Alternative to Burns dog food

Millem

Hi I was looking for some opinions on dog food. I am currently feeding my three dogs (32kg, 30kg and 35kg) Burns chicken and rice, which I buy on zooplus economy pack. Dogs are doing great on it however I have come across a food called Skinners Field and Trial which is also hypoallergenic. It is vat free and is literally half the price. Below are the ingredients for burns duck and rice and also skinners duck and rice.

Burns contains:
Brown Rice (min 65%), Duck Meat Meal (min 20%), Oats, Peas, Duck Fat, Seaweed, Vitamins and Minerals

Skinners contains:
Whole rice (40%), duck meat meal (20%), naked oats, peas, whole linseed, sunflower oil, beet pulp, vitamins and minerals.

I would be very grateful for any opinions on this!

DogsFirst

Millem wrote: »

Hi I was looking for some opinions on dog food. I am currently feeding my three dogs (32kg, 30kg and 35kg) Burns chicken and rice, which I buy on zooplus economy pack. Dogs are doing great on it however I have come across a food called Skinners Field and Trial which is also hypoallergenic. It is vat free and is literally half the price. Below are the ingredients for burns duck and rice and also skinners duck and rice.

Burns contains:
Brown Rice (min 65%), Duck Meat Meal (min 20%), Oats, Peas, Duck Fat, Seaweed, Vitamins and Minerals

Skinners contains:
Whole rice (40%), duck meat meal (20%), naked oats, peas, whole linseed, sunflower oil, beet pulp, vitamins and minerals.

I would be very grateful for any opinions on this!

Nice one!! Looks the same to me. Both gluten free so I can't see where they differ.

There's not much difference between brands anyway. Hills Science diet have more than 120 different bags of dry food for dogs now!! The only difference is the wrapper.

At such low protein make sure you supplement the dogs diet with a bit of meat.

Millem

I usually give a tin of sardines or makarel in sunflower oil between the three twice a week with their burns. Would this be sufficient? It would be great to save the money but would stick to Burns if Skinners is inferior!

DogsFirst

Believe me there's so little between brands of dry food, the difference between hair and fur. Avoid the stuff in oil. There's already loads of plant oil in your crackers. Too much veg oil is not good for a dry fed dog. Use brine types (and drain). Or just give her fresh mackerel (from frozen, destroys parasites) - head n all!!! Lovely - and top nutrition.

falabo

I had a look at their website and have to say it would be a good alternative to what I'm currently feeding my dogs (James Wellbeloved, went up in price again recently)

http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk

Any idea where to buy it? doesnt seem to be possible to buy it from their website

Thanks

paultf

The only difference I noticed was you have to feed more Skinners than Burns according to their feeding guidelines:

http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/alt/Feeding-Guide/

e.g. your 32kg dog would be on 320g on Burns and 400g on Skinners.

Don't know whether that makes any difference?

Millem

I am planning on buying it from www.medicanimal.com I think it's around £19 for 15kg and if you buy two bags you get 10% off second bag! I have ordered off them before but just for flea and wormers and always place order by phone as I want to pay in sterling as their conversion to euro is a rip off! I usually get delivery free or pay under a fiver !

Millem

Paultf I was looking into that and even feeding the higher amount I think there is still a saving. It is supposedly very popular in the UK and have read on another forum that people feed less than recommended and feed the same amount as Burns! I actually got samples sent to me from SKinners today and the kibble looks exactly the same! As it is technically a working dogs food does that mean it is higher in kilocalories? So maybe this is the reason for people usually feeding less??

tk123

Millem wrote: »

I am planning on buying it from www.medicanimal.com I think it's around £19 for 15kg and if you buy two bags you get 10% off second bag! I have ordered off them before but just for flea and wormers and always place order by phone as I want to pay in sterling as their conversion to euro is a rip off! I usually get delivery free or pay under a fiver !

