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sorry for the lack of bike chat>..
My dog is rejoining me in the UK on the weekend. I've no idea about which brands of dog food to avoid/ choose.
She's a 35kg Swiss Shepherd. Any recommendations?
We use James Wellbeloved. Dry food and our Border Terrier has never had any issues with it.
+1 James Wellbeloved
We use Harringtons.
It's a dry food, but we add fresh veggies in with it..
We use Iams as our vet recommended it (they don't sell it so I trusted the recommendation a little more)
Skinners Field and Trial
Tescos own make
Avoid anything with wheat in it.
Lily's kitchen is popular with my two.
Take your budget, find the best food in your price range.
https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory
Mine gets raw food which includes bone, meat, organs, fruit and vegetables. Maybe some herbs too. She also gets meaty bones to gnaw on which helps keep her busy (she's a terrier) as well as helping keeping her teeth clean. Seems to do well on it. I've never seen