Puppy Food

Tina20

Our puppy is 10 weeks, and we managed to find a vets inside pets at home that did the course of jags for £25 :j She's had the 8 weeks and will be going for her 12 week soon.

But when she went for her 8 weeks jags they gave us a starter pack with free sample of some mega expensive puppy food. The food is about 40-50 quid a sack, wheras we just get a sack of Wag puppy which is £14.99.

She told us that Wag, bakers etc are not good because they use the 'nasty' bits of chicken like wings etc. But this food uses the Nice bits.

For the life of me, I have no idea why they think chicken breast is better for dogs than chicken wings, when in the form of biscuits :rotfl:

So I just wanted to check, am I right in thinking most dog foods are just as good as the special scientific fancy pantsy extra expensive stuff? Obviously with this advice coming from a vet, I'm not sure who to believe. They could just be trying to push a more expensive product to get more money?

Am I ok using Wag puppy?

GemBlueTopaz1984

The vet is right but should have pointed out that it is all the ingredients that matter, feeding dogs certain brands of food (often the cheap stuff) is the equivelant of feeding children macdonalds for breakfast lunch and tea their whole life, you need to look at what is in the food, there are happy mediums between expense and quality, I personally feed my two on James Wellbeloved which if I bought from pets at home would probably cost about £45 for a 15kg sack but I buy it because it is a good quality food.

pawsies

GemBlueTopaz1984 wrote: »

The vet is right but should have pointed out that it is all the ingredients that matter, feeding dogs certain brands of food (often the cheap stuff) is the equivelant of feeding children macdonalds for breakfast lunch and tea their whole life, you need to look at what is in the food, there are happy mediums between expense and quality, I personally feed my two on James Wellbeloved which if I bought from pets at home would probably cost about £45 for a 15kg sack but I buy it because it is a good quality food.

Pedigree now owns James Wellbelloved so recipe has changed, it used to be good.

However for both you and OP if your dog is doing fine on what you are feeding then there is no need to change. Only change if you witness hyperactivity/abnormal behaviour for your dog.

What I would recommend as dog food is not good for the teeth is to feed RAW chicken wings (shock horror to the vet) to ensure the bones give the teeth a good clean to prevent plaque build up.

rising_from_the_ashes

GemBlueTopaz1984 wrote: »

The vet is right but should have pointed out that it is all the ingredients that matter, feeding dogs certain brands of food (often the cheap stuff) is the equivelant of feeding children macdonalds for breakfast lunch and tea their whole life, you need to look at what is in the food, there are happy mediums between expense and quality,

Totally agree - the cheaper ones tend to have lots of cheap fillers in them - lots of maize & cereals - as well as additives which can lead to hyperactivity etc.

Everyone will have their own favourites - personally I like Skinnners (Duck & Rick, Turkey & Rice and Salmon & Rice ONLY) http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/products/field---trial-products/duck---rice/

It's wheat, dairy & gluten free & hypoallergenic. Best of all, as it's classed as a working dog food (for sale to everyone), it's VAT free which helps keep the cost down a bit. You can get a 15kg bag online for around £20 delivered - a decent quality food (yes there are probably better but these often are hugely more expensive) at an affordable price - and cheaper than "not so good foods" available in the supermarkets.

ETA They do a puppy version: http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/products/field---trial-products/puppy-food/

adviceforall

The cheaper ones also contain things like, feet, beaks, feathers and other nasty bits you wouldn't want your puppy to eat. As said before cheaper ones are mostly cereals and additives, the "dearer" food contains real meat which is named where the ingredients of the cheaper ones state derivatives so the food could contain items from different animals dependent on whatever food was cheaper at the time. I use wainwrights as it natural food, uses proteins that are easily digestible, the food being better quality means more of the food is absorbed by the body so the dog produces less waste.

cavework

Adviceforall is completely right .. cheaper dog food kicks out a lot more waste. £ for £ you will be feeding the dog more and more will be coming out of the back end.. like someone else said , it's like feeding your kids constantly on a diet of Mc horrallds.

squibbs25

Hi Tina20,

When we got our puppy No1 (dec '11) i read lots of threads on here about what to feed him (JRT) and ended up on Burns puppy food after reading positive things about it, then when puppy No2 came along (feb '12) she was weaned onto the same food.
The both love it, their coats look lovely, and they are both very healthy pups.

The vet did give us the Science Plan but we never touched it tbh, im sure its ok but we didnt feel the need to change the pups.

pawsies

adviceforall wrote: »

The cheaper ones also contain things like, feet, beaks, feathers and other nasty bits you wouldn't want your puppy to eat.

Wolves eat the whole carcass, they don't pick bits off that don't suit them. Not eating feet/beaks etc is a western human idea. Animals don't care.

adviceforall

Since I switched foods our Lurcher has a silky smooth coat that everyone remarks on how soft he is..Also his hair used to fall out lots despite grooming with a furmintor when he was on the new food it has stopped falling out, (apart from now as he has just had a small op and the hair has started to come out again but I think that is due to stress of having the op)

Kinski

Have a look at the ingredients on the bag. If you see the word cereals that means the company buy in the cheapest one on the market at that time so the cereal will change all the time, dogs don't need cereals, cereals turn into sugar and can make the dog hyper. Look for animal derivatives, they are the bits left over from the animal after it's been stripped for human consumption, think beak, hooves, fur, claws ect.. Look for ec/eec permitted additives, they could be BHA and BHT both of which are banned from human food and are though by many experts to cause cancer. Personally I wouldn't touch Wagg it's given to a lot of breeder to hand out to new owners in the hope that they will continue to use it, nor would I touch Hill's ( if that's what the vet suggested to you ) as vets get a kick back for selling it. When I fed dog food I gave mine Orijen a more expensive food but as you feed less because the ingredients are better it doesn't cost that much, it cost be about £6 a week two feed to shelties. I now feed raw and it again costs me about £6 a week to feed a sheltie and a Bichon.

sharloid

I can't see why anyone would mind that a dog food might contain chicken wings... as the previous poster said they'll eat the whole animal if given the chance!

Anyway, I agree that Bakers and Wagg etc aren't any good. Look at the ingredients, the first is usually cereal. Dogs should be eating meat not wheat. I believe it's only 10% chicken meal (which isn't as good an ingredient as actual meat) compared to higher quality food whose first ingredient is an actual meat (duck, chicken etc).

We chose to feed our husky puppy on Taste of the Wild, with some good quality wet. We're slowly changing over to raw (including chicken wings!) but I understand this isn't suitable for everyone. I couldn't imagine giving our puppy Wagg when we know how unhealthy it is for them.

Also I understand that a high quality food does cost more if you're comparing weight for weight but as a previous poster said, you need to feed less food which also means less coming out the other end. Another bonus we've found is that the better food we give, the better his behavior and the better his coat and skin is.

If you aren't prepared to spend the money for a really high quality dog food, then maybe see if you can find a middle ground.