Anyone else switched to a cheaper dog food?

undaunted

I think you have to ask yourself what you want in a food - eg natural ingredients, no artificial additives / preservatives, cheap first & foremost or a balance?

Wagg has no artifcial additives if I recall correctly

Chappie is well priced & said to be good for sensitive stomachs, has a good fish content etc

Dr Johns do a range of competitively priced foods with a better than many chicken contant in the gold & above

Vitalin do a range of competitively priced foods with high meat content

Some cheaper (in particular ?) foods use BHT as an anti oxidant. There are contradictory claims linking it to an increase & decrease in cancer & also claims it causes hyperactivity in children. Many food industries have switched away from it's use since about the 70's.

Some foods use more cereals than meat, some use Soya or other cheap fillers

Bakers is cheap but has more E numbers etc than most - I wouldn't touch it personally but it isn't the only food containing some of these ingredients.

Circulated on various dog loving forums

"Would you feed your dog a food which contains THIRTEEN E numbers?

Now, it's the law that dog food manufacturers have to state on their packaging for any bags over 10kg EVERY ingredient. They used to be able to say "EEC permitted colourants and preservatives". Now, here's the list in full:

BHA, E320
BHT, E321
Propyl Gallate, E310
Citric Acid, E330
Potassium Sorbate, E202
Propan -1,2-diol, E490
Iron Oxide, E172
Indigo Carmine, E132
Tartrazine, E102
Sunset Yellow, E110
Quinoline Yellow, E104
Titanium Dioxide, E171
Carbon Black, E153

In more detail:

E320 - has been found to be tumour-producing when fed to rats. In human studies it has been linked with urticaria, angioedema and asthma

E321 - banned for use in food in Japan, Romania, Sweden, and Australia. The US has barred it from being used in infant foods. So bad McNasty's have voluntarily eliminated it from their products.

E310 - Banned from children's foods in the US because it is thought to cause the blood disorder methemoglobinemia

E172 - Banned in Germany

E132 - Can cause skin sensitivity, a rash similar to nettle rash, itching, nausea, high blood pressure and breathing problems. One of the colours that the Hyperactive Children's Support Group recommends be eliminated from the diet of children. Prohibited in Norway.

E102 - TARTRAZINE - A trial on 76 children diagnosed as hyperactive, showed that tartrazine provoked abnormal behaviour patterns in 79% of them

E110 - Sunset Yellow (E110) has been found to damage kidneys and adrenals when fed to laboratory rats. It has also been found to be carcinogenic when fed to animals

E104 - One of the colours that the Hyperactive Children's Support Group recommends be eliminated from the diet of children. Banned in Australia, Japan, Norway and the United States.

E171 - Banned in Germany

E153 - Banned as a food additive in the United States of America. Suspected as a carcinogenic agent.

And which food contains all these?

Bakers Complete."

Rev

chucknorris wrote: »

I'll look into it further because naturally I want the best for my dog, but this is my early findings:

Firstly the fish4dogs is only a 12kg bag at £30.50 (if you buy 2 bags) so thats £36.60 + delivery (£4.99/2 bags) so thats £39.09 (rounded down) making it cost a little MORE than Jameswellbeloved! which comes delivery free and in 15kg bags at GJW Titmuss Ltd.

Secondly I tried to find out more about JWB and found this, I will look into it further though.

as I am rushing out atm.

The James Wellbeloved brand has been around for several years and built up a reputation for a quality natural food. In case you are wondering, there was no James Wellbeloved who started up the company, that was just a cute marketing ploy!
These these days James Wellbeloved is no longer in private ownership, having been taken over a couple of times, to end up as part of a multi-national. During this period there is no doubt that the recipes did changed slightly, and some owners reported that their pets have suffered as a consequence, but nowadays things seem to have settled down, and once again the word on the street is that JW is still a trusted brand with many thousands of pet owners.
For ourselves, we have tried the JW products and find them consistent, well presented and very palatable. Ingredients are what we would consider to be good quality for a natural diet, with rice as the favoured cereal source (being very digestible) moderate protein and oil content, natural preservatives, no added colours or artificial flavourings and there is a good range for dogs, cats and indeed ferrets!
Price-wise you can often pick up a 15kg bag of James Wellbeloved Adult dog food for around £35 at online stores like Pet Supermarket

James Wellbeloved Dog Food

JWB is now owned by Mars, the same people who make bakers, pedigree etc. I've seen/heard plenty of people saying their dogs don't do as well as they used to on JWB.

You also need to look at feeding guides, I've gone for a 25kg dog as an average (obviously I have no idea what your dog weighs)

F4D

Medium (15 - 35kg) - 205 - 365g

JWB

24kg - 285g
28kg - 320g
32kg - 350g

Lets go with the lowest feeding amount

A 15kg bag of JWB will last 52 days, a 12kg bag of F4D will last 58 days. On that basis JWB costs around 67p a day to feed and F4D costs around 50p a day. F4D also sell 15kg bags on their site (they're called working dogs, but are exactly the same, just come in a clear bag) for £41, that would last 73 days, 21 days longer than the same weight bag of JWB.

Here's JWB ingredients (went for the fish variety because I'm comparing to a fish based food)

Ingredients: Rice, ocean white fish meal, barley, whole linseed, vegetable gravy, olive oil, peas, fish oil, alfalfa, sodium chloride, natural seaweed, chicory pulp, calcium carbonate, chicory extract, lysine, DL-methionine, yucca extract, threonine, JWB special ingredients.
Contains: Min 23% fish, min 28% rice, min 15% barley.

