Irish rover dog food grain free

tamara25 · 08-06-2021 7:04pm #1

I got a 5kg bag of this in aldi today for 10 euro. Is it a good quality dog food? I went for the grain free as my dog has a skin condition

aonb · 08-06-2021 9:25pm

as a rule of thumb, any generic pet food in a supermarket is not going to be very good quality. Look at the ingredients on the back of the packet. As with everything you get what you pay for - if its cheap its because the ingredients are cheap.
If your dog has skin issues you might consider looking at some of the better quality foods - they may be more expensive but you can feed less of a better quality food. James Wellbeloved, Burns, Arcana, Taste of the Wild, Orijen , Eukanuba are all good quality brands and vary hugely in price. Do your research, check the ingredients on the back of the pack (animal derivatives as first ingredient are a bad start) and pick the one that looks best for your budget

tk123 · 09-06-2021 9:57am

Maybe post a pic/list of ingredients and people might be able to advise. My only worry buying food from an Aldi special is that you may have trouble sourcing it again if you like it? The days of supermarket foods being all rubbish are gone - lots of supermarkets stock other brands these days. I don’t feed dry food but as a raw feeder don’t mind if anyone is telling you to avoid derivatives - all raw feeders feed derivatives although some don’t seem to be aware of it lol!

tamara25 · 09-06-2021 10:10am

I usually get Calibra hypoallergenic dog food off my vet. A 2.5kg bag costs 13 euro. It’s expensive but my dog immediately stopped scratching when I changed to this. Here is the ingredient list for the Irish rover select grain free: beet fibre, sweet potato, spinach, meat & animal derivatives salmon flaxseeds, kelp minerals cranberry & turmeric. And yes because it’s one of Aldi’s specials I probably won’t be able to get it again.. my vet did say before that ur better off to stick with the same dog food than change?

Cherry Blossom · 09-06-2021 11:44am

Going by the ingredients you posted there, that food is muck. Even if you don’t have an issue with derivatives, it’s not even listed until fourth. That is not suitable for meat eating pets.

Fabio · 09-06-2021 11:45am

Good site here for rating dog foods: https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

NoIdea99 · 09-06-2021 4:08pm

tamara25 wrote: »

I got a 5kg bag of this in aldi today for 10 euro. Is it a good quality dog food? I went for the grain free as my dog has a skin condition

It might be better if you posted up what your monthly budget for dog food is.. weight of your dog and skin condition people may be able to advice the best food within your budget

tk123 · 09-06-2021 5:40pm

NoIdea99 wrote: »

It might be better if you posted up what your monthly budget for dog food is.. weight of your dog and skin condition people may be able to advice the best food within your budget

Or do a search as there’s tons of food threads lol!

Ms2011 · 09-06-2021 6:07pm

My dog had skin issues but hasn't had any on the Lidl brand food below, €3.49 for 1.5kg bag.

https://www.lidl.ie/p/product-recommendation/premium-dry-dog-food/p4849

Compostition:
Fresh Beef (23%)
Poultry Protein (23%)
Potatoe Flakes, Potato Flour, Poultry Fat (6%)
Beef Protein (5%)
Carrots (4%)
Poultry Liver Hydrolysate (2%)
Minerals, Linseed (1%)
Chicory (1%)
Yeast (0.2%)
Beta-Glucane (0.05%)
Mannanoligosaccharides (0.04%)

the heathen · 09-06-2021 6:36pm

Ms2011 wrote: »

My dog had skin issues but hasn't had any on the Lidl brand food below, €3.49 for 1.5kg bag.

https://www.lidl.ie/p/product-recommendation/premium-dry-dog-food/p4849

My fella had ear irritation problems that the vet suggested might be helped by a grain-free food - I tried the expensive ones and he really disliked them for some reason - wasn't keen on his dinner at all and he used to get very excited by it.

So I tried him on the Lidl one but his stools were a bit too soft on that - so I moved to the Aldi grain-free food and he seems to really like it and is doing much better on it.

Here's the ingredient list - I fully expect to be told it's rubbish!

https://groceries.aldi.ie/en-GB/ALDIIE/p-naturally-healthy-food-for-dogs-grain-free-recipe-rich-in-turkey-15kg-langhams/4088600348575

Turkey And Meat Meals (26%, Including 15% Turkey), DRIED Potato, DRIED Sweet Potato (18%), DRIED Peas, Linseed (3.9%), Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat, Poultry Gravy, Alfalfa, Salmon OIL (L %), Minerals, DRIED Seaweed (0.2%), DRIED Chicory (0.1 Green Tea Extract (0.03%), DRIED Yucca (0.02%), DRIED Pomegranate (0.001%).

VonVix · 09-06-2021 7:32pm

the heathen wrote: »

My fella had ear irritation problems that the vet suggetsed might be helped by a grain-free food - I tried the expensive ones and he really disliked them for some reason - wasn't keen on his dinner at all and he used to get very excited by it.

So I tried him on the Lidl one but his stools were a bit too soft on that - so I moved to the Aldi grain-free food and he seems to really like and is doing much better on it.

Here's the ingredient list - I fully expect to be told it's rubbish!

https://groceries.aldi.ie/en-GB/ALDIIE/p-naturally-healthy-food-for-dogs-grain-free-recipe-rich-in-turkey-15kg-langhams/4088600348575

Turkey And Meat Meals (26%, Including 15% Turkey), DRIED Potato, DRIED Sweet Potato (18%), DRIED Peas, Linseed (3.9%), Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat, Poultry Gravy, Alfalfa, Salmon OIL (L %), Minerals, DRIED Seaweed (0.2%), DRIED Chicory (0.1 Green Tea Extract (0.03%), DRIED Yucca (0.02%), DRIED Pomegranate (0.001%).