Take a look at vetuk too - they can work out cheaper even with the 10% discount..also they're a LOT faster! I ordered off medicanimal for the first time in AGES (i boycotted them since they didn't include irish customers in their ipad comp :pac::pac:) and my order is approved 3 days - it'd be delivered by now or in Ireland at least if it was from vetuk!

planetX

I'm switching from Burns too, am feeding much more than the recommended amount but my dog seems ravenous all the time, and is too skinny. Also need to save money, so was going to go much cheaper but local petshop had a good deal on Clinivet - has anyone tried this? It has poultry meal before rice in ingredients, whereas Burns has more rice, so I thought it might beef up the dog a bit. Started introducing small amounts and dog is sick... as a dog. Explosive diarrhea and vomiting, is this normal?

Outkast_IRE

paultf wrote: »

The only difference I noticed was you have to feed more Skinners than Burns according to their feeding guidelines:

http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/alt/Feeding-Guide/

e.g. your 32kg dog would be on 320g on Burns and 400g on Skinners.

Don't know whether that makes any difference?

Yup it says alot about the real nutritional value , the better quality the food the less you feed of it .

When i made the change from cheap brands with loads of grain to good quality grain free dry food, i was astounded with how much less you feed, I changed to the Lukullus and the dog loves it http://www.zooplus.com/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/lukullus

DogsFirst

planetX wrote: »

I'm switching from Burns too, am feeding much more than the recommended amount but my dog seems ravenous all the time, and is too skinny. Also need to save money, so was going to go much cheaper but local petshop had a good deal on Clinivet - has anyone tried this? It has poultry meal before rice in ingredients, whereas Burns has more rice, so I thought it might beef up the dog a bit. Started introducing small amounts and dog is sick... as a dog. Explosive diarrhea and vomiting, is this normal?

If you're planning on putting weight on your dog you're best to do it with protein (lean muscle mass, think body builders as a human analogy, muscle builds muscle). Carbs are stored as fat, while this will put weight on your dog, it's not the right kind, increasing illness and the likes. It's like weighing more because you have a tumour. It's not the the weight per se but the type of weight. Best do it with meat. Loads of chicken thighs, skin on, leave bones in (fresh only, no cooked bones). This will build him up correctly, keeping lean muscle mass at an optimum and fat at a minium, they we all want to be!!

Explosive gastro upset is not the norm but if dogs have been on one dry food forever their systems see anything new as a possible danger. Dogs fed a varied diet do not suffer these issues. All the more reason to get as much fresh ingredients as you can into him, but mainly meat! Start with small amounts of tinned salmon (or just a little brine), move on to the fish, then some chicken. Including this ingredients will save you money, moving to a cheaper cracker will ultimately cost your dogs health and you more at the vets.

Find cheap meat (butcher outlets, sell by date stuff in tesco, chicken in lidl is €2 per kg now, necks, fish by the 10kg, see previous posts on saving money) and bulk a better cracker with that.

planetX

DogsFirst wrote: »

If you're planning on putting weight on your dog you're best to do it with protein (lean muscle mass, think body builders as a human analogy, muscle builds muscle). Carbs are stored as fat, while this will put weight on your dog, it's not the right kind, increasing illness and the likes. It's like weighing more because you have a tumour. It's not the the weight per se but the type of weight. Best do it with meat. Loads of chicken thighs, skin on, leave bones in (fresh only, no cooked bones). This will build him up correctly, keeping lean muscle mass at an optimum and fat at a minium, they we all want to be!!

Explosive gastro upset is not the norm but if dogs have been on one dry food forever their systems see anything new as a possible danger. Dogs fed a varied diet do not suffer these issues. All the more reason to get as much fresh ingredients as you can into him, but mainly meat! Start with small amounts of tinned salmon (or just a little brine), move on to the fish, then some chicken. Including this ingredients will save you money, moving to a cheaper cracker will ultimately cost your dogs health and you more at the vets.

Find cheap meat (butcher outlets, sell by date stuff in tesco, chicken in lidl is €2 per kg now, necks, fish by the 10kg, see previous posts on saving money) and bulk a better cracker with that.

