Dog Food

Woblee

Woblee

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,306
Name
Lee
Edit My Images
Yes
Just after a bit of info from those who know a bit about dogs.


I'm looking at getting a rescue dog (7 month old ridgeback cross) and am a bit stuck on what food to get for him. I spoke to the center and they told me to steer clear of the multi-coloured dry food as it's full of additives, they reccomended ones like James Wellbeloved (he's on this at the minute) and Harringtons.

Now, I've had a look in the shops and and The James Wellbeloved is very pricey. The Harringtons one looks decent and is a good price. I've also got a friend who uses Autarky which according to their website is 100% natural stuff.


Now they all seem pretty same to me, all natural ingredients, all get reccomended by one person or another. But the prices vary greatly, is one really worth 3 times the other?
 
Woblee said:
But the prices vary greatly, is one really worth 3 times the other?
Click to expand...

Scrub that, just checked and the Autarky is similar price to Harrington's @ £22-25 mark, but can get it from Costco for just over £13!!

The James Wellbeloved is at the £40 mark though
 
My dog won't eat dry food only food she will eat is the beef and rice I have to cook for her. She's not spoilt honest:|
 
In addition to additives, There's a lot of 'not much' added to the cheaper complete foods which is why they cost far less for the same weight.

When you look at what the dog passes - then it becomes clear.

That said, Wagg is a cheap food people are often warned against but 2 of my dogs did very well on it. Teeth, waste, breath, weight, coats all top notch.

A 'raw' diet requires more effort on your part but many swear by it.

If complete food is what you want then others to consider are Eukanuba, Burns, Fish for dogs and Arden Grange.
 
Dry food? I'd recommend Science Plan - but that is expensive! Significantly more than any other brand. But we can see the difference in our dogs' [and particularly cats'] coats when we indulge them with the "Waitrose" stuff!

Don't know how much we save as opposed to how much we still pay, but we buy online in bulk from Zooplus.

FWIW our first rescue Jack Russell had been fed on James Wellbeloved. She was an RSPCA dog from Radlett and there seemed to be some sort of deal. Don't know if you're negotiating with the "Ridgeback Society for the Provision of Crossed Animals" too, but she's a doggy dog who'll eat anything and everything but she was very keen to change from the Wellbeloved we tried at the beginning
 
First thing to look at is ingredients list - if they use vague terms like 'meat and animal derivatives' and 'cereals' instead of (eg) 'chicken' and 'rice' then you don't know what's in there and it can vary bag to bag.
Then look at the vitamin levels.
Then compare the feeding rates - a cheaper bag of food can look bargainous, but not if the feeding rate is 50% higher.
 
Thanks everyone. Does look there's no definitive answer other than just see how the dog 'reacts' to different brands and then stick with one he agrees with.


@Jonathon, no he's not from there, but an independent local center. Although, Wellbeloved might be their preferred choice ;)


From what I've read, a ridgeback is pretty flexible in what they'll eat.
 
Headless Lois said:
First thing to look at is ingredients list - if they use vague terms like 'meat and animal derivatives' and 'cereals' instead of (eg) 'chicken' and 'rice' then you don't know what's in there and it can vary bag to bag.
Then look at the vitamin levels.
Then compare the feeding rates - a cheaper bag of food can look bargainous, but not if the feeding rate is 50% higher.
Click to expand...


Will do, have compared the nutritional info before but not thought of looking at the actual amount they'll need to eat if it
 
we had similar advice so used JW then Bakers Complete was on offer so I said 'chuff it' will try that, ended up dontaing 3/4s of a 15kg bag as she went wappy and her toilet times were horrible.

I would defo stay away from the colour added dry foods
 
Woblee said:
Thanks everyone. Does look there's no definitive answer other than just see how the dog 'reacts' to different brands and then stick with one he agrees with.


@Jonathon, no he's not from there, but an independent local center. Although, Wellbeloved might be their preferred choice ;)


From what I've read, a ridgeback is pretty flexible in what they'll eat.
Click to expand...

