Premium Dog Food

Gael23

I know this topic has been discussed many times before but none of the threads are recent.
Im wondering how to make feeding stuff like Burns etc affordable over the likes of supermarket brands such as pedigree? We feed our guy Pedigree dry food which costs €7-8 for a 3kg bag.
A bag of Burns is €55 for 15kg, so thats nearly a euro more per KG. I know a better food is going to cost more and we all want the best for our pets but for us at that price it just isn't justifiable.

borderlinemeath

But you feed less Burns so it last longer.

I have bags of both here and for a 20kg dog you feed 245g per day of pedigree, but 200g of burns. Extrapolate the figures for a 3kg bag to 15kg and that would mean 15kg of pedigree would feed a 20kg dog for 61 days, but a 15kg bag of burns lasts a 20kg dog 75 days.

You would actually get better quality food than burns which contains loads of rice if you bought online, plenty of options on zooplus or dogfooddirect.ie

jimf

I well discussed topic here over the years for sure but most will agree that a better quality dogfood will require less per kg of bodyweight

personally I always apply the rule of feed the best you can afford

tk123

Burns might be an exception to the rule though - I fed it for a while and found the guidelines were a bit less than I needed to feed to maintain weight?

borderlinemeath

tk123 wrote: »

Burns might be an exception to the rule though - I fed it for a while and found the guidelines were a bit less than I needed to feed to maintain weight?

Yep, it does seem quite a measly portion size! Although when it's in the bowl it doesn't look like a small portion as each piece of kibble is so lightweight so it looks like a regular portion.

berger89

That seems super expensive! Do you have a gundog? I'm not sure on your circumstances but I know Gain do some really good feeds. 15kg Crunchy for about 15euro, and 20euro for the orange bag (can't remember what it is)

borderlinemeath

And I find some gain feeds are at the other end of the scale portion wise.
The guideline for feeding a 20kg dog gain crunchy is 315g per day which means a 15kg bag would last less than 48 days for a 20kg dog. The crunchy is really the lower end of the scale feed wise, low nutritional value so the portions have to be bigger. Plus I always find the poos from dogs fed on gain to be stinky and far looser and in turn difficult to pick up.

Gael23

berger89 wrote: »

That seems super expensive! Do you have a gundog? I'm not sure on your circumstances but I know Gain do some really good feeds. 15kg Crunchy for about 15euro, and 20euro for the orange bag (can't remember what it is)

He's a spoilt family pet! I don't even know exactly how much he gets because we just fill the bottom of his bowl every morning and he eats it whenever he wants, but I would say the 3kg gets 2-3 weeks. I'm just using burns as one that springs to mind and I looked at the feeding guidelines on that and our pedigree and they don't look to be massively different.

Nody

ryanf1 wrote: »

I know this topic has been discussed many times before but none of the threads are recent.
Im wondering how to make feeding stuff like Burns etc affordable over the likes of supermarket brands such as pedigree? We feed our guy Pedigree dry food which costs €7-8 for a 3kg bag.
A bag of Burns is €55 for 15kg, so thats nearly a euro more per KG. I know a better food is going to cost more and we all want the best for our pets but for us at that price it just isn't justifiable.

Markus Muhle NaturaNah sounds like it would be a perfect fit to be honest; about the same price (2.8 EUR / kg = 8.4 EUR / 3 kg based on a single 15kg bag) and if your dogs work with it you can order the 2x 15 bags from the German site to get it even cheaper (2.13 EUR / kg = 6.36 EUR / 3kg). It's not the best on the market but it's definitely a significant step up from the likes of supermarket feeds and many of the more common pet store brands. The thing is if you do change you need to do a gradual shift AND you need to measure it out because MM is very much more compact compared to pedigree's filler filled kibble (if you don't you basically going to be throwing kibble away and overfeed).

Gael23

That Markus Muhle can potentially work out even cheaper than pedigree.
Is it suitable for dogs of all ages?

Nody

ryanf1 wrote: »

That Markus Muhle can potentially work out even cheaper than pedigree.
Is it suitable for dogs of all ages?

I'm not a nutritional expert (I'm an nutritional amateur at best :pac: ) but barring vet telling you to cut fat to zero it should work for all ages. It's pretty much in line with their senior Black Angus feed (10.5% vs 10%).

Posy

Are there any decent wet foods out there? I've been giving my new dog some Hills dry food, along with sardines, salmon, tuna and some steak- but she's not majorly interested in most of it- especially the dry food. I think I'lll try that Markus Muhle that has been mentioned here on thread.

I got her a tin of Pedigree Chum and she went crazy for it- but the ingredients say '4% beef and lamb' which is a bit unsettling, tbh!