My plan was to move him to a cheaper dry food so that I can buy more meat for him. I can't do both. Already giving him tinned fish and cooked chicken. I won't feed him raw meat as it makes him violently possessive and I'll end up losing a cat:mad:
Surely its worth feeding cheaper and supplementing more fresh?

DogsFirst

Yeah I'm sure it would, stick with your original plan so, the cheapest bag of dry food without wheat / barley / rye filler and supplement with fresh meat, lovely

As for fresh ingredients causing aggression etc, fresh food with its higher vitamin content is proven to relax golden retrievers. The idea that their natural food would make him aggressive is unlikely surely! Unless he really really needs the nutrition, like a dry fed dog getting a bone once in a blue moon and a child trying to take it off him.

Cooking the meat destroys the enzymes, denatures the protein for a carnivore (hence beef and chicken are the number one allergens in dogs! Like a cow being allergic to grass!!), reduces the digestibility and destroys the biological value. Cook the veg though, that's important. Good luck with it.

Millem

Take a look at vetuk too - they can work out cheaper even with the 10% discount..also they're a LOT faster! I ordered off medicanimal for the first time in AGES (i boycotted them since they didn't include irish customers in their ipad comp :pac::pac:) and my order is approved 3 days - it'd be delivered by now or in Ireland at least if it was from vetuk![/Quote]

Thanks for that tk123, I can't believe medicanimal have even stopped doing some flea treatments and wormers now to Ireland now unless you have a prescription! I have switched to nutrecare for those! I have ordered two more bags of Burns from zooplus and will place order with vetuk and make sure to make the switch slowly. I think vetuk is also cheaper for salmon flavoured skinners!

planetX

DogsFirst wrote: »

As for fresh ingredients causing aggression etc, fresh food with its higher vitamin content is proven to relax golden retrievers. The idea that their natural food would make him aggressive is unlikely surely! Unless he really really needs the nutrition, like a dry fed dog getting a bone once in a blue moon and a child trying to take it off him.

It's not the ingredients causing aggression, I couldn't have a situation where bits of bones were left uneaten and one of my cats came along for a sniff. The tolerance between species is stretched to the limits in this house.

Sigma Force

Interesting, never heard of them I don't think. I feed Burns but have had to substitute with Wagg (which isn't ideal but needs must) but was hoping to come across a food that wouldn't be much dearer than the wagg but much cheaper than the Burns. Burns is sooo expensive nearly €11.00 for their smalled 2kg mine do really well on it great coats etc.

I can't work it out (tired) how much for example would a 15kg bag be in Euro incl. delivery Burns locally is now €57.00 for a 15kg bag.

Millem

Hi sigmaforce, mine are great on Burns too! Your supplier of Burns is very expensive, I think I pay 44€ a bag for burns on zooplus but I buy two at a time! I wish zooplus would supply burns alert it is there vat free food!

medicanimal for Skinners Duck and rice €22.83 plus €5.99 delivery total €28.83 however I think they may have free delivery at the mo also as I said before 10% off second bag so it is cheaper to buy two bags and you only pay delivery once

Vetuk skinners €23.11 plus delivery €7.50 total €30.61 again if you buy two bags delivery is only paid once!

Wibbs

DogsFirst wrote: »

As for fresh ingredients causing aggression etc, fresh food with its higher vitamin content is proven to relax golden retrievers. The idea that their natural food would make him aggressive is unlikely surely!

Well on personal experience it might. My last dog wasn't particularly food aggressive. Well not with cooked food or dog biscuits, but he was full on aggressive when it came to his raw stuff(which he got every day). He as an individual saw raw meat as higher value. My current dog doesn't so peoples mileage may vary like planetX's situation.

ballymac676

Hi reading this thread with interest as I have a 4 yr old German Shepherd that I have always fed on Burns purchased from the UK zooplus site. What with job loss and poor exchange rate I am looking for a good alternative. Don't want to go the supermarket route but need to economise. I had never heard of Skinners dog food but thanks to this thread have looked up both Skinners and Whites dog food. Both seem comparable to Burns. Whites is based in Galway and their website shows 2 x 15kg bags for €71.00, but medicanimal is coming in at £36.29 ex delivery for 2 x 15kgs of Skinners (Field and Trial Duck and Rice variety). This is a huge difference to the cost of Burns which was £78 with free del from Zooplus. Can anyone advise which would be the better between Skinners and Whites? Thanks

DogsFirst

Wibbs wrote: »

DogsFirst wrote: »

As for fresh ingredients causing aggression etc, fresh food with its higher vitamin content is proven to relax golden retrievers. The idea that their natural food would make him aggressive is unlikely surely!

