but could be too much protein for some pet dogs. It's also quite expensive which obviously won't be for everyone. Lily's kitchen is a great food for pet dogs but again quite pricey. When you're looking at the ingredients list, the first ingredients should be a protein (eg salmon, chicken, turkey) - any food where the first ingredient is a cereal or grain (which is the case with bakers) would be a big no no. Other things to look out for are meat derivatives (basically the bones/bits of meat humans can't eat and are low quality). Some good in-between foods that are more affordable are skinners and James Wellbeloved but food can make a huge difference to our dogs behaviour so if you can make something like Lily's Kitchen or Pooch and Mutt work in your budget it's def worth doing so. Would encourage you to do a bit of research and compare the ingredients list of a few different dog foods and that will help you choose a food that works for you and your dog.
The pics I've included are lily's kitchen puppy vs bakers

Literally all you have to do is look at the nutritional content of Royal Canin to see how nutritionally poor/lacking it is! Doesn’t need a vet to work that out 🤷‍♀️ it is what is is!

Not an old wives take, it is not a great food at all, same as hills. They recommend it not just because of commission but also because their nutritional training is given to them by the hills/rc reps….