Confused with choice of food-please advise

[clg79]

Hi, I know there have been loads of threads on this topic but the sheer quantity has left me bewildered and confused.
Dave is now 5 and a half months old and when he came to us he was in Iams which he wasn't overly fond of. Since then he has been on Bakers which I took him off cos I read it was full of rubbish and now he is on Pedigree which now I gather is also rubbish. He loves both by the way. I think I read on here that the brighter the colour, generally the worse the quality hence why I changed to Pedigree as it is only brown.
Please suggest what is good to me and also recommend where I can buy them from at a reasonable price. The supermarkets don't appear to stock anything but cheap brands and the pet shop is expensive-I guess there is somewhere on the internet- any suggestions?
Many thanks. 

[mentalcat]

Hiya,

It is a bit confusing isn't it?

In the past my dogs have been on James Wellbeloved (before they were bought out), Arden Grange, Wafcol and they're now on Burns.  All the higher end complete food is fairly pricey, of the ones i've listed, Wafcol may be slightly more reasonable and they do a good range.

My 3 dogs are all on different Burns foods which suit them all perfectly, although i know some people find that their dogs lose weight on it! (Maybe i should start earting it!! )

Burns will deliver FOC if you order their minimum, which i think is 1x 15kg bag, and it normally takes about 3 working days.  Their customer service and advice line is very good and Mr Burns is very knowledgable! (I met him at Crufts and on a training course).

Its really a case of 'horses for courses' and finding what suits your dog best.  Many pet shops will stock the tester bags so you can try before you buy.

Good luck - Ali

p.s A couple of people i know are also feeding wainwrights which they say is ok too.

[Joules]

I think I read on here that the brighter the colour, generally the worse the quality hence why I changed to Pedigree as it is only brown.

Don't just go by the colour - if you read the list of ingredients you will see what additives are used in some of the cheaper pet foods    Many of them use artificial colours, sugars, salt and "animal derivatives" which are not the best quality ingredients and not the most healthy for your dog.  There are plenty of good dog foods if you want something that is ready to feed.  It is just a case of finding something that suits your dog and which is easily availlable at a cost that is acceptable to you!  If you want a cheaper dog food, I have read that Chappie is the best of these as it has the least rubbish in it!  From what I have researched the following are all good quality foods with no nasties in them:  Dry foods: James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, Burns, Wet foods: Naturediet, Natures Menu, Forthglade.  There are various others but these are the ones I have used. Most of these have websites, some you can order online and many of them will send you a free sample if you ask them. 

Whatever you do decide, make sure you introduce it gradually to avoid those nasty upset tums! 

[Beth]

I'm feeding Autarky at the moment, only just changed from JWB but all seems well so far.

I changed from JWB as i kept reading about dogs "thriving" on their food... and Jarvis (or Lucy) didn't seem to be... (Jarvis' poos were also regularly soft ) I decided for that price they should be prancing around like spring chickens! So thought i'd give this one a go.

Autarky is also free from nasties and much more affordable than some others.

Forgot to say: I think i paid £15 for 10kg 

[LurcherGirl]

All our dogs are on CSJ... different varieties, except for one which is allergic to meat proteins.

Our oldest dog is on CSJ CP21, which is a salmon and rice food.
Our older lurcher is on CSJ CP18, which is lamb and rice.
Our puppy is on CSJ CP27, which is lamb and rice puppy food.
These foods are hypo-allergenic foods and free of any artificial additives. They are a bit cheaper than mainstream foods of the same quality as CSJ is a working dog food and therefore VAT free.

Flash, our younger lurcher is vegan and is on a food called Benevo.

Vera

[clg79]

Thanks for all your replies. Some of them do seem very pricey but I guess you get what you pay for. But then my Cavalier didn;t eat the realy expensive stuff and he had a long life. I don't know. I think Dave would eat just about anything given half a chance. I will try him on something different though.
By the way I looked at the Wafcol website and the quantity section made no sense- I don't know what puppy weight to go for as it had Giant breeds at 4.5kg + that would make Dave a Giant Giant Breed!!

[LurcherGirl]

Thanks for all your replies. Some of them do seem very pricey but I guess you get what you pay for. But then my Cavalier didn;t eat the realy expensive stuff and he had a long life. I don't know. I think Dave would eat just about anything given half a chance. I will try him on something different though.
By the way I looked at the Wafcol website and the quantity section made no sense- I don't know what puppy weight to go for as it had Giant breeds at 4.5kg + that would make Dave a Giant Giant Breed!!

