Best dog food?

Brid2000

Hi guys. I have a black labrador. He's just over a year old. Some parts of his coat are turning brown. I had him in the vet the other day for his annual vaccination and the vet said that the brown areas could be just old hair that will fall out or that it could be that he does not have a complete diet. I have been feeding him on pedigree nuts since I got him. I was just wondering if that is what everyone else feeds their dogs or what food would ye suggest? Thanks

carwash_2006

Nutro, Arden Grange, Burns, Royal Canin.

There are lots of other good makes, but I'd say those are the best that are easily available in Ireland.

Toulouse

Agree with Carwash, I feed Nutro and find it excellent.

Good rule of thumb is to steer clear of the supermarket brands.

Don't forget to wean your dog onto his new food slowly or you could end up giving him an upset tummy.

Rory123

The bigger pet shops and vets always have free samplers of royal canin, so u could try your pet on it. Its great stuff and gives dogs a lovely coat... on a not so nice topic... it makes the poops very manageable to pick up versus tinned food or pouches.
Just make sure u check portion guidelines for each brand as the quality brands tend to be concentrated so you need to feed them less of it.

carwash_2006

Do remember though that a sample bag of food will not show you whether the food is going to change your dogs coat. All it will do is allow you to check that the dog will eat it. Considering most of the better brands of food will give you a money back guarantee that your dog will like the food I wouldn't worry too much. If the dog eats pedigree I'd be really surprised if he didn't eat any of the better brands.

Any food that you get give it at least 8-9 weeks to see if it makes a difference. Also make sure you brush the dog regularly as you could find that the dog is losing more hair for a time while they are changing ob=ver their coat on the better quality food.

Hope you find a food that makes a difference, although by changing to a better quality food, even if you don't see a huge difference in the coat at least you will know that the dog is getting better nutrition.

Sigma Force

Agree all those foods are good, I feed my two Burns. Also give the dog a good brushing out and perhaps a wash with some good dog shampoo and conditioner or take him to the groomers if he's too heavy to lift into a bath. A good brush and wash up will make his coat look a lot better and get rid of any old hair. Coupled with a good diet regular brushing and he will be shining.

Top off with a fancy new collar lol

LisaO

Hi

I feed my black lab on Burns & Nutro and get lots of comments on his coat - he is stunningly black & shiny. He is nearly 4 & has never seen a bath - apart from the river, lakes or sea! Our previous black lab was with us until he was 15 and probably only bathed 2 or 3 times in his life. So don't bath him unless you really need to as it will strip the natural oil from the coat. Our first fella used to turn brown in the Summer, & I always put it down to sun bleaching some of the colour from the hair. Although with the weather we're getting at the moment maybe your boy is going rusty:)

I brush once a week, more when they are shedding. I find the best way to get rid of dead hair is a trip to the beach & let them swim.

andreac

try to stay away from the supermarket ones, they are just full of artificial colours and flavours, not very healthy and nutritious for the dog.
I feed my rottie "KRONCH" its a danish fish based food that isnt available in the shops. its very good quality and i feed pure salmon oil along with it and i show my rottie and everyone always comments on his coat.
www.paddypaw.com is the name of the company where i get it from.

lakes

Red mills is a good healthy choice

mary123

lakes wrote: »

Red mills is a good healthy choice

Red mills leader brand is good. Dont think the rest of the range is great.

justforgroups

What do people think of Hill's pet food?

carwash_2006

Hills is definitely not as good as some vets seem to think. I have heard a few stories from people who were less than happy with the effect it had on their dog. The main thing though is that a lot of dogs really don't find it that palatable compared to ones like Nutro or Arden Grange.

The vet recommended it to me years ago for an elderly dog, we tried for months to change her on to it, every time we started feeding her only on the Hills her stools became intolerably loose. We eventually changed her onto Royal Canin which she was great on.

Balfey1972

Agree on the hills front, don't forget the ones the vet sell see them getting a higher profit so of course they'd recommend it. I have a 5 month old weinmaraner and have just changed her over from Hills to James Wellbeloved. It was recommended by a dog trainer to me. I have to say the difference in her over the 2 weeks is unreal. Coat is very glossy and all round she seems happier and firmer poos, which of course is good. Brown rice and some pasta mixed into the food is good if your dog picks up a bit of a tummy bug. helps it settle down.

