RECOMMEND A GOOD QUALITY DOG FOOD

bookerboy

We have just bought a one year old black lab and am looking for a good food for him.He was not well looked after before we got him and his coat is in poor condition.
He was well fed on a cheap dog food is the impression i get.
Any suggestions appreciated.

LillyVanilli

I use Hills science plan puppy food for my chocolate lab. Her coat is gorgeous and shiny and i would really recommend it. Its not cheap though. €65 for 15kg.

Inexile

I use Aulden Grange (€55 for 15kg). Burns and James Wellbeloved are also recommended. However, it can be a trial an error process as some dogs fair better on certain foods. My basic rule of thumb is that you have seen an ad for a food on tele it aint up to much - I have not seen an ad on tv for any food that is recommended by doggy people. There is a site that will rate your dog food (it may be on a thread here) have a look at that and see. Also remember that if you buy a quality food it may cost more but you may end up using less food per meal as it can be more concentrated.

star-pants

We use James Well Beloved and Royal Canine (both Lhasas but one doesn't react well to RC).
It can be a case of trial and error as some dogs respond better to certain foods. Becareful changing foods as it can cause stomach upset if you just swap quickly.

bird up

i have couple labs and a springer,about two yrs old,just wandering what people recomend feeding them?thanks

star-pants

Merged as both are new posts

LisaO

At least with a lab you are fortunate in that they tend to be "good do-ers" and so will often thrive on foods that may not suit other dogs. Labs also tend to have good constitution in the digestive dept, so less prone to tummy upsets, etc from changing foods and are rarely fussy, so introducing a change of diet shouldn't be a problem. Burns, James Wellbeloved & Arden Grange are all good complete foods and similarly priced or perhaps try the premium Red Mills - think it is called Supreme?

dogbert27

Hi,

we have a 2 year old lab. Had him on Royal Canin Labrador Puppy until he was 15 months and on Labrador adult after that.
He's in great shape and always get compliments on his coat.

Fuzzy Clam

Feed my Lab Favour Muesli, just dry. Seems to keep the teeth in good condition too.
Can't feed her the dry Brandy food as it makes her fart a lot!!!:eek:

Sigma Force

Various brands suit various dogs so sometimes it's trial and error.

Anything from Red Mills to Royal Canin to Burns to JWB etc. should suit feeding smaller meals more regularly for a while adult food should be fine for a dog that age. I find seven seas/vitapet coat conditioner works brilliant added to the food or off the spoon.

Tony H

I have a 10month old Golden Retriever and we are feeding him Orijen which is a grain free dog food , he is doing really well on it , it is fairly expensive but you dont feed as much of it as some of the cheaper brands .
https://www.brendaspets.ie/products/530/orijen-adult-dog-food

lorebringer

Everyone has something to say about dog food, - here's my two cents...

Arden Grange, Origen, JWB, Acana, Royal Canin, Burns... there are so many good dog foods out there (but also quite a lot of bad stuff too). Super market brands (Bakers, Pedigree etc.) are the worst you could be buying for your pet sos teer clear! Generally, with dog food you get what you pay for. A 15kg bag of good quality food will last quite a while so really it works out over the long term about the same as stuffing the dodgy foods into them.

www.brendaspets.ie and www.zooplus.ie have good foods and deliver to your door. I always recommend Origen, it's the best food I have come across (there have been quite a few!), it's pricey but the dogs love it! Acana is made by the same company but is slightly cheaper and is also a great food.

smilerf

i had my fella on burns but he struggled to poo and when he did they were tiny so i switched him to arden grange now im delighted cos he's energy is far better and he makes healthier looking bigger poos but as was said before it really is trial and error

smudge09

I second Orijen - especially the fish version. I also get from zooplus. have a look at this website: www.dogfoodanalysis.com.

Orijen looks expensive but i use half as much compared to james beloved.

MoonDancer256

3rding Orijen. I also order from zooplus. My dogs, cats, and ferrets are all fed this.

LisaO

+1 for Orijen. Zooplus is always worth keeping an eye on. Ordered some a while back on the co.uk site, when they had a special discount offer on 2 bags. Bought 4 bags which will last us for ages.

