The Great Dog Food ripoff
Discussion
So - I have recently taken ownership of a fantastic Springer Spaniel from some friends who could no longer look after him, And I find myself wandering the ailes of the local petfood superstore. Rows upon rows upon rows of vastly expensive sacks of dried biscuits all claiming this, that and the other, and it all looks to me like one big load of marketing bulls
t. Was told by previous owners he has to be fed X amount of this one, and a sprinkling of that one, and all I can see are some rather boring, dry , meat biscuits that make him do rather runny poos. Am I wrong?
t. Was told by previous owners he has to be fed X amount of this one, and a sprinkling of that one, and all I can see are some rather boring, dry , meat biscuits that make him do rather runny poos. Am I wrong?I really dont have time to be cooking up my dog gourmet food that looks better than the chow mein from the local chinky, but my question / point is - are these rows of £50 dog biscuits all just bullst? And if so, what can I give him that will keep him perky. I realise a tin of Peddigree Chum is a bit old fashioned these days, but what is the sensible option between £50 bags of overpriced Winalot and cooking your dog its own Special Fried Rice every night
t? And if so, what can I give him that will keep him perky. I realise a tin of Peddigree Chum is a bit old fashioned these days, but what is the sensible option between £50 bags of overpriced Winalot and cooking your dog its own Special Fried Rice every nightC3BER said:
We feed our springer purina with two chicken wings for breakfast. Purina and a little beef or sardines as a main meal and weetabix, semi skimmed milk and activia or rice pudding for supper.
Diesel is a working dog and is as fit as a etc
Do you cook the chicken and beef or feed it raw?Diesel is a working dog and is as fit as a etc
We feed ours Natural Instinct - raw meat and bone chopped up, with a few veggies and things added. It costs us about £3 a kilo, which is enough for one of the dogs for a day. (Both big dogs, and one is only a 7 month old pup so he's growing.) They're doing really well on it, and the pup has never had problems with runny poos like the older dog did - she was fed on a dry feed originally because that's what the rescue were giving her, but she's doing much better on the natural food.
It's not as cheap as buying meat and offcuts from the butcher's, I don't think, but it's a balanced diet so I'm happy to pay a bit extra to know that they're getting all the nutrients they need, and they love the food anyway so it's worth it. They never turn their noses up at it!
The only downside, if you can call it that, is that since we got our second dog I've had to buy a second freezer to keep all the food in, otherwise I'd be buying it every week. Now I buy a month's worth at a time and it just sits in the spare freezer until I need it. I'd never go back to dry feed for them.
It's not as cheap as buying meat and offcuts from the butcher's, I don't think, but it's a balanced diet so I'm happy to pay a bit extra to know that they're getting all the nutrients they need, and they love the food anyway so it's worth it. They never turn their noses up at it!
The only downside, if you can call it that, is that since we got our second dog I've had to buy a second freezer to keep all the food in, otherwise I'd be buying it every week. Now I buy a month's worth at a time and it just sits in the spare freezer until I need it. I'd never go back to dry feed for them.
We have recently started to use csjk9.com for our dog food and treats after lots of great reviews on various websites. If you contact them by email they will send you some samples of food and treats.
Our 2 Jacks have tried both the csj original and csj "that'll do/hi loss" and have had no issues at all with both foods and are now satisfied on smaller portions than before, the treats also go down well even with our Max who is a fussy bugger at the best of times. Even better is the cost which is £11/12 per 15kg sack.
I will be sticking with this food as they are both better on a daily basis than when the had Wellbeloved and science plan.
Our 2 Jacks have tried both the csj original and csj "that'll do/hi loss" and have had no issues at all with both foods and are now satisfied on smaller portions than before, the treats also go down well even with our Max who is a fussy bugger at the best of times. Even better is the cost which is £11/12 per 15kg sack.
I will be sticking with this food as they are both better on a daily basis than when the had Wellbeloved and science plan.
A lex said:
30mins for preparing, chopping etc
we boil the meat because raw stuff gives them horrendous sloppy turds.
That's because you need a bone component in the diet. we boil the meat because raw stuff gives them horrendous sloppy turds.
Suggest anyone interested in feeding barf read something like this http://leerburg.com/diet2.htm
We have just recently moved our 2 (5 1/2 yr lab and 14 week cocker) onto a BARF diet and although its a little more inconvenient it really is worth it. It has taken a while to persuade the wife but our trainer suggested it so now its the norm. They now eat anything from trout, salmon, sardine, offal, chicken, lamb, beef and the odd bit of venison along with a mix of veg(Kale, spinach, butter nut squash, sweet potato) and a little bit of flaxseed in the morning. All raw with a 80/10/10 split (80% meat, 10% bone, 10% veg).
Dog food is a relatively new invention so christ knows how dogs survived before it was invented if you listen to the hype surrounding it.
Its also full of fillers such as wheat, maize and other stuff and you could argue that as its cooked at such high temps any goodness that was in any of the ingredients has been removed. Still Purina and others will happily charge us huge amounts for food stuffs that promote a healthy balanced diet. And in today's fast paced life nothing is more simpler than chucking a measure of kibble into a bowl. I also feel that vets are partly to blame. Our old vet suggested that we should not switch to BARF when we asked for a bit of advice as they will NOT get a decent balanced diet and it could harm the puppy but instead we should buy the food they sell. Surely our dogs health should be at the heart of the matter rather than making a buck or is it just a case that vets do not getting proper training in nutrition?
The pup looks lean, quite athletic looking compared to her siblings which have a fair bit of puppy fat on them and are feed dry food. You can feel her ribs but not see them so we know she is just right. Her behavior is better as well as she is not getting too much carbs (Parents will now what I mean as when/if they give a young kid a coke they get a little bit hyper).
