Best dry dog food?

cocobubbles

Hi all,

I want to change my dogs food, I've been feeding them commercial food but want to change to something better. I know Royal Canin are the best but are there any other brands that are just as good but cheaper? My dogs are crossbreed adults.

Any suggestions would be great thanks!

Rommie

Royal Canin is far from the best! It is overpriced crap far as I can see, main ingredient in most of the types is maize. What you need is a good food with a named meat as the first ingredient. Plenty of them are much cheaper than Royal Canin. Have a look at Zooplus and Amazon. Skinners is on amazon, it's a very good food. I think the duck and rice is around 25euro.

phelo2121

always found James beloved and ardeen grange very good

muddypaws

Rommie wrote: »

Royal Canin is far from the best! It is overpriced crap far as I can see, main ingredient in most of the types is maize. What you need is a good food with a named meat as the first ingredient. Plenty of them are much cheaper than Royal Canin. Have a look at Zooplus and Amazon. Skinners is on amazon, it's a very good food. I think the duck and rice is around 25euro.

That can be deceptive though, as some foods put the meat content in before its dehydrated, so it may be the first ingredient, but once its been dehydrated, the meat content in the food is actually a lot lower than is stated. RC may not have the meat as the first ingredient in some of their foods, but that is because they dehydrate it before they list it. At the moment there are no rules on this in animal food manufacture, but hopefully it will change soon and then all foods can be judged equally.

stoeger2000

cocobubbles wrote: »

Hi all,

I want to change my dogs food, I've been feeding them commercial food but want to change to something better. I know Royal Canin are the best but are there any other brands that are just as good but cheaper? My dogs are crossbreed adults.

Any suggestions would be great thanks!

Skinners is decent enough stuff, and not too dear. Have a look on amazon.
Red mills engage is good too, as is their leader range.
Royal canin is just overpriced for what it is. Probably because its imported from mainland europe.

Rommie

Good point actually muddy paws, i should have mentioned that. There are a lot of foods with dried meat as a first ingredient though that are nowhere near as expensive as royal canin

Missyelliot2

I use 'Select Gold" from Maxi zoo - having tried and tested loads!
Seems to suit our little guy! It costs €20 for 4kg, but they often have offers on.

Nody

Orijen/Acana if you want the best (along with a few others; not including RC); several others that are cheaper but as good (and cheaper) then RC.

Newport81

Barking heads is the best so far for me anyway!

I've tried burns arden grange hills science eukanuba.

There's a new one out called eden which got 5/5 on 'which dog food' but can only be bought online

lorebringer

Royal canin is very overpriced for the quality you get, there are lots of other (better) brands. Some of these include James Wellbeloved (a personal favourite of my guys - they all do very well on it), Burns, Select Gold, Real Nature, Acana, Orijen, Clinivet, Taste of the wild... there are lots out there!

If you are going to change your dogs food, be sure you di it slowly (over the space of a week/10 days) to ensure your dog doesn't get an upset belly.

Outkast_IRE

Used to use orjen , its a great food, but my dog was getting a little constipated on it. Now use Lukullus and that's working great for the last 18 months.

DustyMan

Red Mills Racer

Rommie

DustyMan wrote: »

Red Mills Racer

Red mills racer is a low quality food with a high cereals content and low undefined meat content. Some dogs may do fine on it, but the majority won't.

DustyMan

Oh. I reared a German Shepard from a pup who did really well on it, Grew up to be a fine dog. Just my experience.

teggers5

Has anyone any experience of Flatazor dog food? Ive been feeding my 3 on it a few weeks now. So far so good...

Nody

teggers5 wrote: »

Has anyone any experience of Flatazor dog food? Ive been feeding my 3 on it a few weeks now. So far so good...