SmellySockies

Use madra food its good I use it for my shih tzu and he is very healthy he also gets a nice shine to his coat.

paultf

What suits one dog doesn't suit all.

I recently tried my 2 dogs on a sample of Orijen. They loved the food but the older dog developed a nasty, big, red hotspot on his face. Suspected it was a an allergic reaction to the high protein in Orijen. After a week bought dog to vet & she confirmed the allergic reaction. After taking meds the hotspot still hasn't gone down. Will have to take dog back to vet next week. The high protein in Orijen doesn't suit all dogs.

But its not just Orijen, I have seen posts from other people who are having problems with particular super-premium brands & they had to change the food 2/3 times before they found the right one.

I put both my dogs back on their normal food: Red Mills Leader. I am not sure why Red Mills Leader gets overlooked so much. Its super-premium, made in Kilkenny, well stocked in the local pet store, good price (36-40 euro for 15kg bag), my dogs love it and they are in great health.

All I can say is research the different brands you are interested in on the web or talk to your local pet store. Get a sample or small bag and try it out on your dog to see if he likes it.

MoonDancer256

paultf wrote: »

I am not sure why Red Mills Leader gets overlooked so much. Its super-premium

It might CLAIM to be super-premium, but the top three ingredients are : "Cereals, Meat and Animal Derivatives,Derivatives of Vegetable Origin". The don't even name the meats in it, it's just "derivatives".

YUM

Compared, Orijen adult dog food's top 3 ingredients: "De-boned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal". The next two being "russet potato, lake whitefish"

And Orijen dog food fish version: "Fresh salmon (includes chinook, coho and sockeye species), salmon meal, russet potato". Next two being "herring meal, fresh lake whitefish"

I know which I'd rather my animals were eating!!

The "what suits one dog doesn't suit all" is certainly true, but Orijen is a superb food that is great for most dogs. Of course there will be some that have unusual allergic reactions or similar, but that's the same with any food. I don't understand this phobia about "high protein". Dogs are meant to eat MEAT, not "cereals" :rolleyes:

paultf

Granted. When one compares the ingredient list of Orijen to Red Mills Leader. There is no comparsion - Orijen has better quality ingredients.

bookerboy is looking for a food for his lab but that doesn't necessarily mean Orijen is the right food. A few weeks ago I asked my vet about Orijen and high protein foods. She wouldn't recommend high protein foods. In addition to that I found the following PDF file on the Burns dog food website http://www.burnspet.co.uk/pdf/BARF_Diet_sm.pdf written by the vet John Burns. Orijen is primarily based on the BARF diet (raw diet) i.e. high protein and low carbs. John Burns argues in this document that high protein is not suitable for dogs.

So who am I to believe? I am not a nutritionist. Surely I have to listen to my vet?

And if you are going to go down the road of grain based feeds what's the difference between Red Mills Leader and all the other super-premium based grain feeds like Arden Grange, Burns, JWB, Husse, Eukanuba, Hills, Royal Canin, etc. As far as I can tell they are all basically the same. The only big difference is price. And one big factor in the price depends on where the product is produced. Aside from Red Mills Leader, most of the super-premium foods are imported. Surely that has got to be a big factor in the price.

I still think Red Mills Leader is a good food. Lots of people on other dog forums that I am on recommend it.

paultf

Forgot to say in my last post, these are the main ingredients in Red Mills Leader:-

SOME OF THE MAIN INGREDIENTS USED IN THE RED MILLS LEADER RANGE:
Prime Quality Chicken, Herring, Prime Quality Irish Oats, Corn, Corn Extract, Chicken Fat, Dried Beet Pulp, Milk, Dried Whole E gg, Linseed, Natural Chicken Digest, Calcium, Phosphorus,
Sodium, Potassium Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium, Iodine, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocophero l) Vitamin C, Beta Carotene, Vitamin B1 , Vitamin B2, Vitamin B12 Nicotinic Acid, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid,

Biotin (Vitamin H), L-Carnitine, Betaine, Creatine, Chondroitin, Glucosamine HCL. No added preservatives. Only natural preservatives are used.

