Dry dog food for large senior dog

blacklilly

Hi all,

We have a 9 year old Carpathian Shepard, we have him just short of 3 years and have been feeding him wolf of wilderness up until now. There seems to be a shortage in supply of this food currently so we are considering changing foods. In addition, he has some skin irritation on his belly which we think may be linked to the chicken content in the senior lamb WOW.

Would love to hear of any recommendations any of you may have for food for a large senior dog with sensitive skin. Wolf of wilderness is on the expensive side so would be happy to consider a less expensive alternative if the quality is good.

Ideally, we want to stick with a dry kibble food (we supplement with sardines as it is)

DBB

We've just finished our first bag of this stuff here... https://www.fetchyourpetneeds.ie/darf-regular-cold-pressed-dog-food/

I raw feed our 3 large GSDs, but I've one who's outrageously fussy, so I decided to try her on kibble, just to see. I found this DARF cold-pressed kibble and liked the sound of it. I also note that a certain raw feeding expert rates this as better than the good quality tinned food I have been supplementing the raw with! So, I'm supplementing the raw with this for all dogs now.

One word of warning... whilst my older GSD had no issues, I had to give the 2 youngsters a longer lead-in time as it just took them a while to adjust go it.

If you've any questions about it, I'll try to answer!

blacklilly

Thanks a mill. Do any of your GSD’s have sensitive skin and what ages are they? I see there’s a high chicken content in the Darf food you’ve linked.

Im never sure if the senior food is worth it or whether the adult food is good enough.

DBB

Sorry! There's a lamb version too! Link below.

The dogs are 6, and two 1yr old. The 6 yr old has mild skin issues which to some extent improved once I took her off the good quality tinned food, and put her on the DARF.

Senior food certainly has extra stuff in it that helps with maintaining joints, brain function etc, but actually... tins of oily fish contain a huge amount of the ingredients added to senior food anyway! I'd suggest, if you find a regular adult food that works for you, to continue with the oily fish, but also consider good joint supplements such as YuMove, also a supplement designed for older dogs called Aktivait. The makers of YuMove also make skin supplements called YuDerm which we've just started adding to the older dog's diet.

https://www.fetchyourpetneeds.ie/darf-lamb-cold-pressed-dog-food/

blacklilly

That’s all so helpful. I have heard that about the oily fish which also has the added benefit of adding some shine to his double coat.

I’ll look into Yumove also, we have been giving him arthriaid

tk123

Just on the YuMove… there’s a brilliant CAM talk about omegas and the therapeutic levels needed… It also mentions the fact that Lintbells who make YuMove are nutritiously secretive about the actual levels in their products - if you’ve been on the CAM FB groups a while this often comes up. The fact they don’t confirm the levels of epa/DHA (which is what we want for inflammation) kind of suggests they’re not at therapeutic levels… if they were they’d be shouting it from the rooftops?

https://youtu.be/EAHIHjLZwrM

harlley

Hi blacklily

I do use Belcando brand and they fo have food for seniors as well. Its food for sensitive dogs based on holistic ingredients. Link below:

https://belcandodogfoodireland.com/collections/belcando/products/belcando-senior-sensitive

Tony H

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119827081#Comment_119827081

how are your dogs getting on with the Darf ? , can't get her normal platinum lamb from the Irish supplier , got a bag of the lamb darf and going 50/50 for the first few days and so far so good , might switch to the darfnfull time but seems to be very little info online about it

Thompst1111

I have just bought the darf food for one of my dogs who for years now has had aweful stomach problems and has cost me thousands in vet bills in different vets all around the country. After reading up on this food, I'll be starting her on it this week I have a very strong feeling (and hope) Thay this might actually help her, in the way it's digested.. I'll keep you posted anyway 🤞🏻🤞🏻. There are also other brand of cold pressed food on zooplus but sticking with darf at the min

DBB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666051#Comment_120666051

Sorry Tony H, I was sure I had replied to you!

I stopped with the darf cold pressed because my utterly spoiled creatures are going through a "what? You expect me to eat THAT?" phase, even if "THAT" is a feckin fillet steak 🙄

I found that the darf needs to be introduced very gradually, and I won't lie, the amount of poop seemed excessive, but I suppose I'm more used to the more petite raw-fed poops 😂

So I'm afraid I'm not a reliable witness either way for the darf!

Tony H

no problem , she's doing great on it , output is great , which is just as well as the Platinum food she is normally on is out of stock for the last month , love to put her on raw but the boss say no

, we tried on one of our retriever s before and he never got the hang of it , lots of half chewed chicken in unexpected places .

Minimo62

Another raw feeder here, who has been using the DARF cold pressed - salmon variety - for the past year for times when I need the convenience , eg, not around so someone else needs to feed. It works a treat for our 2 - senior staffy and rottie x. Both keen to eat whatever is in the bowl - raw or DARF - and no adverse effects.