You will find that the price per kg does not necessarily give you a true picture. Most of the expensive foods mentioned are good quality with no fillers and other rubbish without nutritional value, your dog therefore needs to eat less of it than of the cheap brands (and therefore also produces less to come out at the other end...  ). So you would really need to try it and see how long it lasts. The mentioned brands would certainly last a lot longer than foods like Pedigree or Bakers, because you need to feed less. I seem to find that I don't pay any more for the food than other people do for their dogs that use cheaper brands.

Vera

[Gilly]

Dry food is a mine field isn't it?
A lot of members feed their dogs Arden Grange, seems to be a popular choice all round. I did think about trying my litter on it this time but plumped for Royal Canin (used Nutro last time). I've got 2 fussy eaters and the Medium Sensitive Adult is the only dry food they will eat without having to add anything. Lola (8 1/2 weeks) has just moved on to the Medium Junior which is for 2-12 months, different to some brands because "junior" doesn't usually come into play until they are 6 months. I can say hand on heart we haven't had one runny poo with any of the puppies and their isn't a lot of waste out the other end either.
At the end of the day it is whats suits you and your dog. My old dog was fed on nothing but tinned food and lived until he was 15 and was never ill, but that was in the days before dry food really took off.

[spacefaer]

We feed Sweep on the James Wellbeloved duck and rice Junior/performance (he's 11 months old) and he's looking brilliant on it - it must be doing him some good as very little comes out the other end - he must be digesting most of what goes in.. We looked at the ingredients on the bags and didn't like the idea of feeding things that we didn't know what they were. Eukanuba has something called "chicken digest"... what's that?!

The JWB has 54% duck and rice - we haven't tried the other flavours (turkey or lamb and rice) but he loves it. 

My OH has always fed his cockers on Eukanuba, and been delighted with the shine and condition it gives but having read the ingredients, there's no way he'd go back.

Best of luck deciding!

[pupdaddy]

Jarvis eats Nutro, supplemented with plenty of twigs, leaves and stones... all natural

[Sheryl]

Yes, Kali has Burns with the occasional Anadin Extra

[ali]

barkley is on jwb and has been for a year now. it seems to suit him- his coat is lovely and shiny, and his skin is fine- but it often causes loose stools so i've now changed the routine so that in the morning he gets half jwb and half naturediet (a wet food). this seems to work really well but only because he is still happy to munch down the dry food without the wet. if he was fussier it wouldn't work. 

you are right though that you can't buy it from supermarkets. i stock up with a huge bag of it from pets at home or another local pet shop.

generally, i just try to avoid food with E numbers in. my dog often eats much more healthily than me as a result!!

[Shelley]

I have to admit I am terrible where dog (or cat) foods are concerned these days... Since I decided to do a search on meat and animal derivatives . My dogs  (the Newfies) were on Beta Giant Breed until then. But I have changed them onto James Wellbeloved as it is healthier, and the Cockers are on Royal Canin, just because they were on it when we had them, though they do like the Newfs food as well. And mine always get fresh meat, fish or something with their dried food to.

Look on the ingrediants in pet foods, some are appauling. Take a tin of cat food, you would imagine it is all meat, it looks like meat... WRONG!!! If you look at the label it is probably about 4% meat, and if you think of the tin being 100% then that 4% is nothing . It is exactly the same with dog foods.

I got the strangest of looks in a pet shop not long ago, my daughter picked up a pack of Iams as it had one of those dog "sauses" free with it. So I said in a very loud voice "Now you know we won't feed such cr*p food to our dogs.... Have you taken a look at the list of ingrediants?!!"...... There were a couple of people looking at the food, but they then put it down after looking at me!LOL!

[clg79]

Dave is now waiting for delivery of Arden Grange- hopefully it will agree with him!

[Joules]

Dave is now waiting for delivery of Arden Grange- hopefully it will agree with him!

Good luck with it!  Coco used to have AG and loved it.  Not sure where you live but they sell in in Waitrose now too.  I gave her half dry and half Naturediet as I am not keen on her having only dry food.  Now that she is fed raw, I still have AG in case anyone else has to feed her and doesn't fancy dealing with raw tripe!!