Corkgirl18

Posy wrote: »

Are there any decent wet foods out there? I've been giving my new dog some Hills dry food, along with sardines, salmon, tuna and some steak- but she's not majorly interested in most of it- especially the dry food. I think I'lll try that Markus Muhle that has been mentioned here on thread.

I got her a tin of Pedigree Chum and she went crazy for it- but the ingredients say '4% beef and lamb' which is a bit unsettling, tbh!

No wet foods are great to be honest! And Pedigree in general isn't a great brand despite the popularity. Have you tried some Hills and some chicken? Most dogs favour it over fish.

borderlinemeath

Corkgirl18 wrote: »

No wet foods are great to be honest! And Pedigree in general isn't a great brand despite the popularity. Have you tried some Hills and some chicken? Most dogs favour it over fish.

That's not the case anymore. There's lots of great wet foods on the market, you just won't find them in the supermarket or in most b&m petshops though.

Naturediet
Rocco
Rinti
Lukullus

These are just a few brands and theres plenty more if you look at zooplus. All are high in meat content without preservatives or additives and are cereal free. Naturediet contains rice but once your dog doesn't have issues with digesting rice it's one that even the most fussy and finicky of dogs will go mad for.

Gael23

Different debate again but what's the difference between a wet and dry feed?
Also our guy loves rice, as in he will eat a bowl of rice that we would also be eating.

Nody

borderlinemeath wrote: »

That's not the case anymore. There's lots of great wet foods on the market, you just won't find them in the supermarket or in most b&m petshops though.

Naturediet
Rocco
Rinti
Lukullus

These are just a few brands and theres plenty more if you look at zooplus. All are high in meat content without preservatives or additives and are cereal free. Naturediet contains rice but once your dog doesn't have issues with digesting rice it's one that even the most fussy and finicky of dogs will go mad for.

I'd throw in Bozita to the list; Swedish made with Swedish meat and has the key requirements of meat meal, sugar, colourings, soya or grains.

Posy

Thanks guys!
I'm dithering between Bozita and Lukullus. I suppose I can try both to see what she prefers- I've only had my dog a couple of months and I want to start off giving her as good a diet as possible. She loves bananas, carrots and broccoli, so at least she's getting her veg!

Gael23

Yes Lukullus looks good and affordably priced.chow would the dried food rate?

Gael23

Came across this very helpful and unbiased site
http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

We feed Pedigree to our 15 year old cocker spaniel, and at his hour of life that won't be changing. But if we get another after he leaves us then we will know better next time, back then there wasn't really as much about it as there is now.
Looking at different foods, TOTW would be my ideal pick but it's nothing we could ever afford.

VonVix

My boys went from Pedigree to Lukullus wet food and the difference in them is outstanding, both physically and mentally. Their coats are so much more glossy now and they seem a lot sharper/brighter. The excitement they have for dinnertime is huge compared to when they were on Pedigree, one of them has to run up and down the room a few times while I'm preparing his meal, he'll then spin when I have the dish out to give to him. Never had that reaction with any other food, and we had tried a few!

One of my boy's had a lot of eye problems (runny eyes, reoccuring conjunctivitis) but he has been fine ever since their food was changed. Even their poo is easier to pick up! So it works for everyone!

Gael23

Our guy is a grazer. His food is put out in the morning and is there all day whenever he wants it, although he will take most at night, we ( unwisely) never accurately measure out his kibble, but always put around the same amount in his bowl. He has always been a dog to eat when he's hungry and if he hasn't enough he'll tell you when he wants more.
He gets probably too much human food during the day but he's 15 so it cant do any harm!

Tropheus

I looked long and hard a food when we got our Beagle a couple of years ago. I tried Origen which is very much at the premium end. However, our guy doesn't tolerate very high levels of protein. We've settle with Lukullus from www.zooplus.ie and he's doing very well on it. It's grain free and has good quality ingredients. He has a sensitive tummy and it fits the bill.

There is a lot of very poor food out there at high prices pushed by big budget marketing machines. Have a look at the ingredients. If the first ingredient is wheat or some other grain, then steer well clear.

Gael23

Tropheus wrote: »

I looked long and hard a food when we got our Beagle a couple of years ago. I tried Origen which is very much at the premium end. However, our guy doesn't tolerate very high levels of protein. We've settle with Lukullus from www.zooplus.ie and he's doing very well on it. It's grain free and has good quality ingredients. He has a sensitive tummy and it fits the bill.

Lukllus would be about the max for us budget wise. It does look fairly decent and the kibble size seems smaller than MM which I like.

DBB

ryanf1 wrote: »

Lukllus would be about the max for us budget wise. It does look fairly decent and the kibble size seems smaller than MM which I like.

