what type of dog food is best?

glic83

just wondering what type/brand of dog food is best,i generally stay away from the likes of bakers,brandy and the likes of,i always go for dried dog food,the last time i used conelly mill's and now i have james wellbeloved and try and get a couple of marrow bones for tilly to chew on during the day maybe 1 or 2 a week also i give her some chicken maybe once a week

Ardscoil Ris

To be honest I love the taste of Pedigree Chum. It's Yum Yum.

smelltheglove

Well I would alsolove toknow recommendations, I have been testing out little yorkie on a few and what she seems to eat mostismystew.... I reckon her previousowners must have given her leftoversas she doesnt have great taste for dog food, so far other than my stew all I have gotten her to eat properly is the tesco food that comes in a packet like the caeser packet.

The problem is her coat is more easily maintained when she eats the proper food and although her poops are easilypicked up with the drier food I would be afraid of her becoming constipated. She is only a skinny little thing as it is so hopefelly soon I will find amore nourishing food than tescoownbrand

Duzzie

We use Burns dog food, mostly the brown rice and chicken. It is a bit more procey than "normal" foods and we can only get it from the vet here. They were on other standard type dod foods but they were very hyper on them. They have calmed down since we moved them over. Cost 60 yoyos for a 15kilo bag here, went up th Newry yesterday and they were selling it for 42 stg, about 45 yoyos. Rediculas price difference. Ended coming back with 5 bags.
Cant fault the Burns food. Is meant to be top quality food

smelltheglove

Duzzie does a 15kilo bag last you long?

Duzzie

smelltheglove wrote: »

Duzzie does a 15kilo bag last you long?

We have 3 largesh dogs so it doesnt last as long as I would like. The reccomend feeding 100-200 grammes for a 10-20kg dog. I'd guess a bag lasts us about 2-3 weeks or so, never really checked to see

EGAR

What kind of food pretty much depends on your dog. Age, exercise level, gender, neutered or entire, sleeping outside or in, any illnesses like HD or allergies etc. Maybe you can explain a bit more?

glic83

EGAR wrote: »

What kind of food pretty much depends on your dog. Age, exercise level, gender, neutered or entire, sleeping outside or in, any illnesses like HD or allergies etc. Maybe you can explain a bit more?

it was more so just a general question i suppose,i was just wondering was there a pacticular dog food that people swear by but i understand what you are say also egar,my staffie bitch is nearly 2,she sleeps indoors at night is out during the day and is walked daily she is neutered also,

ivabiggon

Most of the bags of food are pretty good, even brandy as it is made by the same people as purina (which is 45e a pop). Royal Canin is very highly rated, also very dear. I judge by a decent amount of protien (about 20-21%), not too much of anything bad like fat/ash, the price is reasonable, and if my dog likes it. I also like to give them the ones that actually smell like food, if possible!

EGAR

James Wellbeloved or Burns is brilliant if you are looking for good quality food. No artificial additives or colouring. 18% protein is more then enough for your dog.

Sigma Force

I have been feeding my two Burns for a good few years now, it's gone up to €54.00 per 15kg bag and although yes day by day it does work out cheaper things are tight now (for most people) and I have made the leap to Red Mills I fed them Burns because one has a sensative tum and also it is in fairness a good quality food. However I am finding the Red Mills fine with the dog with the sensative tum, no different than when she was on Burns.
There are different types of Red Mills it's costing me half of what Burns did.

boomerang

A few years ago I had Boo on Red Mills Winner (the navy bag with the collie on the front) and she did absolutely grand on it, missis.

koneko

One of mine really (*really*) didn't agree with Red Mills (Puppy Leader), gave her terrible runs, poor thing. Depends on the dog really, but I won't be buying it again for mine. Seen loads of people swear by it though.

Royal Canin is alright, have kept one on it because it seems to really agree with her system, she's healthy and very active, lovely shiney coat, wonderful dog. The other two are on Hills Science Plan now, may switch them at some point but I'll have to be careful with herself, sensitive tummy.

glic83

has anyone bought dog food from zooplus?just wondering if they are reliable saw that they are doing jameswellbeloved for €62 for a 15kg bag,anyone else know of anywhere else doing better prices?

Sigma Force

zooplus delivery is fine, it comes from Germany so it does take a bit longer to arrive. I ordered stuff over the Xmas and it took 10 days usually it takes between 5 to 10 working days but do check out zooplus.uk not the zooplus.ie site as you will find most items are cheaper but you still get free delivery if you order over a certain amount. I saved €40.00 ordering a cage from the uk site instead of the ie one.

looserock

There seems to be a few quality foods out there now but the only two I'm familiar with that I recommend are Royal Canin and Eukenuba. Those two are excellent as long as you follow the guidelines fairly closely.