Don't forget he is a cross not pure bred so dont read up all about a ridgeback diet and forget his other half. If he's happy on what he's on and you can get it cheap stick with it but don't be surprised if he gets the squirts for a few days after if you choose to change his diet.
 
Yves Geza said:
Dry food? I'd recommend Science Plan - but that is expensive! Significantly more than any other brand.
Click to expand...

Science Plan (asuming it's Hills) is one of the more expensive feeds however Hills now do 'Natures Best' which is a more natural alternatve. Unfortunately I can't recall what the issue was with 'Science Plan' ingredients but a lot of people in the dog circles I know stopped using it.
 
Last edited:
As a dog owner for over 40 years and own and run a boarding kennels for 20 years if I may give a little tip about dry dog food

that is totally ignore the quantity it say on the bag all they are interested in is selling the product. What you really have to be careful of is how much dry food swells up. If a dog eats as much as possible and it swells in the dogs stomach this can easily lead to gastric torsion , commonly called bloat, and a dog can die from it in a very short time

So whats the answer?

Simple really, just take a small handfull of dry food and put it in a bowl. Then pour warm water over it and leave for a few minutes and see if the dry food swells or not. This is imitating the stomach. If the dry food swell up then think about feeding a smaller quantity two or three times daily giving the dogs stomach time to digest.

I am not going to suggest buy this or that product, but what I would say is when you find one the dog likes stick with it and don't change, dogs stomachs arn't the same as humans which accept a variety of food. By the way greyhound mixer biscuit is VAT free.

We prefer to give the dogs meat with a mixer biscuit, trying to match what the owner gives or we ask the owner to bring the dogs food in, nothing worse than having a dog reacting to food it is not used to.

Should the dog have an upset stomach then don't feed for a day then build him up using chappie first then chicken then back to it "normal food", this is the gentle way to get back to normal health.

Just 130 years experience between myself -my wife and Dawn my manageress working/owning dogs
 
Last edited:
pepi1967 said:
Don't forget he is a cross not pure bred so dont read up all about a ridgeback diet and forget his other half. If he's happy on what he's on and you can get it cheap stick with it but don't be surprised if he gets the squirts for a few days after if you choose to change his diet.
Click to expand...


They said he is crossed with a staff but are not 100% sure, so might be a Heinz 57, lol.

Do you think it would be worth while mixing his current food 50/50 with the new stuff for a little while first or just do a straight swap and hope for the best?
 
Look up CSJ foods. Very good quality natural foods at a reasonable price. They are a growing brand who rely on word of mouth for the business rather than advertising so that helps keep their prices down.

Choosing dog food is a bit of a minefield really as the only way you'll know whether one is good is by trying it. I tried all the major brands of varying price points when I got my dog, but they all caused one issue or another with my dog. We had toileting problems, hyperactivity, not eating, etc.
It's just trial and error really, but you'll find the right one eventually.
 
realspeed said:
As a dog owner for over 40 years and own and run a boarding kennels for 20 years if I may give a little tip about dry dog food

that is totally ignore the quantity it say on the bag all they are interested in is selling the product. What you really have to be careful of is how much dry food swells up. If a dog eats as much as possible and it swells in the dogs stomach this can easily lead to gastric torsion , commonly called bloat, and a dog can die from it in a very short time

So whats the answer?

Simple really, just take a small handfull of dry food and put it in a bowl. Then pour warm water over it and leave for a few minutes and see if the dry food swells or not. This is imitating the stomach. If the dry food swell up then think about feeding a smaller quantity two or three times daily giving the dogs stomach time to digest.

I am not going to suggest buy this or that product, but what I would say is when you find one the dog likes stick with it and don't change, dogs stomachs arn't the same as humans which accept a variety of food. By the way greyhound mixer biscuit is VAT free.

We prefer to give the dogs meat with a mixer biscuit, trying to match what the owner gives or we ask the owner to bring the dogs food in, nothing worse than having a dog reacting to food it is not used to.