MoonDancer256

paultf wrote: »

Forgot to say in my last post, these are the main ingredients in Red Mills Leader

Go by the first 3-5 ingredients - these are the highest content items in the food.

paultf wrote: »

A few weeks ago I asked my vet about Orijen and high protein foods. She wouldn't recommend high protein foods.... Orijen is primarily based on the BARF diet (raw diet)

Whereas conversely, my own vet raves about BARF and RAW diets, and highly recommends them for both cats and dogs. I've spoken to two other vets about it as well, who were also big supporters.

paultf wrote: »

what's the difference between Red Mills Leader and all the other super-premium based grain feeds like Arden Grange, Burns, JWB, Husse, Eukanuba, Hills, Royal Canin, etc. As far as I can tell they are all basically the same. The only big difference is price.

I can't speak for some of them, but Eukanuba and Royal Canin and Burns are NOT "super premium" foods, they're just better quality than crap like Pedigree.

For example, Pedigree's first few ingredients: "Grains, meat and animal by-products, oils and fats". Only 4% meat in there.

Royal Canin labrador food: "Chicken meal, corn gluten meal, brown rice"

Eukanuba labrador food:"Maize, chicken (> 20%), wheat"

Better since Royal Canin and Eukanuba at least names the meat and has a good quantity.

But where Pedigree has 4% meat, and Royal Canin and Eukanuba etc have ~20% meat, Orijen has 70%.It is high protein, but it's more natural, and still has 30% "fruit, vegetables and botanicals"

The high grain content of most foods is just a good way to promote obesity and diabetes. Naturally dogs should be on a high meat diet and if you don't have the time/inclination to feed a BARF/RAW diet, then something like Orijen is a great healthy alternative for most dogs. Obviously some won't do well on it, but your average dog will.

Blueprint

I wouldn't even ask the opinion of my vets on food. When I asked about feeding wet or dry being better when my cat had UTI he told me it didn't really make any difference, which is completely untrue as cats find it hard to get enough moisture into them on a dry diet, I switched to mostly wet with a bit of dry (I was doing it the other way about before) and she's been fine since.

MoonDancer256

Blueprint wrote: »

I wouldn't even ask the opinion of my vets on food.

It very much depends on the vet. In the same respect that some doctors are better than others, the same is true of vets. Similarly, some doctors specialise in nutrition, and the same is true of vets A number of vets don't really have that much idea about pet food beyond "yeah royal canin/burns/hills is good, you should buy it, in fact we sell it here!!!" (aka, they're sponsored by X company and stock it and push it for that reason).

Vets specialising in nutrition usually recognise the benefits of BARK/RAW diets, and although Orijen isn't too recognised over here year (being a Canadian product), the idea of grain free "natural" style foods is becoming more popular gradually.

Call me Socket

Another vote for Orijen here... I get it from Brenda's Pets- the difference in my dogs' condition is obvious. They do get BARF as well, in the evening feed, Orijen in the mornings.
The 'high protein' in any food is nothing to be concerned about- it's the quality of the source of protein that matters, and it's digestibility.
An easy way to view it that I copied from The Dog Food Project:

I guess in really simple terms you can compare it to the engine of a car and the type of fuel you use. Just because you use high octan gas in a car that doesn't need it, it's not going to do any damage, but if you use poor quality fuel, regardless whether it is high or low octane, there will be buildup in the engine that hampers performance and will eventually lead to damage.

Have a read of the article- it's very interesting (the whole site is excellent) http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=protein_myth


So who am I to believe? I am not a nutritionist. Surely I have to listen to my vet?
Paultf - Your vet most likely isn't a nutritionist either. Few vets have the knowledge on dogfood that everyone assumes they do.
The best one to listen to is: your dog. Changes in his condition, digestion, frequency of bowel movements and the consistency of them, breath smell etc etc...those are the real tests. Every dog is different, so 'listen' to your own.

pitbull_fanatic

i'v my dogs on bakers puppy and my dads dog is on the bakers complete. they all have lovely coats and look and act very healthy! i dont agree that bakers is bad food for the dogs...

andreac

Bakers is a commercial dog food and most of the ones found in supermarkets are full of artificial flavourings and additives and not great quality to be honest, like feeding mcdonalds to dogs.

