What are you feeding your dog?

TillyGirl wrote: »

EDIT: Will Orijen be ok for Tilly as she needs a light food? Thanks!

Again, to me a 'light' food means low protein, in order to be low protein the food would have to have ingredients other than meat in it. Can't have it every way I'm afraid.

Beet pulp isn't a by-product of sugar production its processed and dehydrated whole sugar beet, I've seen this somewhere else as well and at the time it looked to me like something someone with some limited knowledge of horse feeds (which I have vast knowledge of) regurgitated on to a dog website somewhere. What it does is expand to 5 times its volume when it gets wet, eg. in the dogs stomach, as do all dehydrated ingredients in dogfood and the percentage of it used is tiny. I assume it's used as it is very high in calcium. For horses beet pulp if fed, is a good chunk of their meal (usually 50%) so extra care needs to be taken as you prepare it yourself as opposed to in a complete processed feed. It is also the only dehydrated food fed to horses so thats why you will find special emphasis on it in this area. The other difference is this - horses are grazing trickle feeders they are designed to take in their food over the course of the whole day so their stomach is very small in comparison to large feeds of concentrate food a domestic horse will be getting. Dogs are designed to eat big meals a few times a day so they are far better equipped to deal with the expanding of dried food and they have a completely different digestive process. If anyone is still worried about dehydrated food swelling in your dogs gut just add water to it and let it soak first before feeding, it isn't necessary though.

If your dog can't deal with a high protein diet, it has to have some kind of filler in it.
I had first planned to feed my puppy Orijen and would not dream of it now given that she has shown that she has a mild reaction to high protein foods never mind the fact the vet has recommended you keep Tilly on a light food. Burns do a food with potato in it instead of grain if that appeals to you more.

TillyGirl wrote: »

Well no the RC Light has 30% protein & 11% fat. The Regular has 27% & 16& fat.

Who would have thought dog food would be so complicated!

Sorry but even 27% protein is far too high unless its for a puppy or a working dog. I cant beleive the light food with RC has 30%, thats madness!! I wouldnt even put a puppy on 30% protein, its way too much.

You should be looking at somewhere between 20-24% protein max for a normal pet dog that doesnt have high energy needs and the lower the better for a dog that has weight problems.

I would look at Burns, or Arden Grange maybe or JWB or Clinivet as their protein should be a lot lower.

i feed my westie Arden Grange

I feed my GSD Arden Grange and he is great on it. He's actually been excellent on all types of dry food we have given him lately(had to use some Bakers/Red Mills for a few days until his food arrived:o)......................except one:

The only food that ran through him was JWB and the same happened with my friends two GSD's so we think somethings up with their batches recently

Rommie wrote: »

I get it in the petshop Maxi Zoo in Tallaght, I think they have about 7 or 8 shops around the country altogether. I was going to start my fellas on Hills but when they told me about the Real Nature I went with it instead. You might be able to find some info on their website about it.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I wanted to come on to recommend the Real Nature Brand.

My dog (35kg GSD cross) loves it and so do I.

It might seem expensive but is more than worth it. 350g a day and she is flying - coat beautiful, eyes brighter and only one solid poo a day making my life much easier.

Do your dog and yourself a favour and buy this stuff