Suggestions for new dog food

peteb2

Morning guys,

we've been feeding our lab cross Royal Canin Labrador Retriever junior since we get her over 4 months ago. (she's 6 months now).

The thing is that more often than not the poo isn't the greatest, tends to fall apart, and is often yellow and mushy. Sometimes she is diahorretic.
She got spayed last week and we had her on rice and saugage for a few days and poo was great. But now its back to formed but not really.

I'm thinking at this point that she's more of the cross than she is lab in some respects - still small at about 12kg and vet says he doesn't think she get much bigger, that maybe lab retreiver specific food isn't doing her much favours.

Any one got any suggestions? I don't really know enough about dog nutrition as to what to look for in a food.

paultf

Its hard to make a suggestion straight off.

What kind of budget do you have?

Can you buy online? i.e. available for deliveries. Sometimes online you would get a better deal. zooplus.co.uk is a good place to start and lists alot of the top foods with descriptions and reviews.

Cheshire Cat

I have a lab collie x with a very sensitive stomach (vomits when she eats the wrong food) and a tendency to skin problems. I had her on Whites Sensitive which was sadly discontinued when they changed their name. After that I had her on Arden Grange Sensitive which was OK, but not brilliant.
She's now on Barking Heads "Bad Hair Day" (silly name I know!) and is thriving! Her bald spots are gone, no vomiting and her poos are nice and pickable

Well worth a try.

dan hibiki

i use arden grange hypoallergenic. helped solve similar problems with one of mine. linky....http://ardengrange.ie/products/dry-dog-food.html
friend of mine swears by Purina dry food as well. best to try a few brands over a few months.

lorebringer

Some good brands of food are Burns, Arden Grange, Red Mills Leader, James Wellbeloved, Select Gold, Pro Pac, Royal Canin (I, personally, don't like their "breed specific" stuff) and Best for my Dog. There are mother loads of good brands and, unfortunately, crap brands too. If you feel your dog has a bit of a sensitive stomach Burns and James Wellbeloved are good choices of foods.

At 6 months, you can switch to an adult food (this is all down to personal choice, I tend to switch around this age) which may agree better with your dog. I, personally, don't like Royal Canin "breed" foods - they can be too rich and give dogs a funny belly, and are way overpriced - but their normal rages are fine (still a little overpriced for what you get for the price). Burns is a much lighter food and James Wellbeloved is great for sensitive dogs (both around €50/€55 for a 15kg bag).

Most large pet stores have a good range, as does zooplus (www.zooplus.ie or www.zooplus.co.uk - there can be different offers or some things cheaper on each so worth checking both out). Vets do tend to sell good quality foods too, but some practices are just trying to sell you a food as opposed to what is best for your dog (of course, some are brilliant and recommend other foods, don't mind if you don't buy their foods etc.).

If you are changing food, try to do so slowly (over a week or 10 days) gradually increasing the new food and decreasing the old until it is all new food that is in the bowl! Also, it may be more economical to buy a smaller bag first to see how the dog gets on and then invest in the bigger bag once you have found a food that suits. Not all good quality foods suit all dogs, and sometimes it can be trial and error to find what is best for you dog.

peteb2

thanks for the advice guys. I'd rather not spend 67 for 15kg of food (he says knowing there is a big giant bag still in the shed!!).

At what point do you stop feeding junior foods and start feeding adult ones in general?

dan hibiki

for a lab, around the 10-12 month mark you start with the adult food.

lorebringer

For any size dog, I tend to switch around the 6-9 month mark (depending on the dog).

peteb2

Ive boughts some burns chicken and brown rice from Zooplus. Just a 2kg bag so we will see how that goes.

paultf

peteb2 wrote: »

Ive boughts some burns chicken and brown rice from Zooplus. Just a 2kg bag so we will see how that goes.

If you ring Burns Ireland in Limerick:

http://burnsireland.com/

They'll send you samples for free. Say you have a big dog and they'll send a good few bags. In different varities if you want too.

Sigma Force

I found Burns great for the poops but I find you need to up the amount sometimes depending on how active the dog is, moreso than with other brands. But it's deffo one to try to solve the poop issue, saying that I find it affected their anal glands..yuk.

Due to cut backs have had to switch to Wagg it's not ideal I know but we've all had to cut back and the dogs were the last to I switched over very slowly and their poops are fine with it. It's €15.00 for a 15kg bag compared to €57.00 for what I was paying for the Burns. Not idea as I say but the dogs are fine on it and they get extra bits like tinned fish etc. as a treat.

Shazanne

I have both of mine on Burns but one of them is really windy on it and he stinks the place every day:eek::D:eek:
I have heard and read that Burns is the best food to prevent this problem so why is he so bad???

RubyGirl

I use Gain Big Dog for all my labs, find it great for them. You can get 15kg for €33 in petmania and get a trial bag to test them on it and if the food does not agree with them, bring the big bag back upopened and they will refund you the price of it.

dan hibiki

Shazanne wrote: »

I have both of mine on Burns but one of them is really windy on it and he stinks the place every day:eek::D:eek:
I have heard and read that Burns is the best food to prevent this problem so why is he so bad???

there is NOTHING worse than a stinky dog fart!!!

rorrissey

From my experience, dog food aimed at puppies gave my pup runny poos as well. One day my father accidently bought the adult version of our food, we've been buying it ever since. Poos are much better on it! So maybe you don't need to change the brand, just try the adult version.

peteb2

Thanks folks. Anyone else use gain? Its possibly the only name i haven't seen much on when googling these matters?

Ms Tootsie

peteb2 wrote: »

Thanks folks. Anyone else use gain? Its possibly the only name i haven't seen much on when googling these matters?

You can try dogfooddirect.ie. I had a similar problem with my dog and came to boards for advice and a fellow boardsie directed me to this site with a few reccommended brands which included Burns Arden Grange, James Wellbeloved, Taste of the Wild, and Champion from dogfooddirect.ie, particularly the premium plus range. The website has tons of the brands and does a lot of options for dogs with sensitive stomachs as well. The only downside is that they deliver during the day which can be awkward if you work but delivery also is free.

We have our guy on the Champion premium plus range. Now we have been introducing it slowly over the last week and a half but so far it seems to be going well, mixing it with cooked rice and chicken. I don't want to jinx myself just yet as we have to fully switch him over but so far so good