Not overly impressed by the ingredients (wheat/corn/corn gluten appear to be reoccurring second/third in them) or the unspecified "animal protein" etc. so it would depend on the price; it's about RC quality level at a glance (i.e. I'd expect around 30/40 EUR mark for ~10kg).

aonb

I'd vote too for Arden Grange and James Wellbeloved.
My elderly dog who has gastric issues, Ive recently (thanks to contributing advice/suggestions on here ) moved to home cooked, which is working out GREAT and pretty economical too. I buy chicken thighs and boil up with rice and carrots, or mince which I cook with potatos/carrots. I also buy from Nolans butchers in Kilcullen their fresh cooked dog food - its only meat (they have their own abbatoir) with a very small (5%?) of added rusk, nothing else, which works out well and would be worth a trip if you are anywhere near, to buy several lots and freeze. Im sure you are aware of the RAW diet too (Im not great with meat so its not for me, but there are lots of advocates for it)

diegroblers

aonb wrote: »

...

I buy chicken thighs and boil up with rice and carrots, or mince which I cook with potatos/carrots.
...

Do you leave the bone in?

teggers5

Nody wrote: »

Not overly impressed by the ingredients (wheat/corn/corn gluten appear to be reoccurring second/third in them) or the unspecified "animal protein" etc. so it would depend on the price; it's about RC quality level at a glance (i.e. I'd expect around 30/40 EUR mark for ~10kg).

Its €40 for 15kg

Tropheus

My advice would be to steer well clear of RC and their marketing machine. Orijen is excellent, but expensive. I've recently switched our Beagle to Eden which is of similar quality and produced in the UK. Take a look at http://www.ireland.edenpetfoods.com/.

I've no connection other than having a happy dog that switched from the more expensive Orijen.

aonb

diegroblers wrote: »

Do you leave the bone in?

I boil the chicken thighs with the bone in, along with the rice, then take out the thighs, de-bone and chop up the chicken and mix back with the rice & veg. I put the whole lot into a huge tupperware in the fridge - get about 4 or 5 days of dinner out of it.

Cooked chicken bones are OUT for dogs, but raw chicken bones are ok. I reckon leaving the bones in for cooking is adding to the flavour/goodness Try it - its a good very economical option, and boy do my guys wolf it down!

endabob1

I have a similar question
I am returning to Ireland with my 3yr old Beagle and will need to get a new brand of food for him as the product her currently eats is a local one, that I assume I will not be able to get the same brand at home.

http://www.hungryhound.co.za/products/grandeur/adult

Ingredients:
Cereals (Min 80g/kg Rice), meat and animal derivatives (Min 140g/kg Beef & Chicken), derivatives of vegetable origin, vegetable protein extracts, fats & oils, fish & fish derivatives, Fructo Oligosaccharides, vitamins & minerals, Betaine, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulphate, approved anti-oxidants.

We went through Hills for the first 18 months or so and then he went off it, it took a few trys to get one he really liked and worked well for him. He had some dodgy bum problems until we settled on this one about a year ago so i would be hoping to get something with similar meat & cereal content.

Any suggestions??

andreac

endabob1 wrote: »

I have a similar question
I am returning to Ireland with my 3yr old Beagle and will need to get a new brand of food for him as the product her currently eats is a local one, that I assume I will not be able to get the same brand at home.

http://www.hungryhound.co.za/products/grandeur/adult

Ingredients:
Cereals (Min 80g/kg Rice), meat and animal derivatives (Min 140g/kg Beef & Chicken), derivatives of vegetable origin, vegetable protein extracts, fats & oils, fish & fish derivatives, Fructo Oligosaccharides, vitamins & minerals, Betaine, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulphate, approved anti-oxidants.

We went through Hills for the first 18 months or so and then he went off it, it took a few trys to get one he really liked and worked well for him. He had some dodgy bum problems until we settled on this one about a year ago so i would be hoping to get something with similar meat & cereal content.

Any suggestions??

Why would you want such a low quality food with Cereal as its first ingredient? Also, the meat and animal derivitives are awful too. Thats a poor quality food and i would be definitely looking for something much better than that if it was me.

There isnt actually any meat content in that, its derivitives which is crap parts of the animal.

Bullseye1

andreac wrote: »

Why would you want such a low quality food with Cereal as its first ingredient? Also, the meat and animal derivitives are awful too. Thats a poor quality food and i would be definitely looking for something much better than that if it was me.