Should the dog have an upset stomach then don't feed for a day then build him up using chappie first then chicken then back to it "normal food", this is the gentle way to get back to normal health.

Just 130 years experience between myself -my wife and Dawn my manageress working/owning dogs
Click to expand...

Cheers, there's some good points there I'll take note of. He's on twice daily feeds at moment so would stick to that. I'll also test the food for swelling.
 
Having experienced bloat / GDV with a deep chested dog then the point raised about swelling is one that was worth raising. It can happen in any dog (not just deep chested breeds) but you will find there's plenty of info available about this condition and diet.
 
Woblee said:
They said he is crossed with a staff but are not 100% sure, so might be a Heinz 57, lol.

Do you think it would be worth while mixing his current food 50/50 with the new stuff for a little while first or just do a straight swap and hope for the best?
Click to expand...

Mix it slowly over a few day. 80/20 in favour of his old food then increase over the next few days keeping an eye on his stools until you get to an 80/20 ratio of his new food. As been said watch for bloating and watery stools if all is good then you can swap him to 100% new food. It's sounds long winded and its a pain to do but it's your dogs health and its important for his well being. I've only ever had staffies never had any other breed of dog neither has any of my family not as far back as any of them can remember so it may be worth while checking with a breeder to make sure my advice would suit your dog but I think it's safe to say a little at a time and a watchful eye is all you need do.
 
We feed our dogs (spaniels) a mixture of dry food in the morning and raw in the evenings. As has been said see what suits your dog but given the horror stories of some brands, especially Bakers, I'd recommend giving some of the better ones a go first. We currently get ours from Costco but we've found CSJ to be the one we prefer (it's just harder to get hold of).

Raw food wise it can be cheaper than you think. Have a word with your local butcher. He/she will often give you chicken carcasses either really cheaply or for nothing at all. The side effect of this is that it encourages you to buy your meat from a proper butcher - good for a local business and the quality is so much better than the supermarkets.
 
I use autarky puppy at the min for my 10 month old cocker. Also mix in a small amount of nutri meat I think its called. Then when he is older will change to a batch of food I have used with my other dogs and with adult nutri meat seems to keep them happy and healthy
 
Watch for fillers in food- maize, wheat, cereals are indigestable by dogs so just come out of the other end and have no nutritional value. Harringtons may look good, but it's full of fillers. Food ingredients are listed with the highest % ingredient first, so in the case of harringtons this is maize, which is no good, so look for a food where the first ingredient on the list is meat or fish.

Look for a high meat content too.

Avoid Pedigree, Bakers, Wagg, they all contain carcinogens which are known to cause cancer in dogs.

fish4dogs working/finest, Wainwrights, Burns, Arden Grange are all good mid priced foods. amazon often sells them cheaper than any other pet shop, and for example fish4dogs often has offers on- I just bought 2 x 15kg bags of salmon working food for £72 instead of £100.

We feed our spaniel fish4dogs, it has a good fish content and she does very well on it. She has salmon oil too to help cracked dry paws, and raw bones from the butcher (but don't feed raw and dry at the same time, as they digest at different rates and can cause colic).
 
Last edited:
When you're changing foods over, as well as mixing the two, maybe add a little live natural yoghurt to aid digestion (unlike milk, which dogs shouldn't have, yoghurt is ok for them)
 
The slow chagne-over to the new food (whatever you choose) from the old is really the only way to do it.....well worth the effort.
 
I have fed my puppy on Wainrights trays, it comes as a multi buy box of 12 for £9.

It has very few ingredients and doesn't upset his delicate tummy. We tried all sorts of tinned and packet food until we found the one he liked and was easy on his tum, we also got him a bowl the slows his habit of wolfing his food down.