Well on personal experience it might. My last dog wasn't particularly food aggressive. Well not with cooked food or dog biscuits, but he was full on aggressive when it came to his raw stuff(which he got every day). He as an individual saw raw meat as higher value. My current dog doesn't so peoples mileage may vary like planetX's situation.

Fair enough so but coming from training guide dogs for the last 5 years, the last school was in Australia with over 200 training dogs each year all raw fed for last four years, i can only testify to the calmness of their nature on fresh compared to my prior four years with other groups. And i'll find the study that compares the irratability of golden retrivers on premium dry and fresh.

Another great study by this American nutritionist / behaviourist who cut sugar and processed foods out of recreational facilities for boys. Nasty altercations went from 400 to 100. In Ohio it was, interesting stuff but not ground breaking. High carbohydrate (thus high blood sugar) diets are known to result in poor behaviour in humans, the problems magnified for carnivores who need zero carbs in their diet.

But I do agree dogs will place value on things, have to expect that. Have you ever seen a kid that hasn't be trained to share his sweets?!!! Same for dogs

Millem

Hi ballymac676, previously I have looked to Whites dog food but disregarded it as I didn't think I would save that much I have done a few sums below on cost of feeding skinners, whites and burns, and have made a few assumptions:
1. Burns bought in economy off zooplus.co.uk with 5% discount (as you have spent over £75) and converted into euro at today's rate
2. It is to feed a 35kg dog (I didn't reduce food amounts to allow for neutering or spaying)
3. Skinners was bought on medicanimal ex delivery (they offer free delivery over €59 all year round, I myself would order 3 bags to get out of paying delivery charge!)
4. I have used feeding guidelines published by food companies for daily amounts (although in reality you may infact feeding less)

Burns 30kg = €90
350g daily = €1.05
Bag lasts 85.7 days
Cost every 30 days €31.50

Whites 30kg =€71
391g daily = 93c
Bag lasts 76.7 days
Cost every 30 days €27.90

Skinners 30 kg = € 43.38
437.5g daily = 63c
Bag lasts 68 days
Cost every 30 days €18.90

To be honest I wouldn't bother changing from burns to whites to save €3.60 per month! However maybe others may say whites is a better food nutritionally than burns? For alot of last year whites were doing an amazing offer on their uk website bogof on all 15kg bags but the wouldn't delivery to Ireland from uk website

DogsFirst

Great post, nice one!

On the nutritional side of things - one has more meat / protein than the other, this is a good thing for your dog.

Nutritionally one is 63% rice, that's a huge amount of rice for €3 per kg!! If you want to feed that much rice you could save a fortune buying rice in Lidl, cook up a whack of it each month and freeze, instantly slashing your food bill.

Also some are gluten free (no wheat, barley, rye) which is really important for your Shepard (and most likely all other breeds), one says it is gluten free but isn't (as it contains barley) and one uses wheat as it's first ingredient (so lots of gluten).

Ash contents vary from 8.5% (close to maximum permitted) to 6%. The lower the better for kidneys amongst others.


Best advice for going cheap - there is so little difference between products these days (the difference between hair and fur) that you're best to aim simply for three things i) no gluten, ii) most animal protein possible, iii) least ash possible. The less advertised the dog food the cheaper it'll be, it's only a wrapper! Trawl online dog food sites for cheapest, google search them and look at their nutritional analysis. Find it and subsidise with cheap meat ingredients you find about the place (500g of tinned salmon €1.20 in Aldi etc) and you're dog'll be doing better than people paying four times as much (but they do get a nicer wrapper!!)