There isnt actually any meat content in that, its derivitives which is crap parts of the animal.

Maybe you could list some brands you would consider good quality.

lorebringer

Bullseye1 - I named quite a few decent brands in my above post (on first page of thread). If your dog is prone to a sensitive belly, Burns or James Wellbeloved would both be good brands to try (my guys do very well on JWB and a bag lasts quite a while).

andreac

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Maybe you could list some brands you would consider good quality.

Theres loads already mentioned on this thread.

Tranceypoo

I switched my dogs to this food about 6 months ago

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/markus_muehle/128238#composition

They were on Burns but it was a bit too expensive, they love this food, they were a bit 'meh' on the Burns although it was doing them good, this one works out well price wise for us, this special offer has been on for months, since I started buying it and honestly I have one dog who can be fussy and sometimes she wouldn't be bothered with the Burns but she twirls around for this so we're all happy!

223vmax

aonb wrote: »

I boil the chicken thighs with the bone in, along with the rice, then take out the thighs, de-bone and chop up the chicken and mix back with the rice & veg. I put the whole lot into a huge tupperware in the fridge - get about 4 or 5 days of dinner out of it.

Cooked chicken bones are OUT for dogs, but raw chicken bones are ok. I reckon leaving the bones in for cooking is adding to the flavour/goodness Try it - its a good very economical option, and boy do my guys wolf it down!

+1

rat catcher

as stated what ever food you go for , make the change over to the new food is at least 7-10 days or you could upset the dogs stomach! Some dogs do great eating crap foods, but stay on the mid-high range brands. Just like some people can eat nothing but crap and look and feel great while the rest of us have to eat a balanced diet or pay the price! I find red mills leader or arden grange very good for my dogs but saying that I also thought they looked amazing on eukanuba it worked out very dear to buy but found it lasted longer, but my local supplier kept running out or did not remember to order it so settled with red mills as it was easy to pick up!

endabob1

andreac wrote: »

Why would you want such a low quality food with Cereal as its first ingredient? Also, the meat and animal derivitives are awful too. Thats a poor quality food and i would be definitely looking for something much better than that if it was me.

There isnt actually any meat content in that, its derivitives which is crap parts of the animal.

2 things;

1 - Just because it's the first ingredient does not make it the main ingredient, the meat derivatives are a minimum 60g per kg more than the cereal, regardless of your take on the quality of the meat derivatives.
2 - I've been through Hills, Eukanuba, and 2 other brands to get to one that the dog enjoyed and works well with his system, this one does. I am not asking for a critique of your interpretation of the ingredients I am asking for suggestions to a similar product.

andreac

endabob1 wrote: »

2 things;

1 - Just because it's the first ingredient does not make it the main ingredient, the meat derivatives are a minimum 60g per kg more than the cereal, regardless of your take on the quality of the meat derivatives.
2 - I've been through Hills, Eukanuba, and 2 other brands to get to one that the dog enjoyed and works well with his system, this one does. I am not asking for a critique of your interpretation of the ingredients I am asking for suggestions to a similar product.

Sorry, but the ingredient listed first is always the main ingredient.

Missyelliot2

andreac wrote: »

Sorry, but the ingredient listed first is always the main ingredient.

Agreed. It's just like the food listings for human consumption. The contents are listed according to the amount

aonb

EndaBob1, if your dog has a sensitive tummy, you might be best steer clear of commercial dog foods that contain wheat/cereals. You might try a rice based food? Cereal free is probably a good guideline. You might avoid the meat deritives by going with a fish based food? If he likes a fish taste (the breeder of my dogs feeds only home cooked when introducing litters to solid foods - they are all addicted to fish!) I would recommend the white fish/rice combination from James Wellbeloved. I would also recommend the salmon/rice combo from Arden Grange. Zooplus if you have an outlet near you does a salmon/rice one in their Select range too.

You could try buying small bags of food until you hit on one that your dog likes. Dont throw away anything he doesnt like - give to your local animal shelter! You could also try soaking the kibble/biscuit in warm water to make it a bit more appetising for a fussy dog.

Good luck, hope he settles in and settles down quickly!!