Dog Food and feeding

Dollardog

As there are some threads on here about Iams, which I would never feed, along with Bakers, too much colouring and rubbish in it, I just wondered what others feed their dogs on.

Personally, although I have seen Orijen and JWB recommended on here, I can't use them as I could not afford to buy in bulk and would have nowhere to store large amounts, I only like to buy 2.5 kilo bags at a time.
I also can't feed a raw diet as it is just not practical for me and I would worry about chicken bones getting stuck as well.

My dog has Natural yogourt for his breakfast and a Pedigree jointstick(jointstick recommended by my vet). If I am going out to work, I leave him with a Jumbone or Wonkychomp type chew. Then at night he has his main meal of Arden Grange mixed with half a tin of Butchers tripe or freshly cooked mince, chicken or turkey, as he won't eat dried food on its own, I don't soak the biscuits because he doesn't like them soggy. Before bed, he has a 'Ben' denta stick, schmacko and 2 propolis capsules in a couple of slices of chicken roll to build up his immune system and help his joints. Sometimes he also has a chicken Bonio during the day.

He seems to do well on this.

pawsies

Get rid of the jumbone. Full of sugar, sticks to the teeth and makes the teeth worse ironically.

Use rawhide instead

Sounds like your dog is spoilt rotten! Are you sure he needs all that?

I would recommend Burns to you, it's expensive but worth it. You feed less so really you're paying about the same as the cheaper brands as they take more to fill up

gettingready

Tell me about storing big bags of Orijen - Zara is on Orijen.. sigh....
At some point when I had a 10% zooplus discount coupon and some money (last year) - I had 10 orijen bags under my bed.... good they are compressed with no air inside so quite flat LOL

Burns is a good food too, have you looked at Burns?

And Orijen does smaller bags but of course that will work out more expensive...

rising_from_the_ashes

Personally, I wouldn't go past the Skinners Field & Trial range (note: Duck & Rice, Turkey & Rice and Salmon & Rice only) as they are hypoallergenic, wheat & all gluten & dairy free.

It's also VAT free (working dog food but fine for non-working ones) and RRP is £21.99 (Duck) for 15kg - although you can get cheaper if you hunt around online.

Not bad for a decent quality food that's not got any of the "usual problem ingredients" in!

I used to feed Wainwrights but it was a lot more expensive (£33.49) and didn't seem to be any better so I switched to Skinners on a recommendation from someone and never looked back!

gettingready

It costs me about £40 per month to feed Zara (40kg) Orijen, need to check Skinners what it would work out, done it before but forgotten....

Curiosity really as changing Zara's food would be an absolute last on my list of "cuts" - took me ages to find one that agrees with her and does not give her a runny poo - which is NOT fun with a long haired dogs... yukkkk

krlyr

pawsies wrote: »

Get rid of the jumbone. Full of sugar, sticks to the teeth and makes the teeth worse ironically.

Use rawhide instead

Rawhide is notorious for causing upset stomaches and being a choking hazard - I'd recommend other natural treats like pigs/cows ears, pizzle, etc. - Zooplus is a great source for various natural treats.

OP, I think Arden Grange is a relatively OK food but everything else you're feeding isn't great. I'd swap the Butchers for a better quality wet food - something like Naturediet, or if you have a Pets At Home nearby, their version which is the Wainwrights trays.
Ditch anything made by Pedigree, stick to natural treats like the stuff on Zooplus, or you can make your own homemade treats a lot cheaper and healthy than commercial ones.
Buying in 2.5kg bags will make things more expensive but bear in mind that better quality foods are better digested so you need to feed less of them. I did a comparison for a customer when I worked in a petshop, the amount he was feeding of Bakers (6 cups - large dog) to what he'd feed of James Wellbeloved - only 2 cups. A third less of a product only twice the price, so he'd actually save money feeding a premium brand. So work out how much it would cost to feed your dog per day, not per bag, by reading the recommended feeding amount, you may be pleasantly surprised at the actual cost of "more expensive" foods.

gettingready

OK < I am feeding Zara 320g Orijen, Skinners she would need 480 gram which is 14.4 kg per month so a 15kg bag would last me a month with Zara.

What is the best place to look at prices for skinners?

Nod_Off

My two are fed on Skinners Duck & Rice twice a day through the week, weekend breakfast is chicken wings with sardines and dinner is Naturediet. They get fish4dog treats if being left at home, prawn flavour primula cheese for training and a chicken flavour gravy bone at bed time.

Dollardog

pawsies wrote: »

Get rid of the jumbone. Full of sugar, sticks to the teeth and makes the teeth worse ironically.

Use rawhide instead

Sounds like your dog is spoilt rotten! Are you sure he needs all that?

I would recommend Burns to you, it's expensive but worth it. You feed less so really you're paying about the same as the cheaper brands as they take more to fill up

He probably doesn't need the Jumbone, I agree and he doesn't have them everyday, his teeth actually are very good, especially for his age. I definitely wouldn't give him rawhide, having had the same breed for years, I find that they chew rawhide things until they are soft then swallow whole, only to keep bringing them back and trying again if not caught quick enough, scares me silly that they would get stuck and then choke. A definite no no that no one would persuade me otherwise. Any that get given to him for Christmas get put straight in one of the dog charity bins!!

System

I used this site as a guide when i started feeding my puppy. A lot of the brands you cant get here in the UK but there is the odd one or two that you can get.

Ive got my dogs on Berrimans complete.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php/cat/1

Croatoan

Mine couldn't handle Orijen, very runny poos. He absolutely loves Acana though and the recommended feeding amounts are less so although it isn't too much cheaper than Orijen (although some Acana is even more expensive:eek:) it works out quite well.
Unfortunately poos, though better, are still a bit soft. Give it a while yet, but might look to trying something else, maybe Taste of the Wild. If that doesn't firm him up it might be the case that grain-free doesn't suit him.