Lathams dog food.

Frodobaggins

Hope somebody can help please.

I have a 9 week old german sheperd puppy and I want to change her food to a better quality one.

The breeder was feeding her Butchers tinned puppy food and bakers puppy biscuits. I am still giving her this at present as I realise the change to another food has to be a gradual one.

I have been reading posts on here and the general thought I get is to use a high quality dried food with a higher meat percentage than wet food. I would like to use one of these but I am at a lose to know which one.

I dont really want to rely on internet ordering incase there was a delivery problem, although this would be okay with me as long as there was also a local supplier.

Some of the higher quality dry foods seem to contain maize, which I think is corn, and I thought this was not good in diet?

I have looked at Lathams puppy food for larger breeds and this looks good to me as it has 26% turkey and 26% rice with no maize. Has anyone else tried this or know wether or not this is a suitable quality food? Also would this help her have a more solid poo? I really dont want to swap and change her food until I find a good one, I would like to get it right ASAP to get her off this diet shes one at the moment.

Really appreciate any help or advice anybody can give.
Thanx for reading.

Frodobaggins

Just bumping up this post in the hope someone may be able to help please?

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Frodo how is that new gorgeous bundle of fluff doing?

Just a quick bump from me as I'm afraid I've never heard of Lathams (but will be having a look after work).

Have you thought about Skinners?

Their (adult) duck, salmon & turkey & rice versions are all hypoallergenic & gluten free etc and VAT free which helps a bit with costs (also do Lamb & Rice but not VAT free) which may suit once she gets a bit older.

They do a puppy range but I've not personally used so can't comment I'm afraid but it may be worth a look

You can get online for a lot cheaper than the RRP - but most good pet shops should be able to source for you. HTH
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/products/field---trial-products/duck---rice/

krlyr

Composition,Turkey Meat Meal (26%) , Rice (26%) ,Oats ,Chicken ,Barley ,Potato Protein ,Chicken Fat , Linseed (2.5%) , Sugar Beet Pulp (2.5%) ,Digest , Seaweed (1.25%) , Alfalfa (0.5%) ,Calcium Phosphate , Chicory (0.1%) ,Calcium Carbonate , Glucosamine (0.05%) , Chondroitin (0.03%) ,TempText9. ,Additives ,Nutritional Additives/Kg ,Vitamin A 17 ,000IU ,Vitamin D3 1 ,500IU ,Vitamin E 145mg ,Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 4mg ,Sodium Selenite 2mg ,Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate 32mg ,Ferrous Sulphate Monohydrate 200mg ,Manganese Oxide 81mg ,Zinc Oxide 135mg. ,Technological Additives ,Antioxidant ,Tocopherol Extracts of Natural Origin 375mg/Kg




From those ingredients I would say it looks fairly good. Meat as the first ingredient (and meat meal gives a good indication that it really is 26% meat, rather than "26% turkey" which would include the water content pre-production), rice, potato and oats are some of the better carb sources rather than wheat and maize. The meats are specified, even the fats are specified as chicken fat.
My only (minor) concern would be the length of the ingredients list, the addition bits like sugar beet pulp, alfalfa, etc. - unnecessary fillers, but they are what makes foods a bit cheaper. I'd wonder what they mean by additives too.

The ingredients look quite on par with James Wellbeloved which I know was quite a well recommended food (I haven't fed kibble in years though so not quite sure what's rated best now)
Ingredients and analysis
Ingredients: Rice, turkey meat meal, oats, potato protein, turkey fat, whole linseed, turkey gravy, alfalfa, natural seaweed, sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, D.L-methionine, lysine hydrochloride, threonine, glucosamine, chondroitin, JWB special ingredients.

One thing I'd bear in mind is that Lathams only seems to be available in Tesco so there's no competition on the price. At the current price drop price it seems a good deal, but if it returns to the £6.50 price, it works out at £3.25/kg - which is more than JWB at £2.90/kg when you buy a 15kg bag (cheapest I've found online with a quick browse)

Griizelda

I took part in a trial for this food (or rather my dog did!). Admittedly it was the senior version, but he really wasn't keen. I appreciate all dogs are different, but he's a very food motivated Flat Coat Retriever who happily eats most foods (he's currently on Autarky).

Frodobaggins

Thank you for all your feedback.

