Is expensive dog food really best?

Rowan9

Our youngest dog, 4 years, is on Wagg and does well on it - lovely shiny coat. Our older one, nearly 10, has been on Supadog Young at Heart for over a year now and we noticed a tremendous difference in the sparkle in her eye and her soft coat. It has extra goodies in it for joints etc for older dogs. they both get raw veg as well. Both queue up when I'm making soup!

Nellie_Dean_2

I've found that buying online is a good way of saving, but only if you can make an order up to beat the free carriage barrier. Pet Supermarket website have always got some good deals on JBW, Burns and suchlike. I like the JBW fish and rice recipe which seems to do the trick with our dog. She maintains her weight well and has a good shiny coat - no 'doggy' smell which is a bonus!

poppy_f1

we tried barney on various stuuf from JWB to pedigree, however he likes asdas own range, the chicken one in the silver foils
since we got him that he turns his nose up at anything else, however he gets half a portion of this a day he always has some kibble in his dry dish, and gets toast and pate in the mornings

and he aint a happy puppy if you try to deviate from *his* schedule ::rotfl:

Milford_Cubicle

We've just brought our pup home a week ago, initially I bought Morrisons own brand but Indy didn't seem all that bothered, plus she wouldn't entertain the tinned meat I offered her. So I got a 1kg bag of Wagg puppy from my local pet shop and she seems much more interested. I compared the look of them and the Morrisons one is much 'brighter' in colour compared to the Wagg so I guess that's where the colourings are.
I can buy a 15kg bag of Wagg adult from the supermarket which suits me. We'll see how she goes, I may well end up swapping her to something else but she's eating ok for a pup. Time will tell

Janice

Have a look at http://www.feedem.co.uk/ for good prices on Arden Grange, JWB, Burns etc. Free delivery on orders over £45.

HowGreatThouArt

Thanks for all the responses, I have a bit of an update:

We have tried pup on various cheaper brands of food for the last couple of weeks...

Petsathome own brand: pup loves the taste, but he eats much more of the stuff so its really a false economy. Also he produces much more waste! The lamb flavour also smells very strong. We kept thinking he had an "accident" downstairs until we realised it was the food!:eek:

Wainwrights : see above.

Purina Beta: The worst! Pup again, loves the taste but he is supposed to be eating about 800g a day which is over double what he eats on the royal canin or hills. The stuff makes him absolutely hyper. As a golden retreiver he loves his sleep but last night he was up and down pacing backwards and forwards working himself into a right state. Poor thing. He was in the garden at 7 this morning running round in circles. He just won't settle which is completely out of character. Also the smell the stuff produces is unbelievable!! It was 3 for 2, so I have 2 1/2 bags left, which I would throw away, for all the use it is; but it will go in the "Dogs Trust" box, as the dogs are probably just glad of a meal.

In conclusion pup is staying on the expensive food!!! I don't think I was saving much money anyway. The vet said that the expensive food is like "rocket fuel" and he doesn't need to eat much. I used to worry because sometimes he would only eat 1 meal a day; but he is healthy and happy and that's all I care about. Money isn't everything.

Milford_Cubicle

Thanks for the update.
I've just switched over to Skinner's (Field & Trial) puppy as it's 30% chicken as opposed to the 4% in Wagg puppy. More expensive (£26 for a 15kg sack), but once she's onto the adult version it'll be around £17 for a 15kg sack.

jenhug

dont forget continually switching the food is not good for the pup, it will result in upset tums! switch from one food to another slowly, 90% current food 10% new food for a few days, then gradually increase, you should do it over a few weeks. try and keep prtein content and oil content similar, it should help alleviate upset tums if you switch from a low content food to a richer one. Look for one that names where the meat protein comes from. ie chicken meat not chicken meat meal. poultry fat could be anything with feathers, not just chicken or turkey!

RooBee

I don't feed kibble, but if I did I'd be looking at the meat vs grain content.

Many foods list meat first which makes it look like meat is the main ingredent. However, you will usually find more than one grain listed. When you add the grains, oats & other fillers together, you are, in effect, buying a bag of 'food' that is anywhere between 50 & 80% grains...which dogs cannot digest and have no need for in their diet.

Takin Wagg as an example (simply because it was metioned in this thread)...
Wagg Complete Original Beef & Veg Dog Food contains Wheat, Meat Meal, Wheatfeed, Maize, Oils & Fats, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Peas, Lucerne,Vitamins and Minerals. Added Citrus, Yeast and Yucca. With Antioxidant: EC additive.

The ingedients in bold, broadly speaking, are unnecessary in a dogs diet and are fairly useless to them in nutritional terms. Linseed & Yeast can also be problematic in that they can cause allergies/sensitivities (linseed can cause itchiness, yeast may be a problem re: fungal overgrowth in dogs that may be predisposed in that regard). Meat meal is rendered animal tissue specifically for the purpose of animal feed. In this case, from the cow but which bits of the cow is anyone's guess and whether you'd actually class those bits as 'meat', well...... Yucca is in there as a digestive aid....no wonder!

Milford_Cubicle

I've just looked again at Skinner's puppy (the brand we've just switched to) and these are the ingredients:

Poultry meat meal (min 30%), maize, chicken fat, white rice, oats, maize gluten meal, sunflower meal, whole linseed, sugar beet pulp, whole dried egg, vitamins & minerals, yeast, MOS.

I've switched her partly because I think Skinner's is nutritionally better than Wagg (meat listed first) but also because she keeps itching. However, if it's the Linseed making her itch, then perhaps I've wasted my time! Talk about a minefield...