What do you feed your dog and why

What do you feed your dog and why

Author
Discussion

funbobby

Original Poster:

1,628 posts

264 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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I have recently rehomed a young rescue dog and I'm keen to get her on a decent diet but seems a bit of a minefield with the ingredients, she is currently on Iams but the trainer recommend burns but looking at the ingredients of that seems predominantly rice? Iams seems predominantly meat source but there are ingredients in there which seem to cause a bit of a fuss when I started looking at some reviews so what do people think ? The lady at the kennels said feed her cheap bulk so she doesn't have too much energy so safe to say won't be using that kennels!

SGirl

7,922 posts

267 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Our dogs are on Nutriment. They love it.

Well done on rescuing a dog, hope you have many happy years together. smile

Jasandjules

70,421 posts

235 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Raw meat and bones.

We feed this because we believe it to be the most natural and best for our dogs.

LordHaveMurci

12,072 posts

175 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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funbobby said:
I have recently rehomed a young rescue dog and I'm keen to get her on a decent diet but seems a bit of a minefield with the ingredients, she is currently on Iams but the trainer recommend burns but looking at the ingredients of that seems predominantly rice? Iams seems predominantly meat source but there are ingredients in there which seem to cause a bit of a fuss when I started looking at some reviews so what do people think ? The lady at the kennels said feed her cheap bulk so she doesn't have too much energy so safe to say won't be using that kennels!
We feed our two on Burns, 1 of them is a Westie, they are well known for skin issues but ours is fine on Burns. I believe Arden Grange is better for dogs that struggle to put/keep weight on.

Not sold on feeding raw, dogs have evolved over many years & haven't eaten raw meat in the main for much of that time.

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

152 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Lottie is on Puppy Beta at the moment but she is only 19 weeks old (though does seem to like it) she also has the occasional bit of chicken or white fish with that and special treats of small cubes of cheese (on very rare occasions) for the likes of being at the groomers.
You just have to remember that dogs, unlike cats, dont require meat as a base food.

funbobby

Original Poster:

1,628 posts

264 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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to be honest mine will eat anything and everything as she was a stray but would rather give her something decent inbetween stealing all our food !

bigbob77

593 posts

172 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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We feed ours Acana.

Why? Because:
1) You don't need to be a chemist to understand the ingredients
2) Proper meat is used
3) No fillers
4) The company is in Canada and uses only local Canadian ingredients. Nothing from China so (in my opinion) far less chance of contaminants, etc.
5) They use human grade ingredients. I don't think the food itself is human grade, because of the manufacturing processes - but the ingredients are approved for human consumption.
6) Not more expensive than some of the so-called "premium" supermarket brands, when you look at feeding guidelines - much smaller portions with Acana thanks to the lack of filler ingredients.
7) If your dog is fussy (ours aren't!) Acana offer different flavours where the only difference is the meat source (chicken/lamb/pork/fish/etc). So you can alternate flavours without upsetting their tummies.

Depending on where you live, it's probably online-order only. But I would still highly recommend it.

bigbob77

593 posts

172 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Jasandjules said:
Raw meat and bones. We feed this because we believe it to be the most natural and best for our dogs.
Good suggestion for outdoor working dogs.

Raw meat for an indoor pet = house splattered in raw meat juice and puppy-kisses crawling with human-unfriendly bacteria yuck

tomw2000

2,508 posts

201 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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https://www.naturalinstinct.com/

Since getting our first HPR breed (Oskar the Vizsla) we've put all our dog on this.

They all look really well on it. It's very nutritious. I was surprised at how little they need to keep weight and condition on.

We now have another HPR (weimy) and I believe they're better on this type of thing rather than over-processed junk - gives them half a chance of being sane smile.

Note: the green tripe and tripe mix ones smell proper rank. But they love it.

The delivery service is also excellent.

Just to add: ours also get raw chicken wings too as a treat.

Edited by tomw2000 on Friday 19th February 16:48

PositronicRay

27,422 posts

189 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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We feed Arden Grange.

Why?

a) It's a sort of goodish mid-range food.
b) It's what he was fed at dogs trust so we just kept him on it.
c) He loves it.

EnthusiastOwned

728 posts

123 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Millies Wolf Heart. Our young rescue Staffy is currently on Turkey and Veg (75% Meat, 25% Veg).