Good luck with the pup, I wouldn't part with my little fella for all the tea in china even though he's a nutcase with only 3 legs.
 
dinners said:
Science Plan (asuming it's Hills) is one of the more expensive feeds however Hills now do 'Natures Best' which is a more natural alternatve. Unfortunately I can't recall what the issue was with 'Science Plan' ingredients but a lot of people in the dog circles I know stopped using it.
Click to expand...

If you find out will you tell us :thumbs:

Let me add my thanks for the info - especially to realspeed
 
We also have Ridgeback Cross from a Rescue Centre and we feed her on Orijen.

It's natural and she loves it. We feed her twice a day 6am and 6pm - no problems. She has never left a morsel.

http://www.orijenpetfoods.co.uk/

She was on Royal Canin - but prefers the Orijen by a long way.

Good luck anyway.
 
We have a staffie cross (no idea what with) who weighs a steady 20 kilos at her annual weigh in. Her background was as a Battersea stray, found suffering from parvovirus, so she did not have the best start in life. She was about a year old when we adopted her and we've had her just over three years. She is fit, healthy, energetic and well behaved. She has never been ill in the time that we've had her.

From day one we have fed her Wagg Worker, which is VAT free and great value compared to most dog foods. She loves it and has never refused a meal or shown any sign of boredom with it. We do vary flavours, but that's it. It gets a "highly recommended" from me.

During winter months we feed it from the bowl, moistened with water off the boil and left to cool to a safe, but warm temperature. During better weather we scatter it on the lawn and let her "forage" for the food, which keeps her entertained and stops her rushing the food down.

In this photo we told her that there was some Wagg Worker in the ball....

20130608_114737_8665_LR.jpg


We also have a hard plastic Kong toy/feeder (as well as the rubbery version) into which we place a little of her food and she amuses herself chasing that round the garden once she's finished the loose stuff on the lawn. I think in zoos they would call it "enrichment".

Wagg Worker? Yummmmmmmmmmmm!

20130601_142118_8915_LR.jpg
 
Last edited:
look closely at the ingredients list, for a good quality food you want the first 3 listed to be meat of some kind (not derivatives) if within the first 3 ingredients there is cereal or something to that effect then it is useless.

also, i would suggest asking what the dog is currently being fed on and get some of that too, even if you dont plan to continue using it, switching from one brand straight onto another can cause diarrhea and stomach upset. Its much better to mix a little of the new food in, a bit more each day until you switch completely.
 
Todd if you look at the ingredients for wagg worker, it is not a good food-

Wheat, Meat Meal, Wheatfeed, Poultry Fat, Digest, Chicken Meat Meal (min 4% in brown triangle), Vitamins and Minerals, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Peas (min 4% in pea kibble), Maize, Lucerne, Yeast (0.08%), Citrus Extract (0.04%), Yucca Extract (0.01%).

so that's wheat, wheatfeed, beet pulp, maize, lucerne all that dogs can't digest so it will just come straight out the other end. Meat content is very very poor, 4% chicken in the 'brown triangles' and a bit of meat meal (which could be anything, bone, offal, brain, you name it). Wagg also has carcinogens in it that have been linked to cancer in dogs... so I'd urge you to get your dog onto a better food asap!
 
Look at the ingredient list, most dog food only includes 4 percent meat!

I recommend Applaws, Millies Wolfheart, or Eden. WhichDogFood.co.uk is a brilliant site to compare dog food.
 
Have you thought about a raw diet my gsd is feed one from a pup and in great shape I wouldn't feed anything else now
 
I'm probably the worst possible person to ask about commercial dog food . . . ours gets fresh meat, fresh grated veg and a little brown rice every day :lol:
All our dogs have done well on it though, when we moved house our new vet was astonished at their health and age.

All I can say is whichever food you do go for, follow the advice above and go for a gradual transition from their current food to whatever you decide to feed.
 
