Pedigree Chum

[BrianBlackHat]

Hi, what's everybody's take on Pedigree Chum?  We have started taking brian to puppy training classes and the man today pratically called him a fatty...well stocky he said, excess weight to him and said that that's what pedigree chum will do to a dog?  Odd, he said that we should feed him raw meet and broken up bono biscuits.

I have had a quick look under diets on here, but was not familiar with JWB other names so wondered what other people's opinions are?

Thanks

Donna

[ClareB]

Not sure about Pedigree Chum, but believe it contains a lot of water, and is bulked out with cereal which is widely believed a dog doesn't need.  Personally, Milo's fed Nutro which contains no artificial additives etc, but I'm seriously considering changing to the barf diet (bones and raw food).  He's a bit of a fussy eater and from what I hear, most barf fed dogs love their food.  Most owners who feed barf also say their dogs have beautiful coats, clean teeth and less itchy skin/allergy problems.  I'm going on holiday at the end of June, so may start when I get back.  Other popular foods on here seem to be Burns and JWB (dry), or Naturediet (wet).  Hth.

I'm sure others will be on soon with their experiences of certain foods, but, at the end of the day, every dog is different and you have to go with what suits Brian best. 

[BrianBlackHat]

How do you go about the barf diet?
Donna

[dood]

Before I came on this forum I thought Pedigree Chum and Winalot were all dogs were fed on.   Think you'll find if you look through the various threads that people don't generally think a lot of them. A wet food that people recommend is Naturediet and adried food is Burns ,there are many others but look for these names and loads of info should come up.
If it's raw bones etc you're after then look up' barf.' I personally haven't got much of a clue I'm as green as they come but this is what I've picked up.  
We're going to start Poppy on Burns -she's on Purina but not keen and we do add a bit of Natures Menu sometimes but the poos are rank!

[BrianBlackHat]

Hi just noticed the discussion a few topics down is all about the barf so reading that.  We just thought, yeah pedigree chum ought to be good.  But maybe not.  well at lest the wet stuff.

Donna

[ClareB]

Barf feeding sounds quite complicated, but I'm sure once you get into the swing of it, it'll be fine.  That's what I'm telling myself, anyway!   

[debbie321]

I gave Ben the dry pedigree chum as a pup - never again as he was even more hyper than usual!  I then fed Burns as it was very highly recomended by COL and my trainer but it didn't suit him    He is now fed on Arden Grange which is additive free and he thrives on it!  I like the idea of barf but haven't gone down that route yet.

[Cob-Web]

Hi, what's everybody's take on Pedigree Chum?  We have started taking brian to puppy training classes and the man today pratically called him a fatty...well stocky he said, excess weight to him and said that that's what pedigree chum will do to a dog?  Odd, he said that we should feed him raw meet and broken up bono biscuits.

I have had a quick look under diets on here, but was not familiar with JWB other names so wondered what other people's opinions are?

Pedigree has been produced after years of research, but it is considered the "ready meal" of the dog food world imo - and so can lead to overweight dogs, or dogs with minor ailments that can cause irritation or discomfort

However, a diet of "raw meat and bonios" is not balanced either 

BARF or other raw diets need to be balanced and include muscle, offal, bone and vegetable matter There are lots of books and websites that specialise in this diet - I feed Molo a partially BARF diet; something I would have been horrified about a year ago 

There are lots of "manufactured" dog foods - some are available in supermarkets and corner shops, and others (which are often known as Premium foods) are only sold in "outlets" - usually pet stores. These are purer than the supermarket brands;  although they are more expesive than the supermarket brands, portion sizes are far smaller, as they contain fewer bulking agents

Even some premium brands contain lots of additives and enhancements; but others, such as Burns, contain mainly natual ingredients - it depends what you are looknig for in a dog food, really 

[Mel]

Keli was always fed dry food from a puppy til mum took over. He started on Beta Puppy which the breeder had him on. Then I moved him on to Beta for older dogs, then James Wellbeloved. Unfortunately my mum, who has now had strokes and has dementia started feeding him Ceaser.

 

He grew too fat and started getting infected anul glands and bad eyes and ears.

She wouldn't listen - was her illness coming on - so when she last went into hospital I put him on Burns and he is now so full of life.

I personally don't like tinned wet food and it certainly made Keli fitter going back onto dry.

[BrianBlackHat]

Ok, that's great information, thank you very much.  I'm not sure what we'll do at the moment but we'll be changing from pedigree chum as soon as possible.  I had no idea they were classes as the ready meal.