In fairness it's not terrible, you could be feeding a lot worse. What stands out to me most is that the food is made up of a lot of potatoes and peas. It also has 11% miscellaneous meats, this means that this meat could be anything, and it is usually what's the cheapest/most readily available, it could be beef, it could be pork, it could be pigeon. :P

But what's different about this ingredient list is it seems to be listing it AFTER production for a change. Often ingredient lists are before production, for example when ingredients say "fresh chicken", this would suggest it's before production, fresh chicken will fall down the ingredients list once all the moisture is taken out, as it will weigh a lot less without water.

Cherry Blossom · 09-06-2021 7:39pm

the heathen wrote: »

So I tried him on the Lidl one but his stools were a bit too soft on that - so I moved to the Aldi grain-free food and he seems to really like and is doing much better on it.

Here's the ingredient list - I fully expect to be told it's rubbish!

https://groceries.aldi.ie/en-GB/ALDIIE/p-naturally-healthy-food-for-dogs-grain-free-recipe-rich-in-turkey-15kg-langhams/4088600348575

Turkey And Meat Meals (26%, Including 15% Turkey), DRIED Potato, DRIED Sweet Potato (18%), DRIED Peas, Linseed (3.9%), Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat, Poultry Gravy, Alfalfa, Salmon OIL (L %), Minerals, DRIED Seaweed (0.2%), DRIED Chicory (0.1 Green Tea Extract (0.03%), DRIED Yucca (0.02%), DRIED Pomegranate (0.001%).

Actually it’s multiples of times better than the one the OP posted. The first ingredient should always be a meat ingredient. The other ingredients are good quality, beet byproducts such as the OP posted are low quality fillers and I would certainly steer clear of any food it was listed as the first ingredient. Yours has beet pulp as well but it’s well down the list. Beet pulp is for horses, vegetarian animals.

Ms2011 · 09-06-2021 9:23pm

the heathen wrote: »

My fella had ear irritation problems that the vet suggetsed might be helped by a grain-free food - I tried the expensive ones and he really disliked them for some reason - wasn't keen on his dinner at all and he used to get very excited by it.

So I tried him on the Lidl one but his stools were a bit too soft on that - so I moved to the Aldi grain-free food and he seems to really like and is doing much better on it.

Here's the ingredient list - I fully expect to be told it's rubbish!

https://groceries.aldi.ie/en-GB/ALDIIE/p-naturally-healthy-food-for-dogs-grain-free-recipe-rich-in-turkey-15kg-langhams/4088600348575

Turkey And Meat Meals (26%, Including 15% Turkey), DRIED Potato, DRIED Sweet Potato (18%), DRIED Peas, Linseed (3.9%), Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat, Poultry Gravy, Alfalfa, Salmon OIL (L %), Minerals, DRIED Seaweed (0.2%), DRIED Chicory (0.1 Green Tea Extract (0.03%), DRIED Yucca (0.02%), DRIED Pomegranate (0.001%).

Different foods can suit different dogs, the Lidl one might have been too rich for him. The above isn't too bad and if he is doing well on it then I would stick with it.

the heathen · 10-06-2021 10:24am

VonVix wrote: »

In fairness it's not terrible, you could be feeding a lot worse. What stands out to me most is that the food is made up of a lot of potatoes and peas. It also has 11% miscellaneous meats, this means that this meat could be anything, and it is usually what's the cheapest/most readily available, it could be beef, it could be pork, it could be pigeon. :P

But what's different about this ingredient list is it seems to be listing it AFTER production for a change. Often ingredient lists are before production, for example when ingredients say "fresh chicken", this would suggest it's before production, fresh chicken will fall down the ingredients list once all the moisture is taken out, as it will weigh a lot less without water.

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

Actually it’s multiples of times better than the one the OP posted. The first ingredient should always be a meat ingredient. The other ingredients are good quality, beet byproducts such as the OP posted are low quality fillers and I would certainly steer clear of any food it was listed as the first ingredient. Yours has beet pulp as well but it’s well down the list. Beet pulp is for horses, vegetarian animals.

Ms2011 wrote: »

Different foods can suit different dogs, the Lidl one might have been too rich for him. The above isn't too bad and if he is doing well on it then I would stick with it.

Thanks folks - good to hear that it's a reasonable food. Really reasonably priced too at €3 for 1.5kg.

rogardur · 03-04-2022 11:00am

I tried the expensive foods in Petmania and my Springer /Pointer cross just didnt like it. I tried Natura and she wasn't mad about that either. Tried the Irish Rover in Aldi and she loved it. I supplement with raw egg now and again, and non weight bearing bones from the butcher. Her stools are normal and shes full of energy as she should be. I recommend it.

rogardur · 03-04-2022 11:01am

It is no longer available in Aldi, but can be bought in Choice stores.

muddypaws · 03-04-2022 9:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118873470#Comment_118873470

Kids don't tend to like healthy food either and if given the option of McDonalds every day would Wolf it down.

farmer2018 · 14-01-2023 1:19pm

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://groceries.aldi.ie/en-GB/p-grain-free-recipe-rich-in-salmon-premium-dog-food-5kg-langhams/4088600500348&ved=2ahUKEwjmsJCHhcf8AhVONOwKHfq7Az4QFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0v6LVRmSMzKUP2pm95eGgR

Anyone use this? How do you find it for sensitive dogs skin?

the heathen · 23-08-2023 11:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106895#Comment_120106895

I used to feed my fella Langhams Grain Free (see back up the page) - it cleared his ear irritations up and according to other posters the quality is ok.

Aldi stopped stocking it for a long time though so had to move to something else - interesting to see it's back.

Irish rover dog food grain free

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