Millem

Dogsfirst if I were to go down home made route how much rice and meat would you give per day? Would put in veg? Also please excuse my ignorance but is whole rice brown rice? I thought skinners field and trial duck flavoured and burns were meant to be gluten free?

DogsFirst

Dont want to take the thread off track talking about fresh Millem, I'm always spouting about it but it comes across as preachy. Trying to control! PM me for details or see previous threads.

Yep whole grain is brown rice, that's what it looks like naturally before processing. Processing as a rule reduces the nutritional value of food massively (the only exception being the cooking of veg which destroys the plant fibre allowing us to get the good stuff out) so brown rice is far better nutritionally.

Re gluten I'm just going by what it says on their websites. Wheat and barley are the sources of gluten (with rye bringing up the rear). 50% of the protein in these two are gluten which is highly undigestible and antigenic to 30% of humans. This is likely to be far far higher in dogs (carnivores less able to digest plant protein). So if the dry food has wheat or barley, it has gluten. Perhaps they advertise gluten free but only one of their products is actually "hypoallergenic" (allergen free) which could be seen as misleading.

At any rate for a food to be truly hypoallergenic it needs to contain zero allergens so they would need to remove not only the gluten but the cooked protein (cooked beef and cooked chicken are the number 1 and 2 allergens in dogs, carnivore systems apparently don't like denatured meat protein) and chemical food additives which they can't as dry food is cooked and needs chemicals to boost it's nutritional content.

So basically when it comes to dog food manufacturers (or vets) quoting you anything about a food only your own research will determine if theres any truth to them. At best the terms used by manufacturers today are confused / misled and at worst blatantly misleading.

ballymac676

Many thanks for your reply and for taking the trouble to work out costs of the three dog foods. I will continue to do a little more research here. I have requested samples from both Skinners and Whites so will see what they are like. I agree that it seems a little pointless to change from Burns to Whites - the saving is so small so it looks as though Skinners will be the better option. Will take another look at their ingredients.

Millem

I thought I would update this thread! I finally got around to ordering a 15kg bag of skinners duck and rice on Tuesday from amazon, paid £20.69->€25.65 including free delivery and it arrived today! I am planning the switch starting next Friday. By any chance does anyone know how many
Kilocalories per kg is in burns? I read on the labrador forum skinners is 3470kcals per kg which is supposidly very high and therefore I should feed less than RDA as it is a working dog's food.

paultf

Millem wrote: »

By any chance does anyone know how many
Kilocalories per kg is in burns? I read on the labrador forum skinners is 3470kcals per kg which is supposidly very high and therefore I should feed less than RDA as it is a working dog's food.

Had a quick look on their site + checked the bag, nothing.

Maybe drop them a line. Customer service is pretty good.

paultf

Millem wrote: »

By any chance does anyone know how many
Kilocalories per kg is in burns? I read on the labrador forum skinners is 3470kcals per kg which is supposidly very high and therefore I should feed less than RDA as it is a working dog's food.

Millem, not sure if you got your answer to this yet? Just got an email from Burns.

Burns chicken & brown rice: 3,308Kcals/Kg

Burns duck & brown rice: 3,323Kcals/Kg

So not much difference to Skinners.

Millem

paultf wrote: »

Millem wrote: »

By any chance does anyone know how many
Kilocalories per kg is in burns? I read on the labrador forum skinners is 3470kcals per kg which is supposidly very high and therefore I should feed less than RDA as it is a working dog's food.

Millem, not sure if you got your answer to this yet? Just got an email from Burns.

Burns chicken & brown rice: 3,308Kcals/Kg

Burns duck & brown rice: 3,323Kcals/Kg

So not much difference to Skinners.