Thanks again

donna

[suki1964]

What to feed your dog is a mine field

My last lad would only eat pedigree complete - and we struggled with his weight having to put him on the lite version for most of the year.He also had bad dandruff, and had constant Mr whippy poo (which I thought normal)

Since then I have become more aware about the food I buy and eat and it just made sense to extend this to Alfies food. Just looking at the list of ingredients on the back of a pack of the big name brands was enough to get the alarm bells ringing, then after doing a bit of googling, mind was made up - the big name brands were not going in Alfies dish.

Through trial and error working to the popular brands fed by owners on this site we have settled with Arden Grange. Alfie eats it all, his weight is stable, his teeth and coat are healthy and nice little firm poos

I also feed part raw - mainly recreational raw meaty bones. He also gets fish, chicken wings, eggs, veggies, the trimmings when Im cutting meat, yoghut - sometimes I think he eats better then I do I would like to go fully raw but Im too disorganised

[DennyK]

Donna

the mass market brands (Pedigree, Butchers, Chunky etc) have certain things in common:

1.  meat sources are "animal by products and animal derivatives" - i.e. claws, guts, skin etc.  My OH ran a pet food factory - I've seen this, although it arrives in huge frozen blocks....

2.  lots of preservatives and flavourings.

The so-called "premium" brands, wet and dry, that people on here recommend (James Wellbeloved, Nutro, Burns, Arden Grange - all dry, and Nature Diet (wet)) use higher quality ingredients (meat rather than "derivatives"), fewer cereals - used to provide necessary complex carbohydrate balance and fibre content, rather than over-used as cheap bulking material and source of excess calories - and some vegetables for simple carbohydrates.  All pet foods also have "min-vite supplements" - i.e. proprietary mineral- vitamin pre-mixes added to ensure that the foods we're talking about here are "complete" - i.e. all nutritional requirements for your pet are met by feeding just that food, no need to "mix and match".

I found with Paddy that, on Pedigree puppy pouches, he went loopy - really hyper - which I put down to the preservatives/additives.  No such reactions on premium foods.  I now feed a wet food called Forthglade - looks like NatureDiet and until last week, it looked to have settled his recurrent colitis down.  Currently he's on an exclusion diet from the vet, and not sure what I'll be doing going forwards - may even try BARF or another raw diet....

[*Jay*]

My old dog was on Pedigree Chum for most of his life (tinned with mixer) and he was fine on it (apart from carrying a little excess weight ) However, Vegas was climbing the walls when he was fed it and was absolutely demonic. When I switched his diet to a hypoallergenic one, his behaviour improved almost immediately

[MaxG]

I think it depends on the dog to a degree - my childhood dog was fed Chum for years & was a lovely calm well behaved healthy happy girl who lived to a ripe old age.

However, Max seemed a bit manic on the Chum Puppy pouches that we were briefly feeding him at the very beginning - the breeder had started him on that & Purina dry as alternate meals for some reason - ??!! We switched to just the dry & he hated it so then we tried several different brands & combos before we found one he's happy with -
unfortunately, he seemed to really hate just dry food & didn't even like the Naturediet wet food which I  was gutted about!

He now happily eats a mixture of Butchers Premium wet food with Pedigree Chum Small Bite Mixer, with a bit of warm water to make a gravy & occasionally a bit of mince or sausage or chicken etc sprinkled on the top as a treat. This combo has taken us ages to get to, having tried practically everything else (He's very fussy & very stubborn - would go days without eating if he didn't like it) & is the first & ONLY that he eats with gusto & is finally thriving on.

He has the usual types of treats & the odd bit of human food like tuna, chicken, etc. but we keep an eye on it & make sure he's not getting tubby!!

He weighs 13.5kilos & has a good shape & you can feel but not see his ribs etc. He's as fit, healthy & happy as anything & has bags of energy without being hyper, has a lovely shiny coat, clean teeth, non-smelly breath & only the odd bit of bottom wind! The vet last week gave him a 12mth check & pronounced him a 'perfect' specimen of a 1yr old cocker male dog, so I've totally given up worrying about it all - he's happy & healthy, so we are too!

Probably haven't helped have I?? Sorry!! I think it just depends on what your dog will eat & what your personal preference is etc. really.

 

[Penel]

I would take an educated guess that Pedigree Chum "back then" was a lot better quality than it is now..... our first family dog lived mainly on our leftovers, and something called Minced Morsels !

the mass market brands (Pedigree, Butchers, Chunky etc) have certain things in common:

1.  meat sources are "animal by products and animal derivatives" - i.e. claws, guts, skin etc.  My OH ran a pet food factory - I've seen this, although it arrives in huge frozen blocks....

2.  lots of preservatives and flavourings.

and 3.  they are extremely cheap to make...