If you look at the ingredients it says there is only 4% meat which is not very good, the rest of the food is made up of meat derivitives, so whats that?? i personally wouldnt feed my dog any food from the supermarket, but thats me.

Some dogs do ok on it, but i prefer to feed my dog a much better quality food with more meat content and better quality ingredients etc.

MoonDancer256

Lets face it, some people have great metabolism and can live all their lives on takeout foods and junky crap (McDonalds) without worrying about it. One of my friends is like this.

Most people, on the other hand, do far better on a quality (read: healthy) balanced diet.

That would be the difference between commercial dog foods like Bakers, and higher quality foods like Orijen.

Yes some animals do great on cheap food - my Mum's cat is healthy on Felix all his life. That doesn't mean he wouldn't be better off - glossier coat, less stinky poop, less likely to have medical issues - if she was willing to put him on something other than McDonalds for cats.

amos13

andreac wrote: »

Bakers is a commercial dog food and most of the ones found in supermarkets are full of artificial flavourings and additives and not great quality to be honest, like feeding mcdonalds to dogs.

If you look at the ingredients it says there is only 4% meat which is not very good, the rest of the food is made up of meat derivitives, so whats that?? i personally wouldnt feed my dog any food from the supermarket, but thats me.

Some dogs do ok on it, but i prefer to feed my dog a much better quality food with more meat content and better quality ingredients etc.

I've a one-year old chocolate lab, and he won't eat anything but bakers. seriously I've tried giving him all the other brands at one stage or another, and we were worried about him at one point cos he was starving himself rather than eating them. the bakers nuts we get has meaty chunks in them and he loves them. he's very healthy and has a lovely coat too, although I recomment pouring a drop of cod liver oil over his nuts too because its very good for his joints. But back to the bakers, this may be a supermarket brand but all the pet stores near me sell absolute gash, like madra, that stuff i wouldn't feed to a starving dog

MoonDancer256

amos13 wrote: »

I've a one-year old chocolate lab, and he won't eat anything but bakers. seriously I've tried giving him all the other brands at one stage or another, and we were worried about him at one point cos he was starving himself rather than eating them. the bakers nuts we get has meaty chunks in them and he loves them. he's very healthy and has a lovely coat too, although I recomment pouring a drop of cod liver oil over his nuts too because its very good for his joints. But back to the bakers, this may be a supermarket brand but all the pet stores near me sell absolute gash, like madra, that stuff i wouldn't feed to a starving dog

I haven't looked deeply at the ingredients of "Madra" but for Bakers...

There are again no named meat sources, "derivatives" of animals and veggies unnamed, cereals, known carcinogenic chemical preservatives... the list goes on really.

"Cereals, Meat and animal derivatives (minimum 4% chicken and minimum 4% fresh meat in the soft moist kernel)"

It's really just as bad as the other supermarket brands like Pedigree, and I doubt the ingredients are much difference to other foods like "Madra".


Poor quality: (incredibly low meat content, not named meats, lots of fillers and "derivatives")
Madra
Pedigree
Bakers
Other supermarket brands

Medium quality: (higher meat content, some named meats, less fillers)
Eukanuba
Iams
Hills
Royal Canin

Premium quality: (optimum meat content, human quality ingredients, low grain or grain free)
BARF/ RAW
Orijen
Solid Gold

Call me Socket

Any food that contains meat 'derivatives' doesn't necessarily contain any meat. I'm just wondering do those people who are feeding Bakers or Madra to their dogs understand what meat derivatives are...
In my own words- the ****e that's leftover after all the edible parts of an animal have been removed, like the bowel, eyes, hooves, hair, skin etc. That lot would normally have been dumped until some money-hungry dogfood manufacturer realised it could replace actual meat in dogfood and cost the company only pennies to acquire, freeing up their profits for more important things like packaging and advertising.
It tastes good to a dog cos they've added meaty smelling chemicals and additives to it. It looks good to the uninformed person cos of the colours of it- the brown must mean meat, and orange and green must mean veg.
It's crap. Why do you think it's so cheap? Cos the ingredients are rubbish, literally.
Orijen and other high meat content foods are expensive cos meat is expensive.

