Good dog food

blahblah06

Hi all
Looking for a good dog for for my 11 year old boxer who sheds a lot.
Would like to keep her on dry but don't know what's the best brand

DBB

Heh.. I know it's a typo OP, but when I first read your post I thought you had the wrong forum

What sort of budget are you thinking of for the grub? It'll help people recommend foods within your budget

phelo2121

I usr Arden grange always find it good

lorebringer

With a larger dog and considering the age of your dog, I would go with a 15kg bag of senior food. Buying in bulk reduces overall cost and a senior food would be designed for your dogs needs (this is not a necessity, and some brands don't do senior foods, but just a consideration). Good brands inculde Burns, Clinivet, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, Royal Canin (although, quite expensive), Best For My Dog, Pro Pac... there are quite a few! Most large pet store will sell one or more of the above foods, as will some vets. You could also get them online (some good sites are www.zooplus.ie or www.zooplus.co.uk and www.dogfooddirect.ie).

Because you mentioned shedding, I would go with a food aimed at sensitive dogs like James Wellbeloved or Burns as excessive shedding can be linked to skin issues (flakey skin, dry skin, irritated skin etc.)

blahblah06

Cheers guys.
Tbh cost doesn't matter within reason.
I know royal canin does a boxer food but I've heard bad things about that brand

DBB

I think RC used to be pretty good, but since being taken over by Mars, it has gone downhill.
If budget isn't a limiting factor, I think as dry foods go, Barking Heads and Taste of the Wild are pretty hard to beat. They're grain free and have a lot more meat in them than other brands. Both are available on zooplus, but I've only seen Barking Heads so far on www.zooplus.co.uk. They've only recently started supplying it.

borderlinemeath

OP is there a typo in your post? From memory I thought your boxer was only a puppy? Is it meant to be 11 months? Apologies if I'm wrong!

lorebringer

blahblah06 wrote: »

I know royal canin does a boxer food but I've heard bad things about that brand

Royal Canin is an ok food, but very expensive for the quality of food you are getting. There is nothing particularly wrong with it (TBH, some people swear by it and some people loathe it) but I personally think there are many other foods on the market that are much better quality for a better price.

nc6000

I've my Cocker Spaniel on this for the last while and it seems to be a good food. Certainly better than Royal Canin or Burns. It gets very good reviews also.

http://www.ireland.edenpetfoods.com/

blahblah06

borderlinemeath wrote: »

OP is there a typo in your post? From memory I thought your boxer was only a puppy? Is it meant to be 11 months? Apologies if I'm wrong!

Ye she's 11 months now. Give or take a week or 2 LOL

blahblah06

I ended up ordering the James well beloved lamb and rice as it stated if helps with skin conditions so I'm going to try this.
Not much more expensive then what I was paying already.
Zoo plus is great
Thanks guys

niallo27

We have two retrievers on Royal canin breed and they are two big strong dogs. What bad things are people hearing since they were taken over.

feelpablo

I had my guy on james well beloved and changed to skinners field and trial and he loves it...also all seems to be well in the stool department too

nc6000

niallo27 wrote: »

We have two retrievers on Royal canin breed and they are two big strong dogs. What bad things are people hearing since they were taken over.

It doesn't get great reviews and for the same price(or less) you can get a better quality food.

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0060/royal-canin-medium-adult

Nody

niallo27 wrote: »

We have two retrievers on Royal canin breed and they are two big strong dogs. What bad things are people hearing since they were taken over.

Problem with RC is that the price tag is not motivated if you look at the quality of the ingredients vs. the content of the likes of Acana, Taste of the Wild etc. RC simply spend a lot more money on marketing themselves as a premium brand (and getting in with vets with profit given to vets etc.) when they are not close to a premium brand in the ingredients department.

Here's an example with Orijen Adult Dog (Acana's alternate name):

Chicken (ground with bone)*, turkey (ground with bone)*, whole herring*, chicken liver*, chicken heart*, whole eggs*, spinach greens*, pea fiber, turkey liver*, turkey heart*, whole flounder*, ground sunflower seeds, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, Red Heart plums*, Tilton apricots*, pumpkin*, Butternut Squash*, Imperator carrots*, cranberries*, blackberries*, blueberries*, kelp*, mixed tocopherols, chicory root, dandelion root, summer savory, peppermint leaf*, ginger root*, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate.

* delivered fresh

Note no wheat, corn etc. and the top five ingredients are all meat based and fresh.

Comparison here is Royal Canin Medium Adult:

COMPOSITION: dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour, maize, wheat flour, animal fats, dehydrated pork protein, wheat, hydrolysed animal proteins, beet pulp, fish oil, soya oil, yeasts, minerals, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides).ADDITIVES (per kg): Nutritional additives: Vitamin A: 12000 IU, Vitamin D3: 800 IU, E1 (Iron): 46 mg, E2 (Iodine): 4.6 mg, E4 (Copper): 9 mg, E5 (Manganese): 60 mg, E6 (Zinc): 181 mg, E8 (Selenium): 0.12 mg - Preservatives - Antioxidants.ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS: Protein: 25% - Fat content: 14% - Crude ash: 5.9% - Crude fibres: 1.2% - Per kg: Manno-oligo-saccharides: 0.5 g - Omega 3 fatty acids: 6 g including EPA/DHA: 3.1 g.

Notice the bolded parts (if you ever see those in a food be it cat or dog it's not good quality food)? Notice that it's poultry protein (i.e .they can't specify the bird(s) it's coming from nor is it meat per say but dried spare bird meat of dubious content) and lots of other additives required to reach a half decent values of the food content.