What do you feed your cockers?

[Shelley]

Tia is on Royal Canin, but she always has fresh food with it as well.... So do my Newfies. I could never feed them just dry dog food.

So with the complete food they get all kinds, chicken, sardines, tuna, scrambled eggs, pork, mince, veg and any left overs! It works well for us, and the dogs are healthy

[Helen]

bit of both

Arden grange and BARF

although jarv is peculiar (whatever next!) and his tum can't tolerate raw chicken, but he's fine on cooked chicken ok on lamb and pork and venison, sardines, pilchards, raw eggs....it's trial and error sometimes

[Joules]

Coco is on Barf too! 

[Luvly]

 

[PennyB]

Can I ask you all the reasons why you chose the food you did 

Personly I could never dry feed I couldent eat the same old dry pellets day in and out so why should I exspect my dogs to be happy with that.

Cost really on my part (ever since my income dropped drastically last year --- sad fact but needs must). It is dry food but they love it

[Joules]

I just think BARF is a more natural way to feed and replicates what a dog would have eaten in the wild.  As long as they get a range of food ie meat, bone, offal, veg plus occasional sardines and eggs, they get all the nutrients they need without artificial additives etc.  Coco has been on BARF for 2 or 3 months now and she is thriving on it.  She is fitter and her coat has improved - added benefits are that her teeth are sparkly white and strong (lots of bones!), her anal glands should be kept clear as the amount of roughage she gets means they are cleared naturally, and she poos less!  I take this last thing to mean that she is eating less stuff she does not need and therefore there is less waste    It is certainly more work than prepared dog food and I never thought I would ever be able to deal with raw tripe but I wouldn't go back now

[sarah25]

We feed our's tripe and hills
We have to have around 200 tripe blocks every 4/5 months

[Rhona W]

Being happy with food and not just eating it for the sake of it is the reason Ive chosen to feed mine this way

Same here! 
Mine tried two different brands of dry food, but went off both and just weren't eating. I know people advise to stick with it and they will eat when they are hungry, but it was causing tension between them. They would feel the need to guard their food from each other even though they didn't want it themselves.    But if I gave them a fresh chicken wing they would happily stand next to each other, crunching away. We tried Nature's Menu first and they loved it. It was the first time for weeks that they had eaten all their meal and spent ages licking the bowls clean afterwards. So we switched to BARF and they now enjoy their food.   

[Mary]

Lottie if fed JWB and thoroughly enjoys it (if you saw my video thread from a couple of days ago you'll see how well she tucks in ). She's had JWB since she was a puppy and I've had a couple of occasions when I've tried different dried foods but JWB is her favourite.  If I can get Naturediet then she sometimes has that in the mornings.

Can I ask you all the reasons why you chose the food you did 

The reason I feed her this is that it is very convenient and she enjoys it.  The bonus is that she is fit and healthy on this diet with a shiny coat

Personly I could never dry feed I couldent eat the same old dry pellets day in and out so why should I exspect my dogs to be happy with that .

Personally I couldn't eat raw meat and bones, give me a biscuit anyday

[aimtweed]

My cocker jet is feb on a wet food called nature diet and in my opinion it's fantastic it comes in a 390g tub and he gets half in the morning and half at night.  His stools are good no smell and his coat is fantastic on it I've fed a few of my dogs on it and it's been brill.  Also a cocker that comes in to my grooming parlour I recommended that he put him on it for a diet ( the dog was being fed what they ate they bought steaks for the poor thing). 

They put the dog on it and they found that it has more energy, more shine to it's coat, and the weight is dropping of him ( He looks fantatsic, still a bit more to go)

Thats what I feed jet and I wouldnt turn back

[AnnieM]

My two have had Burns puppy and hated it, JWB but it gave them the squits and really smelly wind, Arden Grange, but it was difficult to get hold of without ordering on the net, so I have changed them onto wainwrights, which they seem ok on but they don't really seem to enjoy it that much (same as all the dried foods I have tried).  I tried BARF for a couple of weeks, but neither ate it very well and it made them very sick, so we stopped that, plus I was a panicker over the bones.    I really would love to try home cooked for them as they are so not eating well, yet they seem very healthy and have lovely shiny coats.  Any tips Luvly.  

[Stacey]

Archie was oringinally on Purina Pro Plan (what the breeder used) but after hearing about testing on animals i switched to Arden Grange and he loves it!!! If im running late with his tea he bangs his bowl about!! It's also realy handy as they deliver (im lazy).

[CarolineL]

I feed Hurley Barf, mainly for the same reasons as Joules.

It is what dogs digestive systems have developed to eat, he is much fitter and healthier because of it, and with the problems I have withhis leg I have to encourage this as much as I can, he now has white/clean teeth, a shinier coat (well, what is left of it    ), he has had less problems with his anal glands and above all his poohs are smaller. Like Rhona W's boys he just went off his dry food and wasnt really eating any of it, now he wolfs it all down in a matter of seconds.

[Aggie]

Pops and Bon both have Eukanuba. Bon used to have puppy pouches but they've both gone onto Winalot casserole tin with their Eukanuba. I do vary it occasionally and they both adore cooked chicken.

Bonnie has never had human treats - I learnt my mistake with Pops. So Poppy will still beg and Bonnie hasn't got a clue.

[clairep4]

My two are on the raw diet as well - Bella's been on it since she was 10 months and Zorro (who is only 4.5 months) had already been started on chicken wings before he came to us and went onto it fully fairly quickly, although we're currently having to chop up his chicken wings as he's teething and can't get through them with his little gummy chops 

I put Bella onto raw because of numerous niggly health problems - we were at the vet's literally every fortnight with one thing or another, since we switched she's had 2 visits in a year, one to be spayed and one because she'd torn a claw out - not a single ear or eye infection and her anal glands are much improved.

Zorro's health seems very good on it so far, lovely glossy coat, firm poo's and hasn't been to the vet since his jabs.

I get free chicken backs/carcasses from my local butcher and then buy mince and breast of lamb and a bit of tripe etc - total cost at the moment for both dogs (and Zorro's eating nearly 3 times what Bella gets as he's a growing lad), is £26 per month (£13 each). Not bad for human quality meat and they absolutely love it!