Lemlin

I bought James Wellbeloved and my dog didn't seem fond of it at all. I have now tried Orijen. She loves it but I've noticed her itching alot and I think it could be because of the extra protein. I now plan to try her on Red Mills and see how that goes.

I regularly give her meat as well as the food so she should get enough even if Red Mills hasn't a high meat content.

MoonDancer256

Lemlin wrote: »

I regularly give her meat as well as the food so she should get enough even if Red Mills hasn't a high meat content.

That's a good alternative as well Partial raw feeding can work quite well.

I didn't think I would have the stomach for it (used to be a vegetarian for many years, and although I eat meat now I hate preparing it) but turns out fine. My puppy loves her raw drumsticks for treats And raw livers is like all her birthdays and christmases come at once apparently.

Lemlin

MoonDancer256 wrote: »

That's a good alternative as well Partial raw feeding can work quite well.

I didn't think I would have the stomach for it (used to be a vegetarian for many years, and although I eat meat now I hate preparing it) but turns out fine. My puppy loves her raw drumsticks for treats And raw livers is like all her birthdays and christmases come at once apparently.

My dog isn't fond of liver at all which surprises me as most dogs are.

rat catcher

Hi working in a major petstore I have always used Red Mills and found it great. I have tryed R/c and JWB as I get free stock every month but always went back to Red Mills. Just my 2 cents worth :rolleyes:

00112984

Lemlin wrote: »

She loves it but I've noticed her itching alot and I think it could be because of the extra protein.

Does she have a very white coat, by any chance?

Can't for the life of me give a link to back this up but when I was doing research before getting my Old English Sheepdog years ago, I found lots of sites saying that certain foods with very high protein levels can cancause irritation to dogs with white skin (white skin = white coat, if you've ever seen a shaved Old English Sheepdog ).

lorebringer

Lemlin wrote: »

I bought James Wellbeloved and my dog didn't seem fond of it at all. I have now tried Orijen. She loves it but I've noticed her itching alot and I think it could be because of the extra protein. I now plan to try her on Red Mills and see how that goes.

I regularly give her meat as well as the food so she should get enough even if Red Mills hasn't a high meat content.

Have you looked into Acana - same makers as Orijen but with less protein. I swear by Orijen but this is still and great food and could be worth a try. www.zooplus.ie stock it

LucyK

I'm feeding my Lab Brandy at the mo (he's farting at my feet right now). Can't get him to eat the dry food but he'll eat it with a tin of sardines thrown in.. After reading the above think it would be better to go back to the redmills with the tin of fish in oil..

A local co-op recently sold us a bag of redmills racer telling us it was the most popular seller. I was concerned that this was solely for greygrounds and rang the company. A nutrisionist there told him it was not adviseable to feed my dog a feed with such a high protein level. Just another point to consider...

Hermit07

Honestly all dogs are different and what food they do well on depends on their age, size, condition, how much exercise they get, are they a working/racing dog or a lap dog that never goes out for a walk.

All those big name brands with the big prices to match are not always better than the cheaer variety. Lots of dogs live very long happy lives on madra, pedigree chum etc.

It really is trial and error to find out which one suits your dog. Im sure you have all fed your dog a particular brand of food only to find that the poo is all over the place, runny and very hard to pick up???? If so then change to another brand.

And for any of you owners of giant breeds like Gt Danes, wolfhounds etc, diets that are too high in protein or calcium can cause terrible joint damage if they are fed to puppies of these breeds. What happens it that these puppies grow too fast and untold damage is done.

21 to 24% decent quality protein is plenty for the majority of breeds.

And then there is the breed specific foods like Canin German shepard/labrador etc etc. All just a marketing ploy to get you to buy the food as remember these are very popular breeds.

I myself feed red mills coz it suits my dogs and they are champion show dogs but I will switch food to suit their needs.

