CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Feeding => Topic started by: rivendell07 on June 16, 2012, 05:19:42 PM
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Hi we are having a new Cocker puppy tomorrow. Our existing Cocker has been brought up on James Wellbeloved since birth as recommended by her breeder.
Our new cocker however has been weaned on Royal Canin and her breeder swears by RC.
Have just come back from the pet shop to get some RC in, and the pet shop strongly recommended a food called Symply !
We know nothing :huh: and wondered what people on the forum recommended - and probably more importantly why ?
The pet shop lady was going on about RC being a lot of maize which would go straight through with no nutritional value and that JW was whole animals ground up, including the bones :P - sounded like a sales ploy but as I said before we know nothing !
Advice would be welcome !
thanks
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i moved mine onto JWB from Hills Scientific (following advice here on COL of some of the ingredients in Hills). They are both doing extremely well on it. I think i have read somewhere that Royal Canin does have more maize than JWB but someone will be along shortly with advice.
THere have been previous threads on feeding, so it may be worth a search
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I'm not keen on RC but James Wellbeloved is meant to be quite a good quality food - I've never heard about it having whole animals ground up in it :huh:. It does have beet pulp in it, I believe, which a lot of people (including me) aren't keen on. Brodie was fed it when she was younger and she did well on it.
Never heard of Symply before, I've had a quick look and it looks good (I'm no expert, though). Although again it has beet pulp in it. I wonder if the pet shop is on commission...
As Black Taz says, I'd have a look through the threads on here, there are a few very good foods out there. Hope tonight goes quickly with you!
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Ultimately it depends on what suits your dog best. Mine are doing well on JWB as it seems to suit them (they came to me on RC as puppies), I found the white fish one best - the turkey one gave Dexter dreadful wind and he was a bit sloppy on it.
For a while with my two I had the older one on JWB and the puppy on RC until he was well and truly settled, then I gradually weaned him onto JWB puppy. Luckily it works for both of them :shades:
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Out of the two- id personally go with JWB. Nought wrong with having whole animals, bones, bits & all in :)
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Thanks all - yes we've searched on-line, but want to make the right choices for the new puppy.
Really appreciate all your advise.
Getting a golden cocker - Maisie - 8 weeks old to be a friend to Jess (Blue Roan)
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Ive moved Freya onto JWB fairly recently, shes nearly three and its the only one that has suited her perfectly. We've had Burn, CSJ, Arden Grange, Barking Heads, a lot of the good ones and they have not suited her for one reason or another. I think thats just it, I would have loved her to be on Barking Heads as it is the one I like most down to ingredients, but her coat suffered on it. So its not neccissarily "the best", its what suits the dog. My new rescue lab is also on it but I found she had anal gland issues on it :020: However, with the addition of a little bran she is doing great on it too :blink:
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I think it is all down to personal choice and what suits your pets best. We love RC for both the cats and dogs. Second choice would probably be JWB. Ours didn't do so well on Iams or Eukanuba. The cats seem to suffer with hairballs more whilst on Iams. I will wean our new puppy onto RC when he arrives and if it doesn't suit will happily move onto something else. Good luck with your new arrival :luv:
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I have 2 cockers on RC and 3 on JWB I would recommend both :blink: have good results with both
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Personally I would stick with the RC for a while and see how the puppy does, as moving to a new home is a big step for them
All mine I have kept on what ever they have been fed on to start with and bought a big bag of it and then if I was going to change them change after that, as then they have settled in and the slow change to another food is easier on them (As long as the food suits them)
The only time I have changed a food as soon as they have arrived is when one arrived on Bakers - he was my rescue boy and was put straight on to JWB
Never heard of Symply - so off to google it - WOW, just had a look and TBH it is very good, however not much different from JWB except for the price (Think out of JWB and Symply I would stick with JWB thanks very much )
Good luck with the new addition :luv:
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Thanks again all. Have got a bag of puppy RC in and part way through bags of Jwb and RC for Jess we'll stick with those till we get back from hols and see how they are doing.
Since introducing Jess to RC she has bottom shuffled more. So think we will try a change but not till after our hols in August.
Sounds like these are all reasonable foods though so not doing bad by the dogs with any of them.
Cheers for advice
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Obviously pup is best left on the food the breeder has weaned her onto, or you could get 'dire' consequences ;) I have always used RC with my litters and found it a very good food, we've tried others but always come back to RC.
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Archie was weaned on JWB mixed with Naturediet but the JWB gave him very loose poos - several people on here seemed to have the same issue. I switched to RC as my previous cocker thrived on it but it really amped up his (already bad) hyperactive nortiness. >:D I would stick with the RC initially but if you do decide to switch to JWB just be prepared for possible nasty messes to clear up. ;) (Archie ended up refusing all kibble in the end and is now wet fed)
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Our local pet shop was pushing us to swop for Symply and gave us free samples. Willow has been on a variety of foods in her young life as she suffered with colitis as a pup. JWB didnt agree with her and would give her wind and sloppy poops. I believe recently they have changed some of there ingredients, Willow was on it previously.
We have now settled with 'barking heads' after doing lots of research and finding what best suited her. She seems to like it and no wind and sloppy poops so thats a bonus :005: :005:
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I used Symply for quite a lot of Archie's puppyhood. It suited him ok but he has bad allergies and eventually there seemed to be a problem with this for him. I have tried so many foods but now have him on skinners field and trial duck and rice which suits him ok. It is a lot cheaper too as you don't pay VAT on it. It suits Archie ok although I am about to try him on The Natural Dog food company as I have my other cocker on it so it would be easier to keep them on the same food.
Symply is a good food though
Here is a link to the natural dog food company
http://naturaldogfoodcompany.com/
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Don't know about Royal Canin other than the assistant at PAH suggesting JWB was far better for puppies.