Here's F4D

Ingredients
Fresh Fish 30.5%, Potato30.5%, Herring Meal 21.4%, Salmon Oil 7.6%, Beet Fibre 6.4%, Brewers Yeast 2.1%, Minerals 0.8%, Vitamins 0

The ingredients speak for themselves, very few fillers over all, as opposed to JWB where the first ingredient is rice, it's a decent filler, but not as easy for the dog to digest ad brown rice or potato.

JWB isn't a bad food, it's just not as good as it used to be, F4D is a great food, very few fillers, fish is very easy on tums and in the long run, given the feeding amounts, works out cheaper than JWB even if you factor in postage.

If I fed kibble, I know which I'd be spending cash on.

foreign_correspondent

Bakers is crap, and it is not even cheap 15kg for £24.49 at PAH apparently... I think Skinners, Dr Johns, CSJ all come in at less than that, and it is more than twice the proce of wagg, which does not have all the artificial colours etc...

elsien

I'd like to shift to something cheaper as mutt costs me a small fortune at the best of times. However the vet recommended JWB when she was getting lots of allergies and it did seem to help. Plus she gets colitis and I know the JWB suits her, so I don't want to change to something else and trigger more attacks.
I've decided for now that as I can afford the food and I know it works for us I'll stick with it. Not worth the hassle of changing and mutt getting ill unless my finances take a bit more of a nosedive. If I get another dog, I'd probably be starting on the cheaper stuff though.

gemmalouanna

I have converted loads of people to Chappie - it is great stuff.

My friends dog had often had the runs on his old food now he is fine on Chappie.

The £14-£15 bags last me so long - she is very cheap to keep

oz0707

tescos premium dry. used to be bakers but gf bought this. does the job, snoop not to keen on it but tough luck. no wet food but occassionaly gets leftovers and gets a sunday dinner every week off my nan, minus yorkshire but with all other works incl gravy.

gettingready

I have tried a lot of various food options with Zara over the almost 4 years...

For the first year she was on only raw food and she was fine but that proved quite pricey as I do not have a friendly butcher and had to get all her meat from... Asda ... so after a year I started to look for something different.

She was on Burns (mixing their tins and dry food) and she was fine too

Recently, for about 6 months I think - she is on Orijen.

Orijen seems expensive but you only feed a small amount so for me it works out fine as Zara's food works out just around £40 per month which I think is very reasonable considering she is a 35kg German Shepherd.

Other brands may sound cheaper but as you have to deed more - the end price say per dog per month is not that diferent so for me personally.. will stick to Orijen.

I get 3 flavours and mix them together - always get free delivery too so... sticking to it for now.

Rev

gettingready wrote: »

I have tried a lot of various food options with Zara over the almost 4 years...

For the first year she was on only raw food and she was fine but that proved quite pricey as I do not have a friendly butcher and had to get all her meat from... Asda ... so after a year I started to look for something different.

She was on Burns (mixing their tins and dry food) and she was fine too

Recently, for about 6 months I think - she is on Orijen.

Orijen seems expensive but you only feed a small amount so for me it works out fine as Zara's food works out just around £40 per month which I think is very reasonable considering she is a 35kg German Shepherd.

Other brands may sound cheaper but as you have to deed more - the end price say per dog per month is not that diferent so for me personally.. will stick to Orijen.

I get 3 flavours and mix them together - always get free delivery too so... sticking to it for now.

If you ever think of switching back to raw check out Durham animal feeds. That's where I get my raw from, pre made minces with everything in, cost about £8-10 for a 20lb box. Costs me £30-£40 a month to feed two dogs.

I tried my two on Orijen but it wasn't a hit, one scavenged like there was no tomorrow and the other lost too much weight (not good when he's got none to lose lol), but if I upped the amounts it upset their tums. Can't argue with the ingredients though, best kibble by a long shot.

jade2010

My dog has always thrived on the working dog foods from the feed store I get all my horse feeds from...there's been a range none costing me more than £10 for a 15KG bag.Currently we're using DR Johns silver for him £8.50 for 15KG and he gets 1/2 can of tesco wet food with his dinner... BUT...I'm a lucky dog owner as he doesn't have a sensitive stomach and eats anything.He's a large built Labrador who is very active and we feed according to his needs..how much excercise he is doing and whether he is gaining or losing on his current feed levels.
I think feeding wise it is very dependant on the breed, health and activity levels.By all means keep the feeding as cheap as possible..I know I do...just be aware of your dogs health and if his diet is lacking in anything.
A side note about "feeding guidelines" of manufacturers...if I fed my dog anywhere near the recomended amount by any of them I'd be rolling him out the door and he's a very active dog!!!
I seem to remember one manufacturer recommending I feed him 5 cans of their meat per day...that is total lunacy!!!!

I feed both my dogs and horses on a budget (thats bigger than my food one!) and all are in perfect health according to my vet...it can be done!

SarahLou

Mine are both fed on Supadog Chicken - our collie has a sensitive tummy and doesn't agree with anything with red meat in it. So this is one of the few cheapish foods she can stomach. They both seem well on it and have been on it exclusively for quite some time now. It also has the added advantage of not being too high in protein like most dog foods are.

We used to feed them on Dr Johns Silver range but the sheer amount of poos they were doing on that stuff put us right off!