BanzaiBk

JWB for our West Highlands and Royal Canin for the Cairn in the mornings, barf for the evening. The Cairn responded very negatively to JWB and Burns (hotspots, itchy ears) and was hooked on Eukanuba for a while. The vet recommended the Royal Canin and she seems to be doing fine on it. It's harder to judge on smaller dogs imo.

ronboy

I give my 2 dogs leftovers from the table and meat. I have access to a lot of red meat.
I cook the meat to last a few days.
Take out what I need throw in a stock cube mix it all up with potatoes and veg or whatever is left...and they love it. They are in fantastic condition.

dee o gee

My cairn x gets fed JWB with a bit of applaws tinned food, he seems to be in good condition even though its hard to tell with his coat.
When I got him he was on pedigree and I noticed he was very hyper, like a 5 yr old after drinking a 2L bottle of coke, changed him to royal canin and he calmed down a lot but it was getting a bit expensive and the shop ran out of it, so tried red mills noticed no change really in him but decided to change him to JWB because of all the good reviews, his stools are way smaller and firmer than they ever were!!

The cat is on red mills and shes doing excellent on it, am thinking of changing to JWB for her aswel but if she keeps doing ok on red mills I might just keep her on that.

Just wondering has anyone else ever tried applaws for either dogs or cats? I use the wet stuff for both my dog and cat and they love it, the cat was always a picky eater but she devours this stuff! I read somewhere that its not a complete food though this doesn't really matter as they are both on other complete stuff. They also do a dry food for cats that is advertised as 80% chicken and natural. Anyone have any experience with this? This the stuff im on about: http://www.mpmproducts.co.uk/applaws_dry_food.asp?in_section=applaws

Steve30x

Im feeding my dogs Red Mills Star and its making their coats shiny and soft. They love the food. I buy a 15KG once a month and store it in a large plastic container to keep it fresh.

artieanna

ronboy wrote: »

I give my 2 dogs leftovers from the table and meat. I have access to a lot of red meat.
I cook the meat to last a few days.
Take out what I need throw in a stock cube mix it all up with potatoes and veg or whatever is left...and they love it. They are in fantastic condition.

I feed my dog similarly, but I also give her some burns..

The cat gets tuna, and bread and milk, sardines, ham, cheese, turkey etc...

I can hear folk giving out milk will give her the runs.... nope it don't brought her to the vet awhile back with minor prob... vet complimented me on how healthy/well she looked and I said not one tin of cat food did she ever get shes 10yrs old.

My reason for not feeding the regular foods is because the meat put into these foods is rejected for human consumption. We had a v sick beef animal on the farm and she had to be taken away and I asked the guy what would she be used for he said dog food. I do not want my dog to eat this bad meat!!

Lemlin

00112984 wrote: »

Does she have a very white coat, by any chance?

Can't for the life of me give a link to back this up but when I was doing research before getting my Old English Sheepdog years ago, I found lots of sites saying that certain foods with very high protein levels can cancause irritation to dogs with white skin (white skin = white coat, if you've ever seen a shaved Old English Sheepdog ).

Yep, she's Blue Roan and her coat is very white when I give her a good wash. It also looks very white after she's been swimming.

Lollymcd

dee o gee wrote: »

My cairn x gets fed JWB with a bit of applaws tinned food, he seems to be in good condition even though its hard to tell with his coat.
When I got him he was on pedigree and I noticed he was very hyper, like a 5 yr old after drinking a 2L bottle of coke, changed him to royal canin and he calmed down a lot but it was getting a bit expensive and the shop ran out of it, so tried red mills noticed no change really in him but decided to change him to JWB because of all the good reviews, his stools are way smaller and firmer than they ever were!!

The cat is on red mills and shes doing excellent on it, am thinking of changing to JWB for her aswel but if she keeps doing ok on red mills I might just keep her on that.

Just wondering has anyone else ever tried applaws for either dogs or cats? I use the wet stuff for both my dog and cat and they love it, the cat was always a picky eater but she devours this stuff! I read somewhere that its not a complete food though this doesn't really matter as they are both on other complete stuff. They also do a dry food for cats that is advertised as 80% chicken and natural. Anyone have any experience with this? This the stuff im on about: http://www.mpmproducts.co.uk/applaws_dry_food.asp?in_section=applaws

My two cats adore Applaws. They eat both dry and vet food. www.zooplus.ie do good offers especially if you can buy the larger bags.

tcm315

I've got a rough collie 2 yrs old. He was on red mills complete adult until about May of this year but was not doing as well as he should. I moved him to salters maintenance around EUR 55 per bag and since the move he's done really well.

http://www.salterspetfood.com/maintenance.html