What do members think about dog food?

[Kazz]

One thing I would say is find something that suits you and Ranger and stick with it regardless of websites, info advice.
As long as its within your budget and Ranger does well on it then go with that.

I don't feed raw nor kibble. And feed as you can see a none elite dog food but it suits us, and she does well on it.

[Moli]

Butchers are now doing a dried food....

[alexgirl73]

thanks for that Kazz

I saw in the supermarket today that butchers have started doing a dry dog food. Looked at the main ingredients and the first one stated is cereal, then meat. Obviously I don't know what sort of reviews this has had yet, but it does seem rather multicoloured according to the packet.

I prefer the idea of feeding tinned meat with mixer, as I feel it is closer to a natural diet tbh, but kibble is easier I suppose. Argh, it's always decisions, decisions with these animals lol .

[MrsH]

I've just been trying to find out about Butcher's to see what the ingredients in their dry food are but I can't find a company website. There is one but it hasn't been updated since 2009.
Best advice on choosing a kibble is to look at the ingredients on the packet, with most kibble there's going to be a high proportion of cereal but if it's not named how can you find out what variety of cereal? Is it wheat, oats, rice etc?

Is the meat named eg chicken, rabbit etc or is it just meat? Does it say anything like "animal derivatives" ? I think this means all the skin and hair is included (but I could well be wrong there)

Is there any sugar in any form in it? Dogs don't need sugar at all yet a lot of manufacturers of pet food include it in one guise or another because it's a cheap way of providing calories. Nor do they need pretty colours in their food who knows why the manufacturers of some dog foods add these

[Velvet]

I can't speak for Butchers dried food but I can for their tinned. It is very good. I know that because Katie (with her renal disease) can tolerate it

For some dogs it is better to avoid kibble that contains cereals and grains

You can get kibbles that have fish and potato, meat & veg etc.

Of purse many dogs do well on kibbles packed full of cereal and grains

General rule of thumb is to keep to the holistic range of dog foods

The other food that is very good and reasonably priced is Wainwrights which you can buy at Pets at Home

[Kim]

Originally Posted by MrsH

I've just been trying to find out about Butcher's to see what the ingredients in their dry food are but I can't find a company website. There is one but it hasn't been updated since 2009.
Best advice is to look at the ingredients on the packet, with any kibble there's going to be a high proportion of cereal but if it's not named how can you find out what variety of cereal? Is it wheat, oats, rice etc?

Is the meat named eg chicken, rabbit etc or is it just meat? Does it say anything like "animal derivatives" ? I think this means all the skin and hair is included (but I could well be wrong there)

Is there any sugar in any form in it? Dogs don't need sugar at all yet a lot of manufacturers of pet food include it in one guise or another because it's a cheap way of providing calories. Nor do they need pretty colours in their food who knows why the manufacturers of some dog foods add these

Yes, this is exactly what it means, beaks, feet etc, too.

I still think Burns is an excellent food, developed by a vet and an holistic food http://burnspet.co.uk/ Staff are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and they are always happy to send samples. However, I think a diet just consisting of kibble must be a very boring one for a dog, you could always add some chicken, tinned food, sardines (great for coat) etc.

[Shelley123]

before we got Malaika i have to admit to never reading the ingredient list on petfood, i trusted what it said on the front of the packet. Since joining forums i have learned a lot.
I did have some info on how to read packets and found this very helpful as well as a bit confusing.
Malaika and Kwame have two meals a day, they are fed James wellbeloved kibble soaked, every few days i give them something else either with a reduced amount of kibble or plain mixer. They like tinned pilchards, butchers trays, wainwrights meat, egg and cooked veg. They also have raw a couple of times a week, usualy chicken or lamb mince.
I tried Malaika on chicken wings as an older pup and she loved them but screamed a couple of times as she swallowed so i compromise and feed the mince.
Malaika's breeder told us never to feed dry kibble as Basenjis don't drink a lot and could apparently get dehydrated. We were also told not to give bones.
We are very lucky that both dogs relish their food and it gives me pleasure to feed them and see them enjoy, although Kwame inhales his meal.

[Kazz]

Yes made a point of going down dog food aisle today and saw the butchers dried.........colours shame never had time to read the back colours put me off.

I have never been brave enough to try any of my dogs on raw chicken....they have all had raw beef which they adore but every other meat is cooked.

[Shelley123]

Karen, it goes against the grain to feed raw meat doesn't it.
Apparently because a dogs intestine is shorter they don't get the same infections we would get . There is so much to feeding pets nowerdays, i thought i knew all about dogs untill i joined forums and met dog people at shows etc.

[Velvet]

We fed raw for a year but it didn't agree with any of them. Would still give Harvey raw every now and then. Chicken wings they do get - Harvey would get more often and more of than Katie

Shelley - did you just hand them chicken wings? Even now I have to hold Harvey's for him as he would just crunch once and swallow. By holding onto it, means they have to crunch a few times before swallowing and therefore break them down a bit more