Dog Food Questions - merged

Buddy_Banana

Ingredients.
Cereals (min 4% wholegrain), derivatives of vegetable origin, meat & animal derivatives (a minimum 4% poultry), oils & fats, minerals. Also contains antioxidants & preservatives.

Cereal is the largest main ingredient - this can contribute towards allregies..
By containing derivatives of vegetable origin next this is a lower quality ingriedieant.
Meat and Animal derivatives means that the manufacturer can source the cheapest derivatives at the time - this means that the food changes with each batch which can cause tummy upsets and behavioural problems with cetrain dogs.
It also list fats and oils but does not specify if they are vegetable or meat origin (Meat is a much higher quality fat and is much better for your dog).

I would look for a food with no artificial colours or additives, meat listed as the first ingridient (not animal derivatives), rice/potato is better than cereal based foods also, also if you can get one which has animal oils listed, rather than vegetable oil as the main oil, this is also a sign of a higher quality food.

Wainwrights is good (£26 for 15kg), Pets at home own make is also ok (approx £20-£25 15kg), James Wellbeloved also but this on is much more expensive (approx £35-£40 15kg)

hope this helps

Buddy_Banana

ps, stay away from beef as it is well known for causing alleriges

cluuuuur

We use a mix of Chappie complete and Burns.

Personally, I wouldn't feed a dog under a year solely on Chappie complete because it's low protein, etc - which is fabulous for us, as we have one very hyper dog, but at the 'growing' stage I think your dog will need more nutrients.

We've not had a problem with keeping weight on either of our dogs when feeding just Chappie - they both do very well off it, plenty of energy, and they both seem to love it - although we did occasionally supplement with boiled egg, meat, or rice as a treat every fortnight or so.

The only problem we've had with it is the "output" from the dogs - our smaller dog especially will go to the toilet 3-4 times a day when fed just on Chappie. It's all solid, and there's no problem there, but Burns is definitely more digestable for her and we feed less when we use Burns.

red-boxer

Thanks for all your replies, i think as you say , i will leave him as he is for the being as he is still a pup. Into everything, and will eat anything he finds (which probally adds to his sensitive tummy). Very active and always ready for a walk.
I will eventually try him on chappie - chicken flavour, when he's older.

gemmalouanna

Chappie has been excellent for our dog - has been fine with her sensitive stomach and has helped to maintain a perfect weight.

Plus great value (£13 big sack lasts me about 3 months)

lottyxx

gemmalouanna wrote: »

Chappie has been excellent for our dog - has been fine with her sensitive stomach and has helped to maintain a perfect weight.

Plus great value (£13 big sack lasts me about 3 months)

where can you buy chappie from?? i have an hyperactive dalmation on bakers maybe its time for a change.

Little_Miss_Wonder

There is something in Bakers Complete that does make dogs hyper,it happened to my 3 dogs too,i feed mine on Webbox dry dog food and they love it,nice size pieces too especially for my yorkies.

foreign_correspondent

Bakers is full of colourings. I feed Wagg as it has none!

zebidee1

My lab seems to have developed a problem with dried dog food which is making his colitis worse. He seems to only be ok when he's fed fresh food like rice/white fish etc so I'm thinking of feeding him only fresh food and no manufactured dog food at all from now on but I'm worried about meeting his nutritional needs.

Can anyone recommend any books or websites/forums that discuss this in particular so I can read up on what's involved before I make a decision?

I'm not talking about BARF diets just fresh (cooked) foods.

TIA

Shortie

Hi


We feed our small breed dogs on chicken/fish and rice for dinner. Today I'm doing a roast chicken and besides keeping the 'pickings' aside for them, I was thinking of boiling up the bones to make a stock. Is there any reason why I can't substitue chicken stock and rice for chicken/fish and rice a few nights a week?

Also, can they have chiken livers?

Many thanks