Its a good idea to look at the ingredients and add all the numbers up, with most dog foods you'll only get around 40%, the rest is of no nutritional value.

With the better foods the numbers can add up to something like 75% so while it seems more expensive you are actually getting more actual food for you're money and also less coming out the other end.

Having said all that I Feed mine 50% cheap food 50% tripe which is probably what all Champion dogs are fed, at least with the giant breeds.

glic83

thanks i checked out the uk site and it will cost me around 46 euro instead of 62 which will make a nice saving of 16 euro for the same product

Authorize

How about Innova & Canidae?

kazza90210

For the best food, you need to read the back of the packet, cheaper brands that you will get in the supermarkets have very little actually meat content and consist mainly of water. these have little nutrional value and you will need to feed your dog more so they get enough nutrients.

the more expensive brands have more nutrional value and even though they cost more you can feed your dog less as they require less food to get the nutrients required for the day.

the most important thing is to pick the food your going to feed, pick whetever its wet or dry and then stick to it as sudden changes in a dogs diet can cause diarrhoea and/or vomiting.

Honey-ec

Eukanuba isn't actually that great a food.

Imo, the best foods readily available in Ireland are Burns and Arden Grange. Royal Canin, Canidae and Timberwolf are also excellent, but can be hard to find here and more often than not, are prohibitively expensive if you're feeding more than one dog.

Obviously, all dogs are different and even within the same breed, two dogs can react completely differently to the same food. So, really the only guidelines I'd give are:

- The first ingredient listed should be meat. Not a meat by-product, but plain old meat

- There should be another meat source within the first 5 listed ingredients

- Where grains are used, they should be whole grains (e.g. rice) as opposed to grain fragments (the dust off the floor, basically)

- Whole fruits or vegetables are preferable to grains

- Pre or pro biotics should be included

- Avoid articificial preservatives. Natural preservatives are rosemary extract and tocopherols

For a really, REALLY exhaustive guide to what to look for in a good dog food, see http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

looserock

Honey-ec wrote: »

Eukanuba isn't actually that great a food.


For a really, REALLY exhaustive guide to what to look for in a good dog food, see http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

Thanks for that, some interesting and eye opening stuff there.

LorraineL

Also use Burns for my three. I find it much more easily digestible for them and makes cleaning up after them not as messy as when they eat anything from the supermarket.

looserock

Just for a bit of balance, I also found this very interesting.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=dog_food_reviews

percy26

We are getting a new king charles pup next wk and I was just wondering what would be the best food for him, thank you for any tips

sorella

We feed mostly raw, and home cooked. They thrive on it. Some dog meal occasionally. ASDA UK has cheap chicken wings - our cats also get these - and a butcher saves scraps for us.

ronbyrne2005

Whats Hills science plan large breed puppy food like? Vet was trying to sell it to us ,cant find it on that dog review website only another lower protein Hills puppy food.

This is one Vet recomended.
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/hills_science_plan/puppy_junior/13156

Beth

What is best? Raw is as that is what their bodies (and teeth) are designed to eat.

We have one of ours on Husse and the other on raw.
Both were on raw previously but we went back to the Husse for a trial because she's so sick and needed to see was it any of the foods (its not :rolleyes: ) . Once this bag is gone, she'll be back on raw. The price on the Husse site is inclusive of delivery, and they have excellent customer service.

We had a bad time with Red Mills with one of them, dreadful diahrea, dandruff etc so will only feed the raw now to him.

Works out roughly the same to feed a Rottweiler and a Papillon on raw as it does to feed them on a high quality dried food. (1 euro less!)

There's another food that has been getting great feedback, called Orijen. Its cereal free as far as I remember, so good for allergies to cereals.

sorella

Amen, Beth.

We get chicken wings from ASDA etc. For the dogs and the cats. And raw from the butcher.

Not bought any other for many months; oh we get a simple dry mixer also that is cereal and vitamins. But very little of that.

Seeing a dog chewing raw meat is a beautiful thing indeed. And we know then exactly what they are getting.

Beth wrote: »

What is best? Raw is as that is what their bodies (and teeth) are designed to eat.

We have one of ours on Husse and the other on raw.
Both were on raw previously but we went back to the Husse for a trial because she's so sick and needed to see was it any of the foods (its not :rolleyes: ) . Once this bag is gone, she'll be back on raw. The price on the Husse site is inclusive of delivery, and they have excellent customer service.