Natural ingredients, basically, meat, fruit, veg and botanicals. All ingredients you'll know and understand. Naturally hypo-allergenic.
Doesn't break the bank (a £40-50 bag will feed our Staff for 2 months).
Fantastic customer service should you need recommendations or help.
It's made in Yorkshire (so close to home for me).

More importantly he likes the stuff, has healthy bobbars and his arse doesn't smell.

geeks

9,562 posts

145 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Winalot. She loves it.

Plus the odd scrap wink

Jasandjules

70,421 posts

235 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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LordHaveMurci said:
Not sold on feeding raw, dogs have evolved over many years & haven't eaten raw meat in the main for much of that time.
Pray tell me, just how long haven't dogs eaten meat in their history?

The original Nick the Greek

366 posts

106 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Cats mainly.

I have a Caucasian shepherd dog.


elephantstone

2,176 posts

163 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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We feed ours James Wellbeloved Small breed dry stuff. I have been contemplating switching over to natural instinct with a hope it might make hattie slightly less nuts..

Jasandjules

70,421 posts

235 months

Friday 19th February 2016
quotequote all
elephantstone said:
We feed ours James Wellbeloved Small breed dry stuff. I have been contemplating switching over to natural instinct with a hope it might make hattie slightly less nuts..
Raw food should (generally does) calm a dog down. It's a little bit like switching a child from ready meals and fast food to a healthy diet.. Less e numbers....... Also smaller poos, less smelly too... Less waste basically.

elephantstone

2,176 posts

163 months

Friday 19th February 2016
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
elephantstone said:
We feed ours James Wellbeloved Small breed dry stuff. I have been contemplating switching over to natural instinct with a hope it might make hattie slightly less nuts..
Raw food should (generally does) calm a dog down. It's a little bit like switching a child from ready meals and fast food to a healthy diet.. Less e numbers....... Also smaller poos, less smelly too... Less waste basically.
So i've heard. We walk her, have set play times in the garden but she is just bonkers.. i cant see how a change of food will calm her down but its worth a shot. To be honest i like that shes abit weird/deranged... dont tell the Mrs!

FiF

45,264 posts

257 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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James Wellbeloved, he likes it, a choice of flavours to reduce boredom and it agrees with his gut, thus the excruciating nose hair burning farts and cosmically stinky often gloopy poos that he used to produce on Beta are a thing of the past.

Training treats are home made, thin slices of chicken breast, sweet potato or apple dried in a food dehydrator. Super special treats are dried liver, these reserved for difficult occasions.

HTP99

23,155 posts

146 months

Friday 19th February 2016
quotequote all
tomw2000 said:
https://www.naturalinstinct.com/

Since getting our first HPR breed (Oskar the Vizsla) we've put all our dog on this.

They all look really well on it. It's very nutritious. I was surprised at how little they need to keep weight and condition on.

We now have another HPR (weimy) and I believe they're better on this type of thing rather than over-processed junk - gives them half a chance of being sane smile.

Note: the green tripe and tripe mix ones smell proper rank. But they love it.

The delivery service is also excellent.

Just to add: ours also get raw chicken wings too as a treat.

Edited by tomw2000 on Friday 19th February 16:48
Daisy (Frenchie) and Barry (Terrier cross) are both on Natural Instinct and have been for about a year.

Why? Because we tried loads of other dry food and; Daisy in particular, just wasn't interested, it is 100% natural with no crap or fillers (rice), they both absolutely love it, their coats are glossy, Daisy is calmer (still mental though), not sure about Barry as he's been on it since pretty much day one and he's a mental Terrier, both are in a great condition; the general public think Daisy is too thin, vets comment that she is perfect and not overweight like most Frenchies.

And it is surprisingly not that expensive when compared to middle of the range dried food.

Tripe or tripe and beef is the favourite and also they like the fish banquet, when I'm dishing any of them up I am almost retching; but they love it.

Edited by HTP99 on Friday 19th February 21:06

jock mcsporran

5,033 posts

279 months

Friday 19th February 2016
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Natures menu plus duck wings, turkey necks, ox hearts, whatever bits the butcher has.
He loves it and everyone comments how soft and shiny his coat is.