I have to echo what everyone else has said - JWB, CSJ etc. Generally if you can find a food in a supermarket rather than a pet shop it should be avoided, and Bakers should be destroyed on sight! I use Applaws - very good ingredients and one of the few that doesn't use any intensively produced meat which I believe is important. We tried almost all the good quality foods before finding Applaws which, as well as being both good for her and ethical, is the only food we have found which Pip (rescue collie x) will eat for more than a month or so at a time. She has been on it for a couple of years now and still enjoys it (and does very well on it).
 
I'll go against the grain.

It's a dog :-)

I have a purebreed Golden Retriever who for the last 5 years has been fed on scraps from the table and dry food from Lidls, yes, their own brand and he's given one scoop twice a day and he's fit and healthy on it.

His poo is fine, he's regular, doesnt fart that much etc.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. As I say, it's a dog, if he's hungry, he'll eat it.
 
Twizzel said:
Avoid Pedigree, Bakers, Wagg, they all contain carcinogens which are known to cause cancer in dogs.
Click to expand...

Wow you comfortable saying potentially libelous comments on a public forum? I am surprised your post hasn't been moderated.

Steve
 
Donnie said:
His poo is fine, he's regular, doesnt fart that much etc.
Click to expand...

Lol - Only dog owners talk about and discuss this aspect of pet ownership in such detail.

I am a dog owner too and I am also guilty of monitoring her health by the quality of what I pick up and bag every day :lol:

I bake Liver cake for my dog and that sometimes affects the toxicity of the gaseous omissions.

Sometimes I think she alone is responsible for the hole in the ozone layer and Global Warming.................

Too much Liver cake and she becomes a toxic mobile "Weapon of Mass Disruption"
 
Last edited:
steve_v said:
Wow you comfortable saying potentially libelous comments on a public forum? I am surprised your post hasn't been moderated.

Steve
Click to expand...

It's not defamatory. The list of ingedients is on the back of the pack. If you look up some of the constituents of the feed, you'll see additives that have been banned from the human food chain for ages due to their carcinogenic nature.

The manufacturers don't care what's said on forums, because people that research what their dog eats are definitely not their target market!


FWIW, I use Skinners Field & Trial. VAT free.


One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the protein content of the feed. It's the equivalent of feeding oats to a horse. The hotter that you want the animal to run (ie more energy), the higher the protein content should be. Roughly 18-21% for a well exercised non-working dog/out of working season and up to 28% for a working one in season.
 
We used to feed him Arden Grange but it's difficult to get around here so he's now on Wainwright's. Good choice of flavours.

He gets two handfuls (despite the bag saying much more - selling tactic to buy more?) and a spoon of Butchers Superior Real Meat in Gravy to take away the dryness and give it a good smell for him to tuck into.
 
Life is a fatal condition. It's also sexually transmitted (in higher animals) AND is a 4 letter word.

BAN IT!!!

(It's also far too short to worry about what's rumoured to be carcinogenic this week - next week the same ingredients could be reported to be vital for health...) I'm not suggesting for one moment that anyone should feed any animal Benzene or similar - chances are they'll inhale that all on their own but neither should we be so @n@l as to scrutinise every pack for a hint of scaremongered ingredient. Anyone got a list of 100% guaranteed safe foods? Chances are that even the best meat available contains traces of antibiotics (used even in many organic herds as a prophylactic against infections) and similar c@rp...
 
we feed our GSD on chappie - nothing else is good enough for him. Id stay clear of dried food as it makes them thirsty and they can get the skits because of it. go with what ever makes him happy. with rescue dogs you may find they don't actually eat for a day or two after re homing. sometimes you just have to try various food stuffs to see what they prefer.
 
we do a mixture of
dry food (www.canagan.co.uk)
raw food (raw chicken wings, raw meaty bones)
wet dog food (natures menu & nature diet)
people food (yoghurt, cottage cheese, roast chicken without bones, baked beans, banana, pears, Uncooked broccoli, carrots, cabbage)

we think it's nice for them to have a variety, and the raw element is closer to their 'natural' diet anyway. And no, before anyone asks, the beans DO NOT make them fart!!! In fact, none of them have that problem at all :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top