Which brand of dog food to pick?

Aoifums

We have an 8 year old Cavalier/Collie (we think) cross breed. She's been on Pedigree for most of her life. I only realised that it's rubbish quality recently and have finally persuaded the rest of the family to change her food. She has arthritis and is slightly overweight. The vet nurse has convinced my mam to switch her to Hill's Prescription Diet, the one for joint mobility, I think it's this one http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-jd-canine-mobility-dry.html. I just looked it up and I don't really like the look of the ingredients for the price they're charging. Also her recommending the one brand they stock :rolleyes:

Can anyone recommend me a brand that's not astronomically expensive but is a decent enough quality for an arthritic dog? I've looked into the brands available to buy in the pet shops near us but there are so many and I'm just getting confused with all the choice. We might buy online but I'm just focusing on the brands that are easily available at the mo.

ABajaninCork

Burns or James Wellbeloved would get my vote.

jh79

skinners on amazon is good quality and value

andreac

Oh the famous old vets recommending Hills again...sigh.

Best thing to do is go for one of the higher quality brands, Clinivet, Arden Grange, Orijen, Taste of The Wild etc.

Whispered

I've been dabbling with raw feeding lately and I'd say that's the best way to go if you can. No dry food can be as nutritious as a fresh balanced diet and it's good to know exactly what is going into your dog.

I'm still getting used to it, only a week in, but I'm finding differences in them already. And the support and advice in this forum is great.

Saganist

I have a 2 year old Maltese.

Have only fed him this stuff since he was on born after a recommendation from a friend. He loves it

www.bestformydog.com

andreac

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

teggers5

I've been having same trouble deciding what to feed my dogs. There's so many to choose from its confusing.
Has anyone any thoughts on red mill winner or leader?

Whispered

andreac wrote: »

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

See this is where I'm hitting problems. We have the bottom 2 drawers in the freezer for the two boys. It's ok for now, but for raw feeding to be a financially realistic option in the long term we would need to buy in bulk.

We're getting there, but I'm finding brick walls when I try to get cheaper meat. Like I was in tesco at closing yesterday and there were no special offers and my butcher wouldn't sell me off cuts. Organ meat is cheaper but not suitable for all of their meals.

I hope we can keep it up, but spending nearly €5 a day to feed them at the moment and I can't keep that up long term

andreac

Yeah exactly Whispered, unless you can get it in bulk, which i can do from someone, its the storing of it as well. There is no way i can afford that price you are feeding!! Mine are on food which is €30 for a 15kg bag and they are doing well on it. Ive had to cut costs big time and had to see if i could find a cheaper but still a good enough food.

ISDW

The issue is, that you are looking or a specific arthritic food, and you're not going to find that anywhere except a vets, the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

However, theres no reason why a different kind of diet can't help a dog with arthritis, fish oil, green lipped mussel extract etc can help, along with other things. For the overweight issue, just cut down on the amount given, and obviously, the weight loss will help with the arthritis.

gimmick

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

Whispered

andreac wrote: »

Yeah exactly Whispered, unless you can get it in bulk, which i can do from someone, its the storing of it as well. There is no way i can afford that price you are feeding!! Mine are on food which is €30 for a 15kg bag and they are doing well on it. Ive had to cut costs big time and had to see if i could find a cheaper but still a good enough food.

We can't afford it either. I'd be divorced if he found out how much I was spending on it. I'm hoping by Saturday we'll have found a cheaper supplier. I have 2 more places to check.

ISDW

gimmick wrote: »

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

yes it can, there may be additives in it that can make the dog hyper, or even just the protein or fat levels will have an impact on energy.

ABajaninCork

gimmick wrote: »

Does they type of food you give your dog impact on his behaviour? There was no Royal Canin when we went to the shop the other day so we got some other brand, cannot remember what it is, but our fella sees to be a tad more hyper than normal since we started feeding it to him.

Its not cheap crap like pedro or bakers either.

Probably didn't suit Rufus! My Shih Tzu was fed Royal Canin as that was what the breeder recommended. Turned out it didn't agree with him at all. Trust us to get the only Shih Tzu in Cork with allergies...

We've put him on Burns since and haven't looked back. You should try to keep Rufus on one type of food if you can.

Have you tried to get RC online? Zooplus do it and it's only E2.95 to send if you spend less than E29. They usually pretty quick too.

janja

Plus one on the Dr Burns

Aoifums

I looked into Burns food. Oh wow, tiny ingredients list! I'm really liking that. No stockist near us but hopefully we can work around it. I am planning on bringing it up later as a suitable food.

Whispered wrote: »

I've been dabbling with raw feeding lately and I'd say that's the best way to go if you can. No dry food can be as nutritious as a fresh balanced diet and it's good to know exactly what is going into your dog.

I'm still getting used to it, only a week in, but I'm finding differences in them already. And the support and advice in this forum is great.

I looked into that a few years ago and it looks great. Money, storage and convincing her other owners that she won't die from eating raw meat would be the biggest issue. I know she won't but some people can be a bit set in their ways.

ISDW wrote: »

The issue is, that you are looking or a specific arthritic food, and you're not going to find that anywhere except a vets, the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

However, theres no reason why a different kind of diet can't help a dog with arthritis, fish oil, green lipped mussel extract etc can help, along with other things. For the overweight issue, just cut down on the amount given, and obviously, the weight loss will help with the arthritis.

My mam got fed some stupid "if she goes on this food, her hips won't worsen" spiel which I'm calling bull**** on. I just don't want her getting worse to be my fault by having her on bad food. And I know about the weight, it's coming down slowly but we're getting there.

fatmammycat

andreac wrote: »

Whispered, id love to change to raw completely for mine, but at the mo i dont have storage for it and it would work out a bit more expensive than what im feeding at the mo.

I can get chicken every now and again but unless i can use it up in a few days i have no where to put it.

I might look into getting a small chest freezer at some stage.

http://www.secondhandcatering.com/ You might get lucky and nab one without huge outlay here. Somebody linked this the other day - forget who- imagine it's useful.

ABajaninCork

Aoifums wrote: »

I looked into Burns food. Oh wow, tiny ingredients list! I'm really liking that. No stockist near us but hopefully we can work around it. I am planning on bringing it up later as a suitable food.

You can get it online at Zooplus as I've said. That's where I get mine as I find the vet's prices expensive.

planetX

Aoifums wrote: »

My mam got fed some stupid "if she goes on this food, her hips won't worsen" spiel which I'm calling bull**** on. I just don't want her getting worse to be my fault by having her on bad food. And I know about the weight, it's coming down slowly but we're getting there.

The joint diet just has added fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin. You can buy them as a supplement and add them to any food. I've read that the research on their effectiveness is not conclusive anyway.

Millem

ABajaninCork wrote: »

You can get it online at Zooplus as I've said. That's where I get mine as I find the vet's prices expensive.

Check out skinners field and trial on amazon literally the same as burns and half the price!

Stheno

Whispered wrote: »

We can't afford it either. I'd be divorced if he found out how much I was spending on it. I'm hoping by Saturday we'll have found a cheaper supplier. I have 2 more places to check.

Whispered are you close to the North? When I fed raw I got to know my local abbatoir who supplied with me whole green tripe, and a local poultry processor who used give me huge boxes of turkey legs and wings for very little.

I feed Autarky it's 26% chicken and it's human grade, I checked it out several years ago before I decided to go with it.

It was probably the best food I could afford. at the time.

boomerang

+1 on the Skinners

It is of comparable quality to Burns but much more economical as it's VAT free.

I fed my dogs Burns for a long time, but it was difficult to keep weight on when following the recommended feeding guidelines. A lot of people experience this. It's a boon though if you have a dog that needs to lose weight!

Arden Grange and James Wellbeloved are good too, as are Green Dog and Best For My Dog. They're all around the same price. But Skinners comes out tops for me on price.

The brands Andrea mentions would be higher in protein (not strictly necessary for a pet Cav, maybe) but they do cost that bit more. My guys got Orijen for a bit, they did well on it.

Glad you are switching from Pedigree, especially if you feed the wet stuff as it's so bad for a little dog's teeth.

sage_ellis

ISDW wrote: »

the prescription ranges by the food companies are only sold at vets.

New range has been brought into Maxi Zoo, it's made by a german company so they don't have the usual ties to vets. Just last week I switched my dog from ID to their gastrointestinal diet, going well so far, not tummy upset yet (phew!). Not super cheap, but cheaper than the ID at least.

Also op, as someone else said you could always buy the supplements such as condroitin and glucosamine separately (check out places that do Greyhound supplements, you can usually get good prices for large tubs there)

byte

jh79 wrote: »

skinners on amazon is good quality and value

Yup, got this a few weeks ago, the dog is taking to it quite well. So he's happy and my pocket is also happy!

Definitely recommend Skinners.

Millem

Stheno wrote: »

Whispered are you close to the North? When I fed raw I got to know my local abbatoir who supplied with me whole green tripe, and a local poultry processor who used give me huge boxes of turkey legs and wings for very little.

I feed Autarky it's 26% chicken and it's human grade, I checked it out several years ago before I decided to go with it.

It was probably the best food I could afford. at the time.

Where do you buy autarky? I have looked into this food and it is meant to be a good alternative to burns and James wellbeloved

Stheno

Millem wrote: »

Where do you buy autarky? I have looked into this food and it is meant to be a good alternative to burns and James wellbeloved

I get it online from petfood express? Good service, generally next day or the day after delivery too.

I used to go to the North to get it, too, it's cheaper up there, but with free delivery it works out close enough.

I first got it as I'd a GSD with a sensitive stomach, and when I looked into it, I found the company extremely helpful with advice, they gave me a lot of their time, and my GSD never had a problem with it, after literally months of trying different foods.

All of my dogs love it and seem to do well on it.

andreac

The first ingredient is Maize though, not meat which isn't a good thing... That means that it's primary ingredient is cereal and not meat.

andreac

It wouldn't be anywhere near as good as Burns or jwb if the main ingredient is Maize.

Stheno

andreac wrote: »

It wouldn't be anywhere near as good as Burns or jwb if the main ingredient is Maize.

Second is chicken though, I think it's a far superior food than a lot out there, and given that Burns, Hills, and James Wellbeloved ran through my GSD at the time, the fact he settled on Autarky made my mind up

andreac

It might suit your dog, but any food that has cereal as the first and main ingredient is a big no no in terms of quality. Why isn't the first ingredient meat then?? It's not a food id recommend if it's high in cereal. Cereal has no place in a dogs diet so I wouldn't recommend any food with that as the main ingredient.

Stheno

andreac wrote: »

It might suit your dog, but any food that has cereal as the first and main ingredient is a big no no in terms of quality. Why isn't the first ingredient meat then?? It's not a food id recommend if it's high in cereal. Cereal has no place in a dogs diet so I wouldn't recommend any food with that as the main ingredient.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree, after trying multiple foods for years, it's worked for my dogs, and especially the ones with sensitive stomachs, so I'm happy with it, they are healthy, I can afford to feed it comfortably, and can supplement with good quality treats.

At this stage I'm not going to change, having finally found a food that is good quality, particularly in terms of the meat used, and works for my dogs

smileyj1987

To the OP I have a dog who has hip dysplasia and its a very bad case of it . Her hips are that bad the Vet said I will have to get her put asleep in the next two years . The Vet recommended that dry food to me but told me to feed the dog once a day with the dry feed and then feed the dog on vegetables and a small bit of boiled meat for dinner . I have to say it has worked for my dog and she lost abit of weight because we need to keep her as thin as possible to limit the pain . The vet also recommended cod liver oil twice a day to ease the joint pain . So I would say while you trying to pick out the food to feed the dog start giving your dog cod liver as soon as you can .

andreac

Stheno wrote: »

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree, after trying multiple foods for years, it's worked for my dogs, and especially the ones with sensitive stomachs, so I'm happy with it, they are healthy, I can afford to feed it comfortably, and can supplement with good quality treats.

At this stage I'm not going to change, having finally found a food that is good quality, particularly in terms of the meat used, and works for my dogs

As i said, if it agrees with your dog thats fine and thats great that it does.

But this food is not a high quality, high meat content food. Its a food made up of mainly a cereal which is quite poor in terms of quality and its not one i or many here would recommend as a good quality food.

There are plenty more brands with meat as there first and primary ingredient and id highly recommend any of those before one with cereal as their first ingredient.

Millem

Ok autarky have a variety of foods below is the one I am looking for which contains no maize
http://www.dodsonandhorrellpetfood.co.uk/autarky-adult-salmon

andreac

Millem, that looks quite good actually.

Millem

andreac wrote: »

Millem, that looks quite good actually.

Yes I think so too. But I can't find a supplier here.

ISDW

Jollyes in NI sell Autarky, if anyones near the border

Stheno

Millem wrote: »

Yes I think so too. But I can't find a supplier here.

Ask the petfood express guys if they can get it for you, as a supplier they probably can, I've done it before with foods that weren't listed but were part of the same company a supplier used.

DBB

I'm sure I saw Autarky for sale in the pet shop in Virginia, Co. Cavan, but not sure have they the one you're looking for. Worth a call if you're anywhere nearby?
As for cereals in foods, all of the foods I've seen recommended here so far, with the exception of Orijen and Taste of the Wild, have cereals or a non-meat (e.g. potato) as their first ingredient! Okay, some have rice rather than maize, but rice is still cereal, which makes these foods no better than each other, from a nutritional perspective.

boomerang

I use potato in Boo's recipes all the time. Far superior carbohydrate than corn, pasta or rice. It's high fibre, vitamin-rich, high water content and for a dog with kidney issues, low phosphorus. Cooked pearl barley is good too. I know dogs don't need carbs but that's not to say they are detrimental to their health, apart from the carb sources that dogs can't digest sufficiently well. I'm still not convinced that dogs need a carb-free, high protein diet.

DBB

Can't say I'd have any objection to spuds as the non-meat component, there's no doubt it's good stuff! And I'd have no objection to a bit of carb in the diet either... My own troop here are on low carb as I need to get, or keep weight off them. But they're getting carbs nonetheless.
The problem I have with most of the foods listed above is that the carb/cereal component exceeds the meat, sometimes by a huge amount. The better ones, a few of those listed, use spud instead of cereal, a distinct improvement, but again, the spud makes up more of the food than meat does. It can't be right, for a normal, healthy dog!

boomerang

Agreed DBB. My lady generally gets 50/50 with some green veggies thrown in. I suppose my main point would be that there is no great harm in feeding a good quality commercial food, if you don't have the time or means to feed a homemade or BARF/RMB diet. It takes me a huge amount of fore-thought, planning and cooking to maintain Boo on her home made meals, so Josie gets Skinners (soaked) with some goodies usually thrown in like an egg, some chicken, some sardines, etc. I honestly don't feel she's losing out that much. In her later years I will definitely go down the home-prepared route with her though. I just can't commit to it right now and many people are the same.

meoklmrk91

Another + for skinners, my fella loves it and the price is amazing, very happy with his coat condition, weight etc.

DBB

boomerang wrote: »

I suppose my main point would be that there is no great harm in feeding a good quality commercial food, if you don't have the time or means to feed a homemade or BARF/RMB diet.

Can't argue with that either, but I think that people aren't really thinking the dry food thing through: one person recommends X and disses Y whilst another recommends Y and disses X, and when you look at the ingredients of both, they're almost identical. When it comes to most dry foods, the ingredients of each are just not that great.
For people who just can't do the raw diet, some (but very few, relative to the amount available) dry foods are pretty good, but it takes a bit of research to find out which ones. Even at that, you'll always get posters here who've had a bad experience even with the foods that are nutritionally pretty good!
I find it hard to recommend pretty much any dry food because my heart just isn't in it any more, but at the same time, I have to recognise that not everyone wants to/can feed raw, and need to know the alternatives which work for them. That's life! It's also important that owners know both the benefits and drawbacks, whether dry or raw... I guess it's all about making an educated choice, on way or t'other.

so Josie gets Skinners (soaked)

You may have answered this before (is it something to do with teeth?), but why do you soak it? Just curious!

boomerang

I don't have a scientific answer for it, DBB, but I do have a few reasons:

I think it is unnatural, unpleasant and possibly deleterious to the dog to feed it food with a very low moisture content. The dog then gets thirsty and has to compensate by drinking lots of water. I don't think that's right, and it might even have a negative impact on the dog's health over the time. If I was living on cream crackers alone I'd be pretty miserable having to constantly slake my thirst!

It slows down dogs like Josie that inhale their food, so they don't regurgitate their food only to eat it again. (Lovely!)

It increases the feeling of satiety, which is especially helpful if you are cutting back on the food a fraction to encourage weight loss.

Sentimental reason: It means I can give them a warm meal on days like today, by using hot water or heated up stock.

I haven't seen any deterioration in the condition of the dogs' teeth or gums since we started soaking the food. I give Plaque Off in the food and rub Dentisept chlorhexidine paste on their gums a few times a week.

They do miss out on the opportunity to have a good gnaw and crunch, which I think is essential to a dog's wellbeing! (Not that dry food fulfils that need, anyhoo.) Much to my regret I can't give raw meaty bones any more as Boo can't have them and it would be unfair (and could be the source of a row) if I only gave them to Josie. So I make do with tripe sticks and the sensitive 'stars' chew sticks from Maxi Zoo. (They're good and hard, and have no nasty ingredients/colours/preservatives.) They do get a raw lamb shank each, on state occasions!

timelord13

I have a 13 year old Jack Russell who is often mistaken for a much younger dog. I found Royal Canin mini mature made a big difference to her energy & stamina. It is expensive but it's working so well for her, In my opinion it's worth it.

planetX

boomerang wrote: »

Sentimental reason: It means I can give them a warm meal on days like today, by using hot water or heated up stock.

I do this too - my dog gets his breakfast soaked a little warm water, and sometimes an egg on top. He used to pick at the dry food on its own, but now he dives in.
I feed raw for dinner, but I'm thinking of switching the meals around as he's going a bit crazy with energy in the evenings - even after a busy day of walks. It seems to be giving him a rush:o

angeldaisy

Just a question about Skinners food from Amazon. I've been looking at getting this food, but it looks like p&p is £13stg is that right?? Bringing the price to just over £30 per 15kg.

tk123

angeldaisy wrote: »

Just a question about Skinners food from Amazon. I've been looking at getting this food, but it looks like p&p is £13stg is that right?? Bringing the price to just over £30 per 15kg.

Are you choosing amazon as the seller (on the left)?

Millem

angeldaisy wrote: »

Just a question about Skinners food from Amazon. I've been looking at getting this food, but it looks like p&p is £13stg is that right?? Bringing the price to just over £30 per 15kg.

It is free delivery to Ireland. This is the link you need
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skinners-Field-Trial-Duck-Rice/dp/B003EGMHL2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354403020&sr=8-1

You should subscribe and save as you will get 10% off, you can cancel subscription straight after if you want! It will cost £20.69 if not it will cost you £22.99. It is free delivery to Ireland, if you order today you should get in Thursday/Friday.