Thanks paultf, I worked out that if i feed each dog 270g/day, skinners is still 40kcals higher. (I always feed them 270g of burns, their weights are 25kg, 30kg, 30kg and are all speyed) Feeding my 3 for a month will save me at least €24 on skinners and the great thing is I have the option of only buying one bag as before I always bought 2xburns from zooplus as I wanted to save money. I used to pay about €40 per bag for burns but I presume it has gone up with the poor exchange rate! We are on day 4 now of the switchover and dogs love it, poos are perfect no wind etc or behaviour change. So far I would Defo recommend it!

MrReynholm

Interesting thread, Millem. Am going to give Skinner's a shot and see how it goes myself. The extra money could be used for some nice treats.

gooner99

Damn, just bought 2 x 15kg burns fish and brown rice. Will check this stuff out next time. Please keep us up to date on how the change over from Burns is going, flavours you've tried and any bargains you guys find on the Skinners.

I usually try to give our girl (springer) some mackerel/sardines on tomato sauce a couple of times a week. She is just mad for fish. So might give the salmon Skinners a try.

Cheers for the valuable thread

Millem

gooner99 wrote: »

Damn, just bought 2 x 15kg burns fish and brown rice. Will check this stuff out next time. Please keep us up to date on how the change over from Burns is going, flavours you've tried and any bargains you guys find on the Skinners.

I usually try to give our girl (springer) some mackerel/sardines on tomato sauce a couple of times a week. She is just mad for fish. So might give the salmon Skinners a try.

Cheers for the valuable thread

Gooner99 contact skinners
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/contact-us/
They will send you out loads of samples. My girls loved the salmon flavour but it is a little more expensive than duck. They actually love the duck flavour though. The cheapest place is amazon at the mo if you "subscribe and save", you get 10% off it and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I am going to switch my parents' dog onto it aswell now as soon as she is nearly finished her burns. The only In Ireland that I know of where you can buy it is pet bliss
http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinners_Field_Trial_Duck_Rice.html

http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinner_s_Field___Trial_Salmon___Rice_Dog_Food.html
Two words.....absolute ripoff!!

gooner99

Millem wrote: »

Gooner99 contact skinners
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/contact-us/
They will send you out loads of samples. My girls loved the salmon flavour but it is a little more expensive than duck. They actually love the duck flavour though. The cheapest place is amazon at the mo if you "subscribe and save", you get 10% off it and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I am going to switch my parents' dog onto it aswell now as soon as she is nearly finished her burns. The only In Ireland that I know of where you can buy it is pet bliss
http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinners_Field_Trial_Duck_Rice.html

http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinner_s_Field___Trial_Salmon___Rice_Dog_Food.html
Two words.....absolute ripoff!!

Hi, Thanks for this. I sent them an email last week asking if they could send some samples of the field and trial range.I got an auto response to say the lady was on holiday.But to my surprise Yesterday I got a package with one sample of all 3 field and trial version.Now 6 months back I changed my springer from burns chicken and brown rice to fish and brown rice,which she prefers. So Yesterday evening I decided to try her on the skinners salmon and she wolfed it down. Tonight it's duck on the menu!

Looks like I will be changing her over as soon as she gets through the 2 bags of burns. It will probably be cheapest for me too on amazon or from a uk website. But they did send me the address of my 2 local stores, which are in the North in Enniskillen and Strabane. But I am up around Strabane often, so I will give them a ring sometime this week to see what the prices are like and post here if anyone is interested.

Millem

gooner99 wrote: »

Millem wrote: »

Gooner99 contact skinners
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/contact-us/
They will send you out loads of samples. My girls loved the salmon flavour but it is a little more expensive than duck. They actually love the duck flavour though. The cheapest place is amazon at the mo if you "subscribe and save", you get 10% off it and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I am going to switch my parents' dog onto it aswell now as soon as she is nearly finished her burns. The only In Ireland that I know of where you can buy it is pet bliss
http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinners_Field_Trial_Duck_Rice.html

http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinner_s_Field___Trial_Salmon___Rice_Dog_Food.html
Two words.....absolute ripoff!!