I haven't tried Lukullus, but I sent some to a fosterer last year, and they said the kibble was very hard, and the older dog they were fostering found it difficult to eat as a result.
Perhaps others who use it here can give their thoughts on this, assuming we're talking about dry food here, not tinned

Gael23

DBB wrote: »

.
Perhaps others who use it here can give their thoughts on this, assuming we're talking about dry food here, not tinned

We only ever fed our guy dry. Are there any benefits to one or the other?

VonVix

DBB wrote: »

I haven't tried Lukullus, but I sent some to a fosterer last year, and they said the kibble was very hard, and the older dog they were fostering found it difficult to eat as a result.
Perhaps others who use it here can give their thoughts on this, assuming we're talking about dry food here, not tinned

That's interesting, my experience was the total opposite, my boys don't like hard kibble at all but they ate the Lukullus kibble just fine. I couldn't continue feeding it to my boys only because they ballooned out in weight, not because of the food itself, but the fact they needed to eat less of it than my mother-in-law liked to feed them. :rolleyes:

I found it very crumbly (I tested it because I knew how my boys weren't fond of hard kibble) I could easily break it into pieces with my fingers. I had gotten two trial bags and a large bag and they were all the same, so it wasn't just the one bag I had gotten.

DBB

VonVix wrote: »

That's interesting, my experience was the total opposite,

That is interesting indeed!
I wonder is there is difference in varieties? Are some harder than others? I can't remember at this stage which one it was that I ordered, will have to check it out.

Gael23

VonVix wrote: »

That's interesting, my experience was the total opposite, my boys don't like hard kibble at all but they ate the Lukullus kibble just fine. I couldn't continue feeding it to my boys only because they ballooned out in weight, not because of the food itself, but the fact they needed to eat less of it than my mother-in-law liked to feed them. :rolleyes:

Sorry but I cant help getting a laugh from that:D

I found it very crumbly (I tested it because I knew how my boys weren't fond of hard kibble) I could easily break it into pieces with my fingers. I had gotten two trial bags and a large bag and they were all the same, so it wasn't just the one bag I had gotten.

Is there a long expiry date on the bags? You don't want to buy loads of it only for it to go off

VonVix

DBB wrote: »

That is interesting indeed!
I wonder is there is difference in varieties? Are some harder than others? I can't remember at this stage which one it was that I ordered, will have to check it out.

Just went back to my orders and all three bags were the Lukullus Charolais Beef & Trout flavour.

ryanf1 wrote: »

Sorry but I cant help getting a laugh from that:D

Is there a long expiry date on the bags? You don't want to buy loads of it only for it to go off

I think the thing with the Lukullus dry food is you need to feed your dog a lot less of it than you would another brand because it's not as full of grainy filler as some other brands are. But with the MIL it's always a case of "ah, but that's not enough" and yet she still wonders why they aren't losing weight!

I couldn't tell you for sure I'm afraid! I wouldn't say it has a short expiry date though. It was a couple of months ago when I tried the dry version. I think my two boys got through a 15kg bag in the space of maybe 6 weeks? They are a medium sized breed and weigh about 12kg each.

DBB

VonVix wrote: »

Just went back to my orders and all three bags were the Lukullus Charolais Beef & Trout flavour.

That's the one I was talking about too!
Bizarre!
I think we might have a case of very different perceptions here, unless of course there was something odd about the bag I got!

Gael23

VonVix wrote: »

.

I think the thing with the Lukullus dry food is you need to feed your dog a lot less of it than you would another brand because it's not as full of grainy filler as some other brands are. But with the MIL it's always a case of "ah, but that's not enough" and yet she still wonders why they aren't losing weight!

Ive had a look at the feeding guidelines of Lukullus and Pedigree and for a 15kg Dog which I think (?) is about a cocker spaniel size, theres only about 10g a dag in the difference of what you need to feed. Does that sound right?

Knine

I have never looked at the feeding guidelines on a bag of food. I just go by the condition on my dogs & reduce/increase as needed. I keep mine in very fit condition. Most pet Borders I see are fairly overweight!

Gael23

Neither have I to be honest, we just fill his bowl to roughly the same amount every day and he will tell you if he needs more, although that rarely happens. We never measure i though. And I know that different feeding bowls are different sizes so its not really accurate to say half fill the bowl without knowing the size but we know if he wants more.

Tropheus

Our Beagle has no problem with chewing Lukullus. It's the Charlois Beef and Trout dry variety. However, he is a two year old Beagle so I wouldn't expect him to have problems. We find it a very good food for the money.

Gael23

Tropheus wrote: »

Our Beagle has no problem with chewing Lukullus. It's the Charlois Beef and Trout dry variety. However, he is a two year old Beagle so I wouldn't expect him to have problems. We find it a very good food for the money.

I would be a bit worried about young Dogs chewing MM Naturnah because the kibble is quite large but things like that wont matter to an adult. I think Lukullus do a junior version also