Rising she is really well and into everything! I havent seen skinners anywhere, is it only available on line?

Krlyr thanks for the info, I didn't realise Lathams was only available at Tesco's. The other thing which puts me off is that it doesn't come in bigger packs. I hadn't thought of JWB but will look at that, I think its available in lots of other retailers too.

Caroline_a

My GSD gets a combination of Skinners and raw. He's huge, well developed and has a shiny coat, looks fab. There are lots of places you can buy it online, plus quite a few places offer deals if you buy two, and it comes in plastic sacks that makes it easy to store. Of course the other good thing about Skinners is that it's VAT free, so 20% cheaper!!:T

PS pictures please!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Hope you don't mind Frodo ..... but I know how much everyone on here loves cute pics! http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=53589873&postcount=134

Re getting Skinners - I guess it depends on where you live, it's probably not "standard" pet food stock but one of the ones near me (there seems to be one in every small town) does keep it - but I am in a fairly rural area and there are a lot of working dogs around so he would probably tend to have more of that sort of food available IYSWIM

ETA I do sometimes buy online (around £3 / 15kg bag cheaper), generally if it's on a good deal (have had 2 x 15kg bags for £36 before) but usually get at the pet shop as I like to support local businesses if the cost differences aren't huge but I also want the reassurance that I can get it locally if needs must

Frodobaggins

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Hope you don't mind Frodo ..... but I know how much everyone on here loves cute pics! http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=53589873&postcount=134

Re getting Skinners - I guess it depends on where you live, it's probably not "standard" pet food stock but one of the ones near me (there seems to be one in every small town) does keep it - but I am in a fairly rural area and there are a lot of working dogs around so he would probably tend to have more of that sort of food available IYSWIM

ETA I do sometimes buy online (around £3 / 15kg bag cheaper), generally if it's on a good deal (have had 2 x 15kg bags for £36 before) but usually get at the pet shop as I like to support local businesses if the cost differences aren't huge but I also want the reassurance that I can get it locally if needs must

No I didn't mind at all, in fact I was really pleased you posted the link as I couldn't remember how to do it lol!

I never would have imagined that a dogs diet could be so challenging. In my ignorance my old dog ate everything and anything.

love_lifer

many local animal feed places do skinners and similar dried. from experience i'd recommend finding a local shop, always cheaper than the supermarkets

cherylgoucher

Frodobaggins wrote: »

Hope somebody can help please.

I have a 9 week old german sheperd puppy and I want to change her food to a better quality one.

The breeder was feeding her Butchers tinned puppy food and bakers puppy biscuits. I am still giving her this at present as I realise the change to another food has to be a gradual one.

I have been reading posts on here and the general thought I get is to use a high quality dried food with a higher meat percentage than wet food. I would like to use one of these but I am at a lose to know which one.

I dont really want to rely on internet ordering incase there was a delivery problem, although this would be okay with me as long as there was also a local supplier.

Some of the higher quality dry foods seem to contain maize, which I think is corn, and I thought this was not good in diet?

I have looked at Lathams puppy food for larger breeds and this looks good to me as it has 26% turkey and 26% rice with no maize. Has anyone else tried this or know wether or not this is a suitable quality food? Also would this help her have a more solid poo? I really dont want to swap and change her food until I find a good one, I would like to get it right ASAP to get her off this diet shes one at the moment.

Really appreciate any help or advice anybody can give.
Thanx for reading.

Hi there, i am now using Lathams and find it very good indeed, my daughter is a vegetarian and health fanatic and she seems to think that this is one of the better dry foods to give your dog. I was using Butchers puppy meat and Bakers biscuits and my dog was always seeming to be suffering with diarrhea, although i am still using the Butchers meat i did stop using the Bakers biscuits and her toiletries seem to be a bit more solid now. Butchers is not one of the best meats to feed your dog, however its not one of the worst either, pretty middle of the road. I do believe that the Bakers biscuits arent very good at all. I am pretty new to having a dog in my adult life but my daughter does read up on everything and the info i have is from her. I do hope that this is of some help. I dont know yet what to feed my labradoodle on once she has reached a year, i will no doubt stick with the Lathams but need to find a pretty good meat. Hope you are enjoying your pup.dog. Kindest regards Cheryl