Dog food

hmc

Hi all, I've been using lilys kitchen dried on my 2 mainly to try to get the collie to lose weight
I thought grain and rubbish free might help,
I also liked the idea and ingredients behind it
They love it and they are less smelly,less poos, youngster is sleeping better ie not yapping to go out through the night
But it's the price
Collie is due for another weigh in next week, I feel I should be feeding him less but I'm already feeding below what they say
Do you really need to cut down a lot on recommended measures to drop weight? I hate him seeming hungry
Is there anything else out there with as good ingredients that I could maybe feed half and half or shouldn't you mix feed like that?
Or do I take spaniel off lilys to save some money
Any views please but I won't feed raw lol

joansgirl

I had a goldie with a weight problem. I used to bulk his food out with vegetables. Just the value frozen mixed veg from Tesco. Because I didn't liquidise it, it came out the same way it went in :eek: but it used to make him think he was getting more food than he actually was. Goldies are dustbins and will usually eat anything but your dog may not like the veg.
I don't know how old or agile your dog is but another trick I used was getting him to chase a ball. He was quite young though, only 2, so at that time there were no joint issues. I did take 7 kilos off him in a few months though.

rising_from_the_ashes

It's really finding something that works for each dog - which can be trial & error until you get there

I really, really struggled to get any weight off Maisie while she was on Fish & Rice kibble. I cut it down, added veg etc but she was just ravenous & scavenged outside so didn't lose any weight (0.5kg in 4 months)

I put her onto Fish & Potato kibble - and it just seemed to keep her fuller = less scavenging & she lost 3.5kg over the next 4 months

Sadly I've had to put her back to the Fish & Rice (the Potato made her itch) AND she's put 1kg back on in under 2 months so it really does seem to be the problem:(

I'm going to try Turkey & Rice as someone elsewhere they'd had a similar problem with their dog on Fish & Rice so fingers crossed .....

She does also get good quality wet foods (nature diet, nature menu, wainwrights etc) mixed in which can help raise the overall quality if you can't afford the top end kibbles

I am really restricted to what I can give her as she has Colitis and can only have Fish, Chicken & Turkey - hopefully it should be a bit easier for you

hmc

Thank you, the collie has just been diagnosed with arthritis in shoulder and we have meds sorted and he's fine. But no ball games allowed,we can walk as far as I like and the other is an 11 mth springer
Collie won't eat veg I've tried it, wet food goes straight through as a rule
He spent all his life going through the chudleys range mostly on sensitive till senior, changed to lite but made no difference
Tried skinners salmon and he got even fatter lol
They adore this lilys and I can really see a difference but price has to come into it, it's costing me around £80 a month

Paradigm

hmc wrote: »

They adore this lilys and I can really see a difference but price has to come into it, it's costing me around £80 a month

How much are you paying for Lilys?

I've had a quick look & it seems to be around £40 for a 7kg bag :eek:

hmc

Yes that's about right £37 ish if u shop around with codes sometimes, so you see my problem!

rising_from_the_ashes

hmc wrote: »

Tried skinners salmon and he got even fatter lol

That's what Maisie was on!

I've tried JWB Fish & Rice this time but the same thing seems to be happening


Going to try Skinners Turkey & Rice and see how that goes

Paradigm

hmc wrote: »

Yes that's about right £37 ish if u shop around with codes sometimes, so you see my problem!

Yep, that's a problem alright

There are alternatives (grain free) such as..

http://www.edenpetfoods.com/products/eden-80-20-0-dog-food.html for around £53 for 15kg but a word of warning.....

There are a number of cases where the dogs didn't get on with it at all with constant runny poos, not a good thing. My two were fine with it but it's a lot of money to fork out to then find it's unsuitable & have half a bag left over. I took the gamble....

There's also http://www.millieswolfheart.co.uk/COUNTRYSIDE-MIX (other flavours available) at £50 for 14.5kg.

I can't find many horror stories about this one so I've given it a try for the past week & I can say it's possibly better than Eden, with even smaller firmer poos, always a good thing

The advantage it has over Eden is that you can buy smaller "sample" packs to try, another good thing.

I've also tried http://www.canagan.co.uk/ but at £70 for 12kg it won't save you anything (it's very good though)

If you have the patience go here http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory it'll keep you busy for a while

hmc

Thanks ploughing through there at the moment, lol Simpsons looks ok ,wondering if I should stick to grain free?

Paradigm

hmc wrote: »

Thanks ploughing through there at the moment, lol Simpsons looks ok ,wondering if I should stick to grain free?

Grain free is a personal choice I suppose, I use it 'cos my boy is grain intolerant.. always had the squits. Since moving onto grain free he's been perfect & has never looked better.

Grain isn't a natural food for dogs, they don't need it & don't process it very well (larger poos).
It's used as a filler to keep costs down but this can be a false economy as you may have to feed more to give the dog the nutrition it needs... compare the recommended daily amount for your dogs to make a decision.

hmc

Millie's is nearly as expensive as Lily's!