Hi, Thanks for this. I sent them an email last week asking if they could send some samples of the field and trial range.I got an auto response to say the lady was on holiday.But to my surprise Yesterday I got a package with one sample of all 3 field and trial version.Now 6 months back I changed my springer from burns chicken and brown rice to fish and brown rice,which she prefers. So Yesterday evening I decided to try her on the skinners salmon and she wolfed it down. Tonight it's duck on the menu!

Looks like I will be changing her over as soon as she gets through the 2 bags of burns. It will probably be cheapest for me too on amazon or from a uk website. But they did send me the address of my 2 local stores, which are in the North in Enniskillen and Strabane. But I am up around Strabane often, so I will give them a ring sometime this week to see what the prices are like and post here if anyone is interested.

That would be brill if you could post up prices! The girls are loving it I have to say. If it stays like this I will be delighted with saving as I am going to use it to book the dog swimming pool for them fortnightly, which deserves its own thread!

Millem

Just to update still all going well on skinners and have ordered my second bag! I have to say it is a big plus not having to buy 2xbags in one go money wise! Dogs still loving it, they haven't lost/gained weight and are getting two cups a day (same as burns!)

boomerang

Have ordered two bags from VetUK on the back of this thread. Looking forward to seeing how my greyhound does on Skinners. She's on Burns at the moment.

gooner99

I had no luck getting through to the pet shop in Strabane that stocks it, for some reason their phone is dead and I haven't had a chance to get up there yet. I will post their details along with the one in Enniskillen, they might be useful to someone. It will be a while before I need some,as I have almost 2 full bags of burns left, but will be changing over when they are finished. Are you feeding the same ammount or less/more than you would when on burns?

Millem

gooner99 wrote: »

I had no luck getting through to the pet shop in Strabane that stocks it, for some reason their phone is dead and I haven't had a chance to get up there yet. I will post their details along with the one in Enniskillen, they might be useful to someone. It will be a while before I need some,as I have almost 2 full bags of burns left, but will be changing over when they are finished. Are you feeding the same ammount or less/more than you would when on burns?

I have feeding exactly the same amount as I would with burns two cups each per day. The kibble size is the same so I am still using the burns cup scoop. One of the dogs was getting her vaccinations today and has put on 2kgs! Don't know if this is from new food or the fact I have been off work for the summer (I am a secondary school teacher) so maybe I am giving her more treats! In fairness it looks good on her! I think I worked it out as being 40kcals more per day than skinners.

Millem

boomerang wrote: »

Have ordered two bags from VetUK on the back of this thread. Looking forward to seeing how my greyhound does on Skinners. She's on Burns at the moment.

Boomerang you could of received free delivery on amazon!

Lia_lia

I tried to order from Amazon and it wasn't giving me the option of free delivery

Millem

Lia_lia wrote: »

I tried to order from Amazon and it wasn't giving me the option of free delivery

That's weird I have just checked it and it is still offering free super saver delivery. Subscribe and save and you save 10% (you can cancel subscription at any time!)

Lemlin

Millem wrote: »

Gooner99 contact skinners
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/contact-us/
They will send you out loads of samples. My girls loved the salmon flavour but it is a little more expensive than duck. They actually love the duck flavour though. The cheapest place is amazon at the mo if you "subscribe and save", you get 10% off it and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I am going to switch my parents' dog onto it aswell now as soon as she is nearly finished her burns. The only In Ireland that I know of where you can buy it is pet bliss
http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinners_Field_Trial_Duck_Rice.html

http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinner_s_Field___Trial_Salmon___Rice_Dog_Food.html
Two words.....absolute ripoff!!

Thanks for the tip re emailing. I emailed Skinners on Tuesday and had a reply from them by Wednesday. They are sending me samples for my two dogs. Might be a while until I get around to using them as I have a 15kg bag there but at least they'll be there. What size samples did they send you?

Millem

Lemlin wrote: »

Millem wrote: »

Gooner99 contact skinners
http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/contact-us/
They will send you out loads of samples. My girls loved the salmon flavour but it is a little more expensive than duck. They actually love the duck flavour though. The cheapest place is amazon at the mo if you "subscribe and save", you get 10% off it and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I am going to switch my parents' dog onto it aswell now as soon as she is nearly finished her burns. The only In Ireland that I know of where you can buy it is pet bliss
http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinners_Field_Trial_Duck_Rice.html

http://www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Skinner_s_Field___Trial_Salmon___Rice_Dog_Food.html
Two words.....absolute ripoff!!

