Dog Food

moomin5

It helps to be able to understand the ingrediants labels to decide if its a decent or rubbish food. http://www.best-dog-food-review.com/67901/index.html some brief info, i read it in a greyhound book but this looks along similar line.
Also you need to work out quantity of feed per day your dog needs and the cost to make a fair comparison between foods rather than just go on the bag cost as some foods may cost more but you'll feed less.

Humphrey10

We feed our dog Autarky http://www.autarky-foods.com/dog-mature.asp
Someone recommended it when we got her, it's much cheaper than tinned food. It appears to be good for her, her poo is always normal, unlike other dogs I've walked who were fed on tinned food, often had nasty (well nastier!) things to pick up after them!

foreign_correspondent

have a look at CSJ - their 'that'll do' food is a very good price, and I know lots of people who feed it are very happy with it! It always seems to get good feedback on dog forums. If you email them they will send out some free samples too. (They do other feeds, but this is just an example!) - I think CSJ make Autarky too?

http://www.csjk9.com/ProductCart/Pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=7&idcategory=4

I feed Wagg working dog, with the occasional top-up of sardines, cooked egg, leftovers etc... which is very cheap, my dog is fit and healthy with a lovely shiny coat (unlike when she came to me with poor fur and dry flaky skin!) and my last dog lived to 16/17 on it, so I am happy enough to feed it! http://www.waggfoods.co.uk/

If you are finding the food expensive, is the dog insured? If not, I would consider looking at swapping to a more economical food and putting the change into pet insurance, as if cash is getting tight an unexpected vets bill could be a problem.

remembered_nights

moomin5 wrote: »

It helps to be able to understand the ingrediants labels to decide if its a decent or rubbish food. http://www.best-dog-food-review.com/67901/index.html some brief info, i read it in a greyhound book but this looks along similar line.
Also you need to work out quantity of feed per day your dog needs and the cost to make a fair comparison between foods rather than just go on the bag cost as some foods may cost more but you'll feed less.

Good advice, that's a handy site Please don't move your dog to something with '4% meat' and a ton of cereal - ick! Our dog was on Burns, we've now moved to Wainwrights to save a bit of money (29.99 for 15kg sack I think). Both good foods.

tankgirl1

as someone working in the veterinary industry for the past 5 years + i have always fed my pooches chappie dry - cheap and good! usually recommended by vets as a sensitive stomach diet for those who cant afford the premium diets - my pooches thrive on it!

Edited to add - my dogs are medium sized - usually cross breeds - hence them thriving on a middle of the road diet............. anything bigger than a Labrador needs a special diet, and the giant breeds really need some careful feeding!

tankgirl1

minimiser wrote: »

My dog is now a year old. I bought expensive dried food so she would get a good start in life. I am now finding it quite expensive and wonder if there really is so much difference nutritionally in the top brands. I do make my own biscuits for her which she loves.
Any experts out there?

may i just add, that your pooches breed depends an awful lot upon what diet is best for them. generally speaking, labs upward will need a special large breed diet.. especially in their junior years...

nikki702

I feed Ollie Autarky but he sulks and dont eat his food if I leave it dry so I add a small amount of meat to it (Naturediet)

RHYSDAD

We are (hopefully) going to take ownership of a Patterdale terrier puppy in the very near future and are looking at foods. We are planning to go with Wainwrights but i want to supplement the protein with small pieces of cooked chicken in his food bowl, say 20/30g's or so. Is this okay to do? We will, of course, feed the recommended amount each day but want to up the protein.

foreign_correspondent

tankgirl1 wrote: »

as someone working in the veterinary industry for the past 5 years + i have always fed my pooches chappie dry - cheap and good! usually recommended by vets as a sensitive stomach diet for those who cant afford the premium diets - my pooches thrive on it!

Edited to add - my dogs are medium sized - usually cross breeds - hence them thriving on a middle of the road diet............. anything bigger than a Labrador needs a special diet, and the giant breeds really need some careful feeding!

Forgot about Chappie - many dogs thrive on it!

I have to say, I am not sure I buy the more meat = better quality equation when it comes to dog food.

Some vegetarian dogs live to extremely old ages, dogs have been domesticated for at least 100,000 years, and I guess for most of that time have lived on whatever we have thrown out, including bread, veg, cereals, fruit etc - when we had to hunt for meat and it was a scarce and valuable source of protein, I guess we were pretty reluctant to give much more than the bones to the dogs, so I expect their diet has been quite varied and not necessarily meat based for most of that time! Unlike cats, dogs are not obligate carnivores.

Also, working dogs, which tend to be at the peak of fitness and condition are very often fed on muesli type diets, or raw food - Dr Johns, Skinners etc, again, cheap and cereal based, but it produces fit and healthy active dogs.

There is very little un-biased research into pet foods, becuase all the funding comes from the pet food companies, who of course have a vested interest in getting us to buy more expensive ranges of food for our pets. They, of course, know how much people love their pets and that most owners will put their hands in their pockets if they feel a dearer food will be better for their dog...

I would be really interested to know if there is any correlation between food and longevity, commercial dog food has only existed in any real sense since the twentieth century, but it is a major industry now.

NATCHO

Chappie, CSJ is great food and good value for money, Healthy Paws brilliant, rabbit and brown rice, good puppy food too. Autarky VAT free as it's aimed at working dogs so slightly cheaper, James Wellbeloved is good.

General rule of pet food - if you can read and understand the list of ingredients and could find the ingredients in the kitchen cupboards or on supermarket shelves you're getting good stuff.

Stay away from food that lists animal and meat derivatives, derivatives of vegetable origin, maize protein meal etc etc. Cheap, cheap, cheap and those terms allow producers to change protein sources at will so if you're dog is allergive to beef, you won't know if there's any in there and so on.

Wet foods - natures menu, nature diet, nature's harvest, joe and jacks. All great food.

And it really is true, you don't need to feed as much of the good stuff and you do the rubbish like Bakers.