The lab is overweight even though he got half of the recommended daily food intake as suggested by the kibble manufacturer of his supposedly low fat food stuff but is now loosing some. He has recently been diagnosed with arthritis ( healthy diet that promotes good strong bones eh - yes labs are prone to this but still) however as he is now on a more natural diet the new vet reckons that he will get better (along with a course of cartophen) and there is no need to supplement his diet with glucosamine.
We would never go back to dry food and going by the way the dogs enjoy their food I don't think they would either. We all make informed choices about our own food and what we put into our bodies so why should it be different for our pets?
Dog food is a relatively new invention so christ knows how dogs survived before it was invented if you listen to the hype surrounding it.
Its also full of fillers such as wheat, maize and other stuff and you could argue that as its cooked at such high temps any goodness that was in any of the ingredients has been removed. Still Purina and others will happily charge us huge amounts for food stuffs that promote a healthy balanced diet. And in today's fast paced life nothing is more simpler than chucking a measure of kibble into a bowl. I also feel that vets are partly to blame. Our old vet suggested that we should not switch to BARF when we asked for a bit of advice as they will NOT get a decent balanced diet and it could harm the puppy but instead we should buy the food they sell. Surely our dogs health should be at the heart of the matter rather than making a buck or is it just a case that vets do not getting proper training in nutrition? The pup looks lean, quite athletic looking compared to her siblings which have a fair bit of puppy fat on them and are feed dry food. You can feel her ribs but not see them so we know she is just right. Her behavior is better as well as she is not getting too much carbs (Parents will now what I mean as when/if they give a young kid a coke they get a little bit hyper).
The lab is overweight even though he got half of the recommended daily food intake as suggested by the kibble manufacturer of his supposedly low fat food stuff but is now loosing some. He has recently been diagnosed with arthritis ( healthy diet that promotes good strong bones eh - yes labs are prone to this but still) however as he is now on a more natural diet the new vet reckons that he will get better (along with a course of cartophen) and there is no need to supplement his diet with glucosamine.
We would never go back to dry food and going by the way the dogs enjoy their food I don't think they would either. We all make informed choices about our own food and what we put into our bodies so why should it be different for our pets?
Edited by Sexual Chocolate on Wednesday 17th July 08:13
For anyone interested in BARF/RMB diet for their pets this is a good thread to read.
http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/11...
http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/11...
OP you're not wrong. Have you read the ingredients labels of any of the supermarket dog foods yet - some have hardly any meat in.......
We also feed our springers raw and have done since they were pups.
IMG_4421 by chrisga, on Flickr
They are both very healthy, active dogs with great coats and people always comment on their calm temperaments. We think the calmness may be helped by the diet having the equivalent of zero e-numbers. No blue smarties for them. All their treats are natural too, sea jerky, pizzles, and my wife makes them liver bread and sometimes pilchard bread which gets chopped up into tiny bits for training treats. They go mad for this stuff. We reckon feeding raw works out cheaper than some of the very cheap supermarket foods and when you look at the ingredients of those which have less than 4% meat and are padded out with all manner of grains and other stuff it seems to be a no brainer to us.....
We bulk buy from a few places depending on prices at the time of ordering:
http://www.landywoods.co.uk/
http://www.manifoldvalleymeats.co.uk/barf-diet-pro...
Last weekend they had a pigs head split between them for the first time. I have pics if anyone wants grossing out!
We also feed our springers raw and have done since they were pups.
IMG_4421 by chrisga, on Flickr
They are both very healthy, active dogs with great coats and people always comment on their calm temperaments. We think the calmness may be helped by the diet having the equivalent of zero e-numbers. No blue smarties for them. All their treats are natural too, sea jerky, pizzles, and my wife makes them liver bread and sometimes pilchard bread which gets chopped up into tiny bits for training treats. They go mad for this stuff. We reckon feeding raw works out cheaper than some of the very cheap supermarket foods and when you look at the ingredients of those which have less than 4% meat and are padded out with all manner of grains and other stuff it seems to be a no brainer to us.....
We bulk buy from a few places depending on prices at the time of ordering:
http://www.landywoods.co.uk/
http://www.manifoldvalleymeats.co.uk/barf-diet-pro...
Last weekend they had a pigs head split between them for the first time. I have pics if anyone wants grossing out!
Edited by chrisga on Wednesday 17th July 09:03
What's even more alarming is the fact some dry foods may still contain euphanized pets.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-ex...
I'm fairly confident the supplier of raw meat we use doesn't as it is DEFRA monitored.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-ex...
I'm fairly confident the supplier of raw meat we use doesn't as it is DEFRA monitored.
m4tti said:
What's even more alarming is the fact some dry foods may still contain euphanized pets.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-ex...
I'm fairly confident the supplier of raw meat we use doesn't as it is DEFRA monitored.
That's in the US.http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-ex...
I'm fairly confident the supplier of raw meat we use doesn't as it is DEFRA monitored.
However I do wonder what the term 'animal derivatives' seen on pet food labels means in practice.
An American friend told me that in the US, medical waste is approved for use in pet food.
Mobile Chicane said:
That's in the US.
However I do wonder what the term 'animal derivatives' seen on pet food labels means in practice.
An American friend told me that in the US, medical waste is approved for use in pet food.
Although it has recently been found in Europe and therefore potentially linked, similar to the European horse meat burgers in the uk. However I do wonder what the term 'animal derivatives' seen on pet food labels means in practice.
An American friend told me that in the US, medical waste is approved for use in pet food.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2289682/St...
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