Potential problems with Arden Grange food?

bikelesschick

I rehomed a staffie cross puppy back in January and gradually changed her food from pedigree to Arden Grange chicken and rice.

She's never been fussy about food and seemed to love Arden Grange in the beginning. I bought 2 x15 kg bags of the stuff in Feb (simply because it was more convenient) and she's become a bit fussy now that we are on the 2nd bag - she won't always eat it. Sometimes she won't eat at all all day, sometimes she'll eat a bit and at times she'll eat it all, it just varies.

I don't think there's been any problems re: storage as the bag has been in a dark and dry cupboard under the stairs, it's still in date, I'm not sure what's wrong. The 2nd bag is almost finished and I need to decide what to do next. I still have enough so that if I need to swap, I can.

Has anyone ever had similar problems? What would you do if you were me? I'd really appreciate some ideas...

Thanks.

gettingready

Unspoken rule of the furies.

Human slave gets some samples, furry (cat or dog) seems to love it.

Human slave orders a lot (as on offer and furry likes it).

Furry goes off the food.

Human slave scracthes his/her head.

Fire_Fox

Are you using wet food as well?

bikelesschick

Thank you for your comments.

Gettingready, she's had over 20kgs before all this started so I'm not sure your theory is quite right.

Fire fox - No wet food at all, all she eats is the dry food split into morning/evenings and most days she'll have a raw chicken drumstick, a couple of wings or a leg at lunchtime if I have any and remember to defrost it!

I've considered BARF and tried to introduce bits at a time but offal gave her a poorly tummy and so did bones plus local butchers don't seem to have off cuts(??). She can have a bone but only for a couple of hours and it's got to be a knuckle one she can't eat it all so bones are treats.

heartbreak_star

Been having the same issue with our furry, she seems to be just eating when she feels like it...

HBS x

Fire_Fox

bikelesschick wrote: »

Fire fox - No wet food at all, all she eats is the dry food split into morning/evenings and most days she'll have a raw chicken drumstick, a couple of wings or a leg at lunchtime if I have any and remember to defrost it!

I've considered BARF and tried to introduce bits at a time but offal gave her a poorly tummy and so did bones plus local butchers don't seem to have off cuts(??). She can have a bone but only for a couple of hours and it's got to be a knuckle one she can't eat it all so bones are treats.

Maybe the Arden Grange is just a bit dry and boring for her day in day out? Is the storage container completely air tight? With raw you often need to switch over slowly, especially from a mainly dry diet. Your AG is higher in carbohydrates (cereal/ grains), whereas raw is rich in animal protein, minerals and saturated fat and these take different enzymes to digest and affect the gut flora. Some find it easier to switch over to wet and then to raw, or from a very high meat dry to raw. When I was doing raw for my last cat I did it all from the supermarket - cheap fresh offal, plus Value frozen chicken portions. It still worked out cheaper than decent commercial food BUT some find it more hassle, depends on your lifestyle.

UKTigerlily

How old is she? Could she be about to come into season? My own dog used to sit by her food bowl shaking & turning her head away when I got her, it might've been hormones or maybe due to being rehomed, just a thought x

pulliptears

Bob has been on Arden Grange for about 2 years now. He also goes through phases where he does seem a little bored and just sniffs his nose up at it. I found that by buying the smaller bags I can vary the flavours. At the moment he has standard adult some nights and ocean white fish and potato other nights. It makes it a little more interesting for him.

Bob has never been one for 'meal times' though. He prefers a bowl of food left down and he'll pick at it throughout the day.

bikelesschick

HBS - thank you. Maybe I'm just bein paranoid wanting her to eat it all there and then, but it's just unusual for her not to eat like that, hence the concern.

Fire fox - no, the container isn't air tight. I had a 15kg bag and have a tin so I have about 2/3 kgs in the ting that is air tight and have one of those food pegs on the bag. As for BARF, I never switched completely, just added bits to her kibble or give her as a treat at lunchtime. I may try again in the future though.

UKTigerlily - she's 1yr 10mths but I'm pretty sure she's not in season as last one was in April and we're having her neutered next week! Could she still be feeling the strains of being rehomed after 6 months?

Thank you pulliptears, I really like AG so buying two bags may well be an option rather than switching to another make.

Dollardog

I feed my dog on Arden Grange. I don't buy the large bags as I haven't really got anywhere suitable to store large bags like that.
I buy the small, 2.5 kilo bags and I've found the cheapest place to buy them is Waitrose, they are £7 a bag there, but nearly everywhere else is around £9.95.
The larger Waitrose have chicken or lamb at £7 and the Ocean fish at around £9 I think.

HTH

krlyr

Could she just be a bit poorly and off her food rather than it being related to the AG? Does she show much enthusiasm for anything else? Might be worth a vet trip to rule out a sore tum or a problem with her teeth that might make eating painful/uncomfortable.

I had a dog who went a bit fussy about dry food so I started adding Naturediet wet food to it. Over time, I cut down the amount I added - eventually I just needed to put a tiny slither in with each meal and she'd eat it with as much enthusiasm as if I'd used half a tray. If I skipped it, she'd eat, but not with as much gusto - it didn't cost much to add the small amount so I just kept doing it that way. They come in various flavours so I could mix it up a bit, and it's a good quality food so I didn't feel bad about adding it (unlike half of the wet dog foods on the market). PAH do their own version, the Wainwrights trays too.

You say that offal upset her tum, how much did you feed? Offal can have a laxative effect on any dog so should only be given in tiny quantities initially. I tend to give my two offal after or at the same time as a meal containing a high proportion of bone, as that tends to have a firmly effect, so they cancel each other out. If I was introducing a dog to a raw diet I would start with muscle meat such as chicken breast initially, then chicken portions to see if they were happy to eat bones (and ate them safely rather than trying to swallow them whole), and then gradually introduce offal (I'd stick with chicken to start with - so I'd try to get a tub of chicken livers for example)