BlackCat2008

-OK, for the benefit of those who can only afford supermarket brands can anyone recommend which is best I have a rough collie (sharky 1 1/2yrs old), a Grey hound (Pavo3-4yrs old) and a dachshund/pointer (Molly 8yrs) I feed them mostly on bakers, pedigree when on special offer and pedigree natural when I can get hold of it.Molly has been on this food for nearly 8yrs and at her last check up I was told to keep feeding her what ever it was she was on she has perfect health, a cotton wool coat in winter and a satin coat in summer and the most perfect set of teeth the vet has ever seen (down to a denistick a day as well) Pavo who came to me under weight covered in scars, bad teeth, dull brown coat and poor health and no energy, in only five months he has passed all his health checks, wounds are all healed up and has a new shinny black coat like silk and his teeth have improved greatly so has his energy and sharky who came in with a dull unmanageable coat and under weight in five months he is healthier and he now has a lovely glow form his coat but still unmanageable but never stops going now.
I have 14 animals at present one is a 25yr old cat that was brought up on go-cat for 18yrs of that. She got the all clear last year apart from going deaf and losing one fang she still has all the rest of her teeth. I have to say the supermarket brands most be doing something right.They also get fresh fish and chicken and lots and lots of turkey for the cats recommend by my vets wife good for the heart and cot liver oil two to three times a week pored over the dry food (about a good dessert spoon full) no more as this will only run the goodness out of them if it's given to often. I swear by go-cat and will be sorry to see it go. If anyone can recommend a better market brand I'd love to hear it and will take it on board. The dogs go through such a huge amount of food it's not possible to buy vet brands on my budget although I feel what they are getting has been of great benefit to them.

carwash_2006

Have a look at the ingredients on the Bakers, it is stuffed full of additives.

One of the things to take into account is that the with really good quality brands of food the dog does not need to eat as much of it, so it often not costing you any more than the supermarket brands.

Arden Grange is slightly cheaper than most other high quality foods. A lot of people who cannot get their heads around paying those sort of prices seem to have a fair amount of success with Red Mills Tracker, as it is specified as a greyhoud food it falls within the 13.5% vat rate which makes it a bit cheaper than the pet brand foods.

I think that over the years some of the supermarket brands are getting worse and worse, they are packing them full of additives and using the cheapest grade of ingredients, so where animals in the past that were fed on these brands did very well you may find that it might not work the same any more.

monty_python

my family dag (14yr old mongerl) has been feed on tinned pedigree chum since we got him from the pound 13 years ago. his vet says he is in perfect health (bar his 1 missing eye)lol but that was cancer not a bad diet!!!

BlackCat2008

Thanks carwash, they won't eat red mills as they seem to have trouble eating such small nuts so I found they just gave up on it pavo and sharky have huge mouths.

I've never heard of Arden Grange until recently but I'll give it a try, I live in the south of Dublin is there any were that keeps a good supple near by that you know off ?

Honey-ec

BlackCat, Arden Grange deliver nationwide. You need to order 45kg at a time to qualify for the delivery, but seeing as you have quite a few dogs, I don't think you'd have an issue getting through that much!

Some of the "premium" foods can seem expensive at first glance, but as someone already mentioned, because the quality is much higher, you need to feed less of them. So, the "cost per day" of feeding these foods is often far lower than you would initially think.

Arden Grange retails at around €50 for a 15 kilo bag of the "standard" stuff in most vets. We order the Premium from them, 45kg each time, and it works out at €44 per 15 kilo bag, with free delivery to the door.

www.ardengrange.ie

There's also a list of stockists on this site, if the 45kg delivery minimum doesn't suit.

whitser

lot of arden grange sales reps on here,me thinks;). personally the best thing for dogs is the barf diet. raw meat especially and some veg. dogs ahave evloved to meat and its the best for them, dry food being the next best thing.

Honey-ec

Raw isn't an option for a lot of people though - there's a lot more to it than just throwing a few bones out to the dog and it can work out a lot more expensive than feeding even a very high quality food.

I was seriously considering going Raw last year, but after a lot of research, had to conclude that it just wasn't a go-er for three large dogs.

whitser

i feed mostly raw meat but also dry stuff when i've no meat in. even if your feeding dry you should give your dogs as much meat as possible,imo.

carwash_2006

My Aunt used to feed a completely raw food diet, she used to have a very friendly butcher that used to give her all the leftover bits that she could use. She spent an awful lot of time running around getting them though. She has had to change to a good quality dry food supplemented with raw when she can get it as it is getting harder and harder to get what is necessary.

If you want to feed the BARF diet it is very important to research it properly and make sure you get a full mix of different bones, veg and other ingredients into the diet. It takes a huge amount of effort, if it didn't I doubt there would be much of a market for the dry foods as it is undoubtedly the best option for most dogs if you can manage it.

Honey-ec

whitser wrote: »

i feed mostly raw meat but also dry stuff when i've no meat in. even if your feeding dry you should give your dogs as much meat as possible,imo.

Absolutely, which is why I love my fab butcher who is uber-generous with bones & offal!

Another great thing to supplement their diet with is fish - mine absolutely LOVE sardines and mackerel. Buy the ones that are tinned in sunflower oil and either feed whole or mash into their kibble - mine get a tin each once a week and are like junkies for them.