The only reason I'm responding to this post is to suggest the smaller 2kg packs may be a good idea. I bought a 15kg of lamb and Miya now struggles with but loves the JWB white fish.
They say variety is the spice of life and rotation of the flavours would prevent the "same old syndrum" develop in your puppy, bit like us I guess :005:
Hope this helps :dunno:
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They say variety is the spice of life and rotation of the flavours would prevent the "same old syndrum" develop in your puppy, bit like us I guess :005:
Sorry I disagree with this - Mine are on the same food day in day out - year in year out
It suits them (they are on different foods ) and there is no point in changing if it is a good quality food and suits them
A few years ago there didn't use to be all these differnet makes and the dogs used to live on table scraps from the humans meals - I use table scraps for my dogs when there is any that is (as my kids eat me out of house and home and hardly leave anything these days - not that I am complianing, but if they do then that goes to the dogs literally, minus any bones etc as these are cooked)
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They say variety is the spice of life and rotation of the flavours would prevent the "same old syndrum" develop in your puppy, bit like us I guess :005:
Sorry I disagree with this - Mine are on the same food day in day out - year in year out
It suits them (they are on different foods ) and there is no point in changing if it is a good quality food and suits them
A few years ago there didn't use to be all these differnet makes and the dogs used to live on table scraps from the humans meals - I use table scraps for my dogs when there is any that is (as my kids eat me out of house and home and hardly leave anything these days - not that I am complianing, but if they do then that goes to the dogs literally, minus any bones etc as these are cooked)
Agree with Cazza here, we cause "fussiness" by giving them too many options. If a food suits I stick with it and mine have never complained, they savour every meal :blink:
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They say variety is the spice of life and rotation of the flavours would prevent the "same old syndrum" develop in your puppy, bit like us I guess :005:
Sorry I disagree with this - Mine are on the same food day in day out - year in year out
It suits them (they are on different foods ) and there is no point in changing if it is a good quality food and suits them
A few years ago there didn't use to be all these differnet makes and the dogs used to live on table scraps from the humans meals - I use table scraps for my dogs when there is any that is (as my kids eat me out of house and home and hardly leave anything these days - not that I am complianing, but if they do then that goes to the dogs literally, minus any bones etc as these are cooked)
Agree with Cazza here, we cause "fussiness" by giving them too many options. If a food suits I stick with it and mine have never complained, they savour every meal :blink:
So, just to recap.
If I give Miya Lamb, fish or turkey [ALL JAMES WELLBELOVED] and reduce the size of the bag [which is all I said in my first post] this would "cause fussiness" :huh:
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Not saying it would at all. I'm saying humans who think it would be nice to give thier dogs a wide variety of foods CAN but not WILL cause fussiness, as the dog knows he can hold out for something better. If you keep offering something different he may quickly realise he can pick and choose which bits he likes
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Riley adores his food,he practically "inhales" each meal of jwb, he has the duck, lamb and fish, we have two flavours on the go at any one time. He is quite greedy so doesnt prefer one over the other, or at least he doesnt show it.
I would have thought rather than flavour changing causing fussiness it would be actually complete change of food, also adding "nice tasty" bits if they are a bit fussy, would have thought that would have made them more picky, not changing the flavour though.
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I've only had the kind of cocker that will happily eat anything, any time, anywhere. Fussy eaters will obviously be a challenge but I would have thought that most dogs will cope with changes in food type and variety without any problems. I believe that some dietary change is probably good thing, unless there are reasons why you believe it won't work for your dog. Feeding table scraps is probably good as well, as long as you pay attention to balance in the diet. However, table scraps are obviously going to provide a lot of variety so I'm not sure I follow cazza's argument.
I read this American article recently in which a vet reflects on advice on feeding. He comes to the conclusion that commercial grain-based diets are probably not ideal and that increasing the amount of meat helps in improving health of dogs generally. It is anecdotal, and provides no evidence, but is a point of view.
http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_the_best_food_for_dogs
It does fit my prejudices which is why I usually feed Acana and am now trying Applaws which is 75% meat kibble. So back to the original question of the thread, while I am sure that both RC and JW are both foods with good quality ingredients, I would personally look for a food with a much higher meat content. I am also not very interested in advice from pet shop assistants!
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However, table scraps are obviously going to provide a lot of variety so I'm not sure I follow cazza's argument.
As i said previously - mine don't get very often it is a treat, not a regulary occurrance!!!
My main point was that there was not ALL these different brands of dog food 40 or so years ago and they would only be fed scraps
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You are absolutely right, and the article I referenced above suggests that this is not a good thing. The big manufacturers created foods with high grain content, even though it's not naturally a significant part of a dog's diet, because it's cheap. They also found ways of using meat-related >:( leftovers from the by-products of the human food chain. Efficient: maybe, good for dogs: highly questionable.
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i feed my older heinz 57 on JWB turkey, lamb and fish mixed with either a JWB pouch or a tin of sardines in oil we are getting our cocker in 6 weeks and once he is settled he will be getting gradually switched over from pro plan to JWB. If you are going to mix in a wet food remember to reduce the dry food i take 35g of for the JWB pouches and 50G for the sardines but my dog is on a diet she needs to lose 4kg
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Harley came to us from his breeder with Eukanuba but his stools were unreliable and changed from solid to slimy and back again with great regularity - I really wasn't keen on the ingredients so I slowly changed him to JWB and he has been on this (mixed with a huge variety of hooman left-overs) for the last 5 1/2 years - his poos are small and solid, he is very fit and his coat is glossy. When we rescued Rio we had no idea what he had been fed on previously so it was JWB for him too and he took to it straight away with absolutely no problems - I cant recommend JWB highly enough :D