Which brand of dog food to pick?

Aoifums

We have an 8 year old Cavalier/Collie (we think) cross breed. She's been on Pedigree for most of her life. I only realised that it's rubbish quality recently and have finally persuaded the rest of the family to change her food. She has arthritis and is slightly overweight. The vet nurse has convinced my mam to switch her to Hill's Prescription Diet, the one for joint mobility, I think it's this one http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-jd-canine-mobility-dry.html. I just looked it up and I don't really like the look of the ingredients for the price they're charging. Also her recommending the one brand they stock :rolleyes:

Can anyone recommend me a brand that's not astronomically expensive but is a decent enough quality for an arthritic dog? I've looked into the brands available to buy in the pet shops near us but there are so many and I'm just getting confused with all the choice. We might buy online but I'm just focusing on the brands that are easily available at the mo.

ABajaninCork

Burns or James Wellbeloved would get my vote.

jh79

skinners on amazon is good quality and value

andreac

Oh the famous old vets recommending Hills again...sigh.

Best thing to do is go for one of the higher quality brands, Clinivet, Arden Grange, Orijen, Taste of The Wild etc.

Whispered

I've been dabbling with raw feeding lately and I'd say that's the best way to go if you can. No dry food can be as nutritious as a fresh balanced diet and it's good to know exactly what is going into your dog.

I'm still getting used to it, only a week in, but I'm finding differences in them already. And the support and advice in this forum is great.

Saganist

I have a 2 year old Maltese.

Have only fed him this stuff since he was on born after a recommendation from a friend. He loves it

www.bestformydog.com

andreac

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

teggers5

I've been having same trouble deciding what to feed my dogs. There's so many to choose from its confusing.
Has anyone any thoughts on red mill winner or leader?

Whispered

andreac wrote: »

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

See this is where I'm hitting problems. We have the bottom 2 drawers in the freezer for the two boys. It's ok for now, but for raw feeding to be a financially realistic option in the long term we would need to buy in bulk.

We're getting there, but I'm finding brick walls when I try to get cheaper meat. Like I was in tesco at closing yesterday and there were no special offers and my butcher wouldn't sell me off cuts. Organ meat is cheaper but not suitable for all of their meals.

I hope we can keep it up, but spending nearly €5 a day to feed them at the moment and I can't keep that up long term

andreac

Yeah exactly Whispered, unless you can get it in bulk, which i can do from someone, its the storing of it as well. There is no way i can afford that price you are feeding!! Mine are on food which is €30 for a 15kg bag and they are doing well on it. Ive had to cut costs big time and had to see if i could find a cheaper but still a good enough food.

ISDW

The issue is, that you are looking or a specific arthritic food, and you're not going to find that anywhere except a vets, the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

However, theres no reason why a different kind of diet can't help a dog with arthritis, fish oil, green lipped mussel extract etc can help, along with other things. For the overweight issue, just cut down on the amount given, and obviously, the weight loss will help with the arthritis.

gimmick

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

Whispered

andreac wrote: »

Yeah exactly Whispered, unless you can get it in bulk, which i can do from someone, its the storing of it as well. There is no way i can afford that price you are feeding!! Mine are on food which is €30 for a 15kg bag and they are doing well on it. Ive had to cut costs big time and had to see if i could find a cheaper but still a good enough food.

We can't afford it either. I'd be divorced if he found out how much I was spending on it. I'm hoping by Saturday we'll have found a cheaper supplier. I have 2 more places to check.

ISDW

gimmick wrote: »

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

yes it can, there may be additives in it that can make the dog hyper, or even just the protein or fat levels will have an impact on energy.

ABajaninCork

gimmick wrote: »

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

Probably didn't suit Rufus! My Shih Tzu was fed Royal Canin as that was what the breeder recommended. Turned out it didn't agree with him at all. Trust us to get the only Shih Tzu in Cork with allergies...

We've put him on Burns since and haven't looked back. You should try to keep Rufus on one type of food if you can.

Have you tried to get RC online? Zooplus do it and it's only E2.95 to send if you spend less than E29. They usually pretty quick too.

janja

Plus one on the Dr Burns

Aoifums

I looked into Burns food. Oh wow, tiny ingredients list! I'm really liking that. No stockist near us but hopefully we can work around it. I am planning on bringing it up later as a suitable food.

Whispered wrote: »

I've been dabbling with raw feeding lately and I'd say that's the best way to go if you can. No dry food can be as nutritious as a fresh balanced diet and it's good to know exactly what is going into your dog.

I'm still getting used to it, only a week in, but I'm finding differences in them already. And the support and advice in this forum is great.

I looked into that a few years ago and it looks great. Money, storage and convincing her other owners that she won't die from eating raw meat would be the biggest issue. I know she won't but some people can be a bit set in their ways.

ISDW wrote: »

The issue is, that you are looking or a specific arthritic food, and you're not going to find that anywhere except a vets, the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

However, theres no reason why a different kind of diet can't help a dog with arthritis, fish oil, green lipped mussel extract etc can help, along with other things. For the overweight issue, just cut down on the amount given, and obviously, the weight loss will help with the arthritis.

