Dog Food Questions - merged

Spudnik_2

Samantha1985 wrote: »

Thanks again! I love this site xxx

http://www.swellpets.co.uk/dog/dog-food-698/arden-grange-dog-food-929/arden-grange-adult-large-breed-29404.html#

Would you say Arden grange or Autarky would be better(less artificial)? I can afford both of these I had a look at Gold Star thanks, but I would prefer one of the other two.

Can't say I know which is better in terms of how artificial they are, but I've just looked at the ingredients and Arden Grange is the better food - more meat, less grain. It's better than Royal Canin and Eukanuba, too.

Samantha1985_2

Thanks Spud! just gone and bought 4 bags ) :A what a saving!

Spudnik_2

Great!

I must say I'm also starting to feel the rising costs of feeding a dog... chicken used to be what I'd use as a cheap meal for mine, but it now costs the same per kilogram for me to get even an intensively reared chicken as it does to purchase a pork shoulder. I don't have a cheap option any more!

astonsmummy

Hi
What dog food brand do you use and why?
How do you buy them, is it wet/dry or both, do you bulk buy?
Why do you use that brand, is it beacuse it's cheaper or because it's the better quality?
I currently feed my Staffordshire bull terrier on Tesco wet food and mix it with dry biscuits I got from the Pet shop, it was £1.90 per KG.
I've herad that cheap wet food is quite crap, aswell as some brands such as pedegree etc so am thinking of changinh her food to a better one.

quidsin

We have a 4yr Lab/collie cross & a 2 1/2yr vizsla. Before we had our first dog ( he was a 8 week old puppy)we didn't have much of a clue about dogs and thought it would be best to give him a mix of all brands, especially if they were on offer :eek:. As we didn't know much we inquired about dog training. Talking the the dog clubs secretary, who was horrified what we were feeding told us to stick on one brand. We then kept him on James Wellbeloved from then on as it contains natural ingredients, no wheat , and the meat content is higher than most other foods.
About 1 1/2 ago we switched to Burns after speaking to John Burns at Crufts.
We normally buy the Burns Active in 15kg bags £37 which lasts about 25 days. At the moment you get an extra 3kg with the active.
I'm quite fussy now what my dogs eat & they don't get any treats( most are full of junk)
I know different foods suit different dogs, so if your dog is happy to eat one brand of food then keep him on it.

astonsmummy

quidsin wrote: »

We have a 4yr Lab/collie cross & a 2 1/2yr vizsla. Before we had our first dog ( he was a 8 week old puppy)we didn't have much of a clue about dogs and thought it would be best to give him a mix of all brands, especially if they were on offer :eek:. As we didn't know much we inquired about dog training. Talking the the dog clubs secretary, who was horrified what we were feeding told us to stick on one brand. We then kept him on James Wellbeloved from then on as it contains natural ingredients, no wheat , and the meat content is higher than most other foods.
About 1 1/2 ago we switched to Burns after speaking to John Burns at Crufts.
We normally buy the Burns Active in 15kg bags £37 which lasts about 25 days. At the moment you get an extra 3kg with the active.
I'm quite fussy now what my dogs eat & they don't get any treats( most are full of junk)
I know different foods suit different dogs, so if your dog is happy to eat one brand of food then keep him on it.

Wow it last 25 days for 2 dogs, I was looking at JWB and burns and they seemed pretty pricey, but I suppose if it's better for her then it's woth the money.

quidsin

astonsmummy wrote: »

I've herad that cheap wet food is quite crap, aswell as some brands such as pedegree etc so am thinking of changinh her food to a better one.

Take a look at Burns website https://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/ there's info on dog food there.
Most cheap wet and dry food use cereals to bulk the content & also have low meat content, which is listed as meat meal.

quidsin

astonsmummy wrote: »

Wow it last 25 days for 2 dogs, I was looking at JWB and burns and they seemed pretty pricey, but I suppose if it's better for her then it's woth the money.

The dogs get around 300g / day each. My dogs weight 29kg & 26kg. I imagine your staffie weighs less so the food will last longer as he wont need 300g / day.

pboae

I feed Royal Canin for giant breeds. I feed it because it's supposed to be the best food for reducing the likliehood of bloat, which is a big killer in my breed. Also my dog has a very delicate stomach and I have to be very careful what he eats, so I wouldn't change it unless I actually had to.

The thing to remember with good quality food is that you feed much less of it, (and get a lot less out the other end as well!). Cheap foods are padded out with junk and filler so you have to feed a lot more of them.

I buy a 15 kg sack which costs around £35 it lasts him about 3 weeks. He ought to have around 3 pints a day, but it currently on a diet so he gets 2 1/2 pints and 2 carrots (split into 2 meals).

If I fed him (for example) Pedigree Chum, he'd need 11 cans a day, or 5 1/2 cans and an equal amount of dry complete. Which would be an insane amount of food, over 90kg in 3 weeks, 6 times what he gets now.

If I wasn't feeding him RC I'd like to try raw feeding, but I don't think I am organised enough for it, so it would probably be James Well Beloved or Burns.

astonsmummy

quidsin wrote: »

The dogs get around 300g / day each. My dogs weight 29kg & 26kg. I imagine your staffie weighs less so the food will last longer as he wont need 300g / day.

She weighs 15.5 kg, about the same as my 4 year old :rotfl: