Alternative dog food to Barking Heads

Cherry Blossom

Hi all, I've been feeding Barking heads, the green bag (lamb) for 3 years now and am looking for a change, should I just go for the salmon and potato one or can anyone recommend a different brand? Must have a long use-by date as I usually buy 2 large bags on-line at a time and must be chicken free. Similar or better quality please!

cocker5

Op,

I feed my cocker (who's 10) taste of the wild and find it excellent.

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/taste_of_the_wild/231924

i feed him nuts for his evening meal and for breakfast a mixture of boiled beef, carrots, butternut squash, peas broccilli etc

He's in great health (thank god) :pac:

Cherry Blossom

Thanks cocker5, does totw have a shorter shelf-life or is it one of the other better brands i'm thinking of?

cocker5

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Thanks cocker5, does totw have a shorter shelf-life or is it one of the other better brands i'm thinking of?

I'll double check when I get home as I only got a bag recently .. And I'll let you know.

But because I feed my guy only half a portion per day.. As I mix it up with cooked food.. My bag lasts me 5 months

Let me double check dates...

Cherry Blossom

That would be great, thanks for your help, i feed a bit of 'human' food too so the bag lasts quite a while.

Nody

Only throwing some other brands out there for you (don't know their duration, sorry!) would be:
Greenwoods Adult (Fish, Lamb or Turkey but with rice in all combinations)
Lukullus Dog Food Charolais Beef & Trout or Duck & Lamb (once again Rice is mixed in though)
Nutrivet 10 Fishes (Grain free!)
Optimanova Adult Digestive Rabbit & Potato and Sensitive Salmon & Potato; both are 70% meat (80% being top of the line level)
James Wellbeloved does a whole series as well but it's rather high in rice

Cherry Blossom

Thanks Nody, i'll try google later to see if I can find out about shelf-life. I tried JWB with my terrier years ago but it gave her the runs and she didn't particularly like it.

odckdo

I switched to Greenwoods dry food recently from Barking Heads to cut my bills as I have a few dogs. I alternate between the flavours: Turkey, White Fish and Lamb. We have been on it a few months and so far so good. (Lamb has a slightly higher meat content of the 3 flavours.) GWs I think is similar to the regular JamesWellBeloved - GWs though has a fresh meat ingredient which JWB doesn't.

Barking Heads might still be considered a better food as it has a higher fresh meat percentage compared to Greenwoods. (Does this mean less grain?) I read before that BHs after cooking has around 35% meat. I got in touch with GWs manufacturers www.matina-gmbh.de (a ZooPlus company that makes their other foods like Rocco). They told me that after cooking the turkey there is a 24% meat content. Then an extra 6% for the turkey gravy and turkey fat.

Also you can get GWs across all the Zooplus sites rather than being stuck to sterling with BHs. There is always some sort of reduction.

I also get GWs wet food trays which I think are great value: Chicken, Salmon, Lamb and Duck. I use these as a topper in the morning with their kibble and then give just dry in the evening.

Bought a few bags at launch in 11/14 - expiry is 1/16.

(GWs is made in the UK if that makes a difference.)

Cherry Blossom

Thanks odckdo, yes the cost of sterling is one of the reasons I want to change from BH. I will look into Greenwoods.

cocker5

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Thanks cocker5, does totw have a shorter shelf-life or is it one of the other better brands i'm thinking of?

My guys bag of taste of the wild was delivered last week in March.. Best before date is December 2015, so pretty good best before dates!

Good luck with ur decision!

Cherry Blossom

Thanks cocker5, i should use up 2 bags in that length of time so totw is definately an option.

mymo

I was feeding the barking heads 'bad hair day' the lamb one, but they must have changed the recipe as my fella won't eat it now. He does like the Markus mulle or lukkulus, so going to try them again.
At the moment I'm trying to mix stuff into the barking heads to use it up!
I have half a big bag here

Cherry Blossom

Any idea what the shelf-life of lukullus is like Mymo? I know it's a cold pressed food so assume it's shorter, but can't find info on the shelf-life anywhere.

mymo

No idea, sorry, I have lukkulus cans here but no dry. It's a while since I got the dry, tried taste of the wild but Oliver got really thirsty on it, I was getting worried the amount of water he was drinking. Fine since I stopped feeding it, the date on that was about 8 months by the way.

My two love the cans by the way, they smell nice actually, even my friend commented that it smells tasty!

Email zooplus? They seem helpful enough to deal with.

Cherry Blossom

Yeah that's a good idea, think I will drop them an e-mail. I'm leaning towards lukullus, might just order one bag first anyway to see how we get on with it. I've still over half a bag of Barking Heads left yet and Teddy is eating less of it everyday. Not sure if he has gone off it or just hoping to get something better, which he usually does! He's just a tiny bit overweight so it won't do him any harm to eat a bit less. I looked up that Greenwoods food too but I'm not keen on it as it has barley as well as oats in it. I may order a few tins of the wet Lukullus while I'm at it to try.

Springwell

Lukkullus is very good as is the similar Lupo Sensitiv range.