My mam got fed some stupid "if she goes on this food, her hips won't worsen" spiel which I'm calling bull**** on. I just don't want her getting worse to be my fault by having her on bad food. And I know about the weight, it's coming down slowly but we're getting there.

fatmammycat

andreac wrote: »

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

http://www.secondhandcatering.com/ You might get lucky and nab one without huge outlay here. Somebody linked this the other day - forget who- imagine it's useful.

ABajaninCork

Aoifums wrote: »

I looked into Burns food. Oh wow, tiny ingredients list! I'm really liking that. No stockist near us but hopefully we can work around it. I am planning on bringing it up later as a suitable food.

You can get it online at Zooplus as I've said. That's where I get mine as I find the vet's prices expensive.

planetX

Aoifums wrote: »

My mam got fed some stupid "if she goes on this food, her hips won't worsen" spiel which I'm calling bull**** on. I just don't want her getting worse to be my fault by having her on bad food. And I know about the weight, it's coming down slowly but we're getting there.

The joint diet just has added fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin. You can buy them as a supplement and add them to any food. I've read that the research on their effectiveness is not conclusive anyway.

Millem

ABajaninCork wrote: »

You can get it online at Zooplus as I've said. That's where I get mine as I find the vet's prices expensive.

Check out skinners field and trial on amazon literally the same as burns and half the price!

Stheno

Whispered wrote: »

We can't afford it either. I'd be divorced if he found out how much I was spending on it. I'm hoping by Saturday we'll have found a cheaper supplier. I have 2 more places to check.

Whispered are you close to the North? When I fed raw I got to know my local abbatoir who supplied with me whole green tripe, and a local poultry processor who used give me huge boxes of turkey legs and wings for very little.

I feed Autarky it's 26% chicken and it's human grade, I checked it out several years ago before I decided to go with it.

It was probably the best food I could afford. at the time.

boomerang

+1 on the Skinners

It is of comparable quality to Burns but much more economical as it's VAT free.

I fed my dogs Burns for a long time, but it was difficult to keep weight on when following the recommended feeding guidelines. A lot of people experience this. It's a boon though if you have a dog that needs to lose weight!

Arden Grange and James Wellbeloved are good too, as are Green Dog and Best For My Dog. They're all around the same price. But Skinners comes out tops for me on price.

The brands Andrea mentions would be higher in protein (not strictly necessary for a pet Cav, maybe) but they do cost that bit more. My guys got Orijen for a bit, they did well on it.

Glad you are switching from Pedigree, especially if you feed the wet stuff as it's so bad for a little dog's teeth.

sage_ellis

ISDW wrote: »

the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

New range has been brought into Maxi Zoo, it's made by a german company so they don't have the usual ties to vets. Just last week I switched my dog from ID to their gastrointestinal diet, going well so far, not tummy upset yet (phew!). Not super cheap, but cheaper than the ID at least.

Also op, as someone else said you could always buy the supplements such as condroitin and glucosamine separately (check out places that do Greyhound supplements, you can usually get good prices for large tubs there)

byte

jh79 wrote: »

skinners on amazon is good quality and value

Yup, got this a few weeks ago, the dog is taking to it quite well. So he's happy and my pocket is also happy!

Definitely recommend Skinners.

Millem

Stheno wrote: »

Whispered are you close to the North? When I fed raw I got to know my local abbatoir who supplied with me whole green tripe, and a local poultry processor who used give me huge boxes of turkey legs and wings for very little.

I feed Autarky it's 26% chicken and it's human grade, I checked it out several years ago before I decided to go with it.

It was probably the best food I could afford. at the time.

Where do you buy autarky? I have looked into this food and it is meant to be a good alternative to burns and James wellbeloved

Stheno

Millem wrote: »

Where do you buy autarky? I have looked into this food and it is meant to be a good alternative to burns and James wellbeloved

I get it online from petfood express? Good service, generally next day or the day after delivery too.

I used to go to the North to get it, too, it's cheaper up there, but with free delivery it works out close enough.

I first got it as I'd a GSD with a sensitive stomach, and when I looked into it, I found the company extremely helpful with advice, they gave me a lot of their time, and my GSD never had a problem with it, after literally months of trying different foods.

All of my dogs love it and seem to do well on it.

andreac

The first ingredient is Maize though, not meat which isn't a good thing... That means that it's primary ingredient is cereal and not meat.

andreac

It wouldn't be anywhere near as good as Burns or jwb if the main ingredient is Maize.

Stheno

andreac wrote: »

It wouldn't be anywhere near as good as Burns or jwb if the main ingredient is Maize.

Second is chicken though, I think it's a far superior food than a lot out there, and given that Burns, Hills, and James Wellbeloved ran through my GSD at the time, the fact he settled on Autarky made my mind up

andreac

It might suit your dog, but any food that has cereal as the first and main ingredient is a big no no in terms of quality. Why isn't the first ingredient meat then?? It's not a food id recommend if it's high in cereal. Cereal has no place in a dogs diet so I wouldn't recommend any food with that as the main ingredient.