We had a bad time with Red Mills with one of them, dreadful diahrea, dandruff etc so will only feed the raw now to him.

Works out roughly the same to feed a Rottweiler and a Papillon on raw as it does to feed them on a high quality dried food. (1 euro less!)

There's another food that has been getting great feedback, called Orijen. Its cereal free as far as I remember, so good for allergies to cereals.

Beth

When we started with the raw, we did get the chicken bits in supermarkets. But now, we will only get them in the Chicken Inn in the English Market in Cork City. The quality is far higher than the supermarket ones, and there's much more meat on bones compared to supermarket bought ones. We'd buy 2 weeks worth at a time to save us the trip. They also work out cheaper but taking into account the cost of petrol and parking, that saving is wiped out. But for the quality and quantity its worth it.

We do get the rest from a family butcher (ie. green tripe, heart, kidney, liver, beef cuts, etc) but we get the lamb in the English Market as well. We'd to cut out the beef as it was making them itchy.

They both did well on the Husse but I much prefer the raw. Its great to see the little fella dragging around a leg crunching on it. Not to mention seeing the rottweiler devour a full whole chicken. Tires them out great too and builds up their muscles in their necks, jaws and shoulders I do find that since giving them the raw to crunch through, that they take their time with any treats if they have them. The bonio used be gone in two crunches when the rottweiler had one, where as now, she will take her time with it and crunch it properly. The small fella could never squeak those squeaky toys either - whereas now on the raw, he has the muscle built up enough to do it. Bad for my ears and head, good for him

We dont use mixer or any dried food with the raw due to the different digestion rates (raw: 4-5 hours, dried food: 14-16 hours) so they get all their needs met by either raw, or adding in eggs, yoghurt, salmon oil, healthy table scraps etc.

sorella

Absolutely to all you say; but we are out in the wilderness here and less available. ASDA has good offers, but the South is too costly now for us.

Yes also to healthy scraps, and vegetables cooked in meat or chicken stock.
Carrots they both love.

This is how we raised the little one; it took the collie a long while to adapt after her near starvation years, but the difference in her coat and health is immeasurable.

I was new to dogs and was alarmed when all the grey patches in her coat started to fall out that first while. But in came her glossy winter coat.

Beth wrote: »

When we started with the raw, we did get the chicken bits in supermarkets. But now, we will only get them in the Chicken Inn in the English Market in Cork City. The quality is far higher than the supermarket ones, and there's much more meat on bones compared to supermarket bought ones. We'd buy 2 weeks worth at a time to save us the trip. They also work out cheaper but taking into account the cost of petrol and parking, that saving is wiped out. But for the quality and quantity its worth it.

We do get the rest from a family butcher (ie. green tripe, heart, kidney, liver, beef cuts, etc) but we get the lamb in the English Market as well. We'd to cut out the beef as it was making them itchy.

They both did well on the Husse but I much prefer the raw. Its great to see the little fella dragging around a leg crunching on it. Not to mention seeing the rottweiler devour a full whole chicken. Tires them out great too and builds up their muscles in their necks, jaws and shoulders I do find that since giving them the raw to crunch through, that they take their time with any treats if they have them. The bonio used be gone in two crunches when the rottweiler had one, where as now, she will take her time with it and crunch it properly. The small fella could never squeak those squeaky toys either - whereas now on the raw, he has the muscle built up enough to do it. Bad for my ears and head, good for him

We dont use mixer or any dried food with the raw due to the different digestion rates (raw: 4-5 hours, dried food: 14-16 hours) so they get all their needs met by either raw, or adding in eggs, yoghurt, salmon oil, healthy table scraps etc.

boomerang

The best dried foods I've personally used would be Burns, Arden Grange and James Wellbeloved. I haven't used Nutro, Orijen or Husse so can't comment, but I've heard very positive things about those brands too.

Despite the hefty price, I don't actually think Science Plan or Royal Canin are that great.

Beth, I bow to your commitment to feed your dogs raw, it takes a lot of forethought and time to do it right, but you can bet it's worth it.

For the small, fussy dogs, Naturediet (available on Zooplus) is a very healthy, natural wet food and dogs love it! You can even heat it up in the microwave. It's not expensive either - under €1 per carton and that would probably be enough for two meals for a small dog. Closer to home, I've seen James Wellbeloved sachets in the pet shops and my dogs love them. Again all natural ingredients and very palatable. They're about 80 cent each.