Beware the hideously stinky breath afterwards, though!

whitser

i buy good off cuts and bones from the butchers,lamb,beef,chicken and always put on extra veg for dinner so theres left overs veg for the dogs. different meat cuts and any veg scraps will give a dog all he needs. have a bag of dry stuff handy for when you run out of meat. an average mine get meat 4 or 5 days a week, but sometimes maybe only 2. depends if i get to the butchers on time, im looking into getting a coffin freezer for the shed then i can store meat in bulk.

jenjo23

I had Pacino on Red Mills leader (puppy) but he has awful Gas, which I think is down to the food being cereal based.

Moving him onto James Well Beloved at the moment, which he LOVES and has come highly recommended. Will let you know how we get on and if I can throw out the Gas Mask.

BlackCat2008

Thanks for the info guys but it is not possible to feed them cooked meat never mind raw as they have to be separated at meat time, although I do think it's the best way to.

The greyhound has pinned the collie three times over liver dry food, a rasher and I,m not sure what the last one was about but the collie's leg was hurt and I got bitten trying to stop them so once a day is enough for me. The greyhound is a gentleman with the patients of a saint, the collie adores him but he is very mouthy, following him every were and waking him to play it takes a lot to put up with with him all ways in our face( It didn't take long to figure out why no one calmed him back) but he's very lovable in his own way just not to bright for a collie.And if your wondering why the liver? two breeders and some greyhound pet owners say he is the biggest they ever seen (don't know how true this is but I don't know many greyhounds, anyone know the hight of an average male? ) He is very powerful when he wants to be, he used to be coursed (by traveler scum) and probably was good enough to get first dibs on the hares and top dogs all ways gets the liver(still kicking meself for that mistake)

The dach/pointer is food aggressive and lives in the kitchen so it a lot of hassle to swap them around. It's very funny to see two huge dogs head down and make a run for the back door as she rules even though she is only half there size.

The Arden Grange sounds within reason so I'll have a go of that for a while and see how they get on.They get lots of apples? and chews and have to share the same space so chicken and beef dry food seem to be ok.

BlackCat2008

OK, I'm very upset with myself for feeding them crap I read the dog food analysis and I'm so angry is their an Irish sight for this. I've already trying to find out what the laws are here as to what they put in pet food and have e-mailed the consumers rights to start. If there is no site I'll gather all the info and start one myself I'm now turning my guilt into action and l'm not giving up until I find out.(dog with a bone and all)

I'm also going to start home cooking, as soon as I get some large pots and a deep freezer. And I'll post all their favorite foods as I come across them take alot of research to get it right and how to put up a site but I feel it will be worth it just to see my babies happy and healthy.

18yrs thinking I'm doing my best to care for every animal that comes true my doors in need has left nothing but guilt in me. I'll work day and night to higher a lawyer if I have to to get the answers.

michelleans

jenjo23 wrote: »

I had Pacino on Red Mills leader (puppy) but he has awful Gas, which I think is down to the food being cereal based.

Moving him onto James Well Beloved at the moment, which he LOVES and has come highly recommended. Will let you know how we get on and if I can throw out the Gas Mask.

I had my GSD Jake on Royal Canin German Shepherd but his poo was always a little loose. He was always picking at his food and occasionally had become sick (vomiting & diarrhea). Have switched a couple of weeks back to James Well Beloved and the results are amazing. Lovely solid poo, he goes crazy for his dinner now, not picky at all and no vomiting since the change..

Comes highly recommended from here too.

jenjo23

Pacino loves it, he's poos were kind of soft before, but now they are hard and so easy to pick up!!

Pacino loves it too, scoffs it all in minutes!!

3j

BlackCat2008 wrote: »

OK, I'm very upset with myself for feeding them crap I read the dog food analysis and I'm so angry is their an Irish sight for this. I've already trying to find out what the laws are here as to what they put in pet food and have e-mailed the consumers rights to start. If there is no site I'll gather all the info and start one myself I'm now turning my guilt into action and l'm not giving up until I find out.(dog with a bone and all)

I'm also going to start home cooking, as soon as I get some large pots and a deep freezer. And I'll post all their favorite foods as I come across them take alot of research to get it right and how to put up a site but I feel it will be worth it just to see my babies happy and healthy.

18yrs thinking I'm doing my best to care for every animal that comes true my doors in need has left nothing but guilt in me. I'll work day and night to higher a lawyer if I have to to get the answers.

So did you ever find a good dog food

Cherry Blossom

3j - As you are new here can I just explain that it is considered bad form to drag up old threads, this one is over 3 years old. If you need advice on dog food feel free to start a new thread explaining your issue. There are lots of people here who can help you if you provide a bit of info on your dog.

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