Dog food?

[daveparry]

Dog food? what do you feed your dog and what do you look for with regards content?
Is it all just lips and ar5seholes.

[bosshog]

Well I wouldn't eat it, but the quality varies massively. You get what you pay for. My sister (a Vet) recommended the (we use it):

http://www.ardengrange.com/Pet-Food/adult-dog-food...

Ingredients:
Chicken Meal* (min 27%), Whole Grain Rice (min 26%), Whole Grain Maize, Chicken Fat*, Beet Pulp, Fresh Chicken (min 5%), Dried Brewers Yeast, Egg Powder, Fish Meal*, Linseed, Fish Oil*, Minerals, Vitamins, Nucleotides, Prebiotic FOS, Prebiotic MOS, Cranberry Extract, Chondroitin Sulphate, Glucosamine Sulphate, MSM, Yucca Extract.


Everyone comments on how shiny her coat is. Not cheap though, but whatever you do don't buy the stuff from the super market.

[Stu R]

We make our own - roast a chicken every day, mix it with some kibble and veg, job done. Always dry food available too.

Dogs are lean, healthy, very well muscled and fit as a fiddle.

[TackleburyUk]

Tripe and other meats frozen from pets at home or a local vets.

Then mixed up with some dry food seems to work for our mutt.

[Mrs Grumpy]

I feed raw to eliminate the possibility of allergic reactions, however there are some good complete dry foods on the market.

Unfortunately pretty much the cheap ones are crap. Full of fillers, need to feed more for your dog to get enough nutrients and produces a load of crap - literally!

[Jasandjules]

Get lungs and chicken carcasses from the butcher. Get tripe (green and non-green) from an on-line chap. Every third day they get cereals and no meat. Good food for good health IMHO.

[Mrs Grumpy]

OOoo you feed cereals? Dogs don't generally do grain all that well I think. Veggies and fruit are OK. I don't tend to feed grains.

[KelWedge]

There is some good cheaper ones out there as well as some not so good ones, likewise there are some expensive ones which are crap. I have to say it, dont always listen to the Vet, they are mostly not Nutritionlists, A coat with a shine, look for Linseed as an ingredient.
Also Working Dog foods which however are higher protein, (hence for more of a working dog) but they can be cheaper as working dog food is Zero rated for VAT, Normal Dog food is standard rate.

[kVA]

I switched to Fish4Dogs last year and am very pleased with the results: It is expensive, but dogs are very healthy, good coats and oily fish is very good for the old boy's joints (Sardine).

I too would avoid cereals and part of the reason for choosing F4D is that they use potato rather than rice (apparently some dogs don't digest rice that well)

Certainly notice smaller, firmer 'stools' since switching - and most importantly of all, they hardly smell!!!

No affiliation, by the way - just a satisfied customer.

[daveparry]

Some quite interesting stuff here thanks for that, our 4 dachshunds are well healthy and seem to like anything we give them and we do occasionally feed raw!

[R1gtr]

It is a case of trial and error, what works for some dogs wont agree with another, we tried Burns and one dog loved it, other one got upset stomach.
Tried Arden, didnt agree with either dog.
One is on James wellbeloved, the other with sensitive tummy is on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic.

[Anthony Micallef]

bosshog said:

Well I wouldn't eat it, but the quality varies massively. You get what you pay for. My sister (a Vet) recommended the (we use it):

http://www.ardengrange.com/Pet-Food/adult-dog-food...

Ingredients:
Chicken Meal* (min 27%), Whole Grain Rice (min 26%), Whole Grain Maize, Chicken Fat*, Beet Pulp, Fresh Chicken (min 5%), Dried Brewers Yeast, Egg Powder, Fish Meal*, Linseed, Fish Oil*, Minerals, Vitamins, Nucleotides, Prebiotic FOS, Prebiotic MOS, Cranberry Extract, Chondroitin Sulphate, Glucosamine Sulphate, MSM, Yucca Extract.


Everyone comments on how shiny her coat is. Not cheap though, but whatever you do don't buy the stuff from the super market.

This is what I use for my Basset Hound, he loves it. It doesn't work out that much more expensive. All the meat they use is fit for human consumtion so no lips and aholes in it!

[RB Will]

Mine is on arden grange. Everything else we have tried except fish 4 dogs gives her the squits. She just prefers arden grange to fish.

[pikeyboy]

I have always used arden grange and my dogs have done brilliantly on it. Glossy coat, far too much energy, no squits no farts etc etc. I now use an equivalent by a local farm wholesale supplier - they've only been on it a week so too early to tell yet. Having said that though, they eat it much quicker than the arden grange, no squits and no farts, but I'll see how they go. They may be back on the arden grange yet.

[village idiot]

i'm currently feeding my miniature dachschund twice caily on 1/4 tub of cesar just to give a bit of wetness and then a small handful of iams proactive.

he laps it all up, has no shortage of energy and has regular and solid poos... he's only 6 months old and i'm desperate not to overfeed him (which isn't good for his back), but also don't want to underfeed him either.

[Loopyleesa]

I feed my Chihuahua Applaws natural complete dog food..

Applaws Complete
Dry Dog Food Chicken
75% Chicken,
25% Vegetables and Natural extracts.

Cereal Free. Prebiotic - naturally
hypoallergenic. Enriched with Mineral DHA EPA.
Developed with vetenarians. Helps to promote
a healthy Immune System.

[M888SXY]

My vet (years ago) recommended Chappie once as being evrything a dog needs but without any fancy bits to cuase any reactions. My greyhound at that time was having some digestive problems.

I then fed her on nothing but Chappie for a couple of years for the rest of her life and she was healthy as anything.

Current greyhound now gets a tin of something plus mixer in the morning and the same in the evening. Plus any of our leftovers, which I know many people wouldn't recommend.