Thanks for the tip re emailing. I emailed Skinners on Tuesday and had a reply from them by Wednesday. They are sending me samples for my two dogs. Might be a while until I get around to using them as I have a 15kg bag there but at least they'll be there. What size samples did they send you?

Can't remember size maybe 100g or 200g they sent me a 3 samples of duck and three of salmon.

paultf

Lemlin wrote: »

What size samples did they send you?

The samples weigh 160g each.

When I emailed Skinners I pointed out I had 3 cockers - hoping I would get loads of samples!

I received 2 x duck and 2 x salmon.

Lemlin

paultf wrote: »

The samples weigh 160g each.

When I emailed Skinners I pointed out I had 3 cockers - hoping I would get loads of samples!

I received 2 x duck and 2 x salmon.

She mentioned sending me 3 packets for each dog so should get about six.

gooner99

Here are the local stockists they sent me with the samples

Pet Sop Boys , Derrychara Ind Estate , Enniskillen , 048 6634 7994

Alphapet , Melmount Shopping Centre , Strabane , 048 7138 3156

warder6161

DogsFirst wrote: »

Believe me there's so little between brands of dry food, the difference between hair and fur. Avoid the stuff in oil. There's already loads of plant oil in your crackers. Too much veg oil is not good for a dry fed dog. Use brine types (and drain). Or just give her fresh mackerel (from frozen, destroys parasites) - head n all!!! Lovely - and top nutrition.

is it safe to feed the dogs frozen mackerel ? was thinking of trying to reduce the food i use from all the brands and give more raw/home cooked food any other ideas /links i could research?

barking1503

On the back of this useful thread I switched from Burns to Skinners and my 3 are getting on great with it. My little jack russell is a very finiky eater having had a rotten start in life and the fact that the switchover was seamless from Burns to it for her speaks volumes.
I ordered from vetuk. Today I followed up with a double order of 2 bags to save on shipping costs (plus at mo have offer on got myself a free dog toy:D))

DogsFirst

warder6161 wrote: »

is it safe to feed the dogs frozen mackerel ? was thinking of trying to reduce the food i use from all the brands and give more raw/home cooked food any other ideas /links i could research?

Hi Warder. Yep frozen mackerel is fine. Freezing fish for three days or more kills fish parasties (worms largely), though this is not the case for pork and red meats etc. Mackerel are a great oily fish but being a predator and high up the food chain they accumulate chemicals that some argue aren't the best for you. If you're feeding whole mackerel, make it a now and again thing. Lower down fellas like sardines and the new boar fish are the best, the latter is up to 10% fish oil though so not to everyones tastes as a main component every day.

No need to cook meat but some do. The more you cook the less you get out of the meat, and the more antigenic it becomes but it works for some.

Lots of info on this website re how much of what. Don't get too hung up over how much of what. Just aim for lots of fresh meats, organs and bones (give bones twice a week say, or simply feed whole chicken pieces), maybe a little cooked veg (but only because you are not likely to be feeding whole animals, cooked veg offers some power nutrition, it's not vital). Brown rice / spuds make great additions too if your dog is working, well exercised, not vital additions otherwise.

Don't stress, at your worst your mix is going to be infinitely better than stale, cooked crackers with minimal meat content and vitamins included at the minimum for growth. Best to leap and not think about it too much.

Millem

barking1503 wrote: »

On the back of this useful thread I switched from Burns to Skinners and my 3 are getting on great with it. My little jack russell is a very finiky eater having had a rotten start in life and the fact that the switchover was seamless from Burns to it for her speaks volumes.
I ordered from vetuk. Today I followed up with a double order of 2 bags to save on shipping costs (plus at mo have offer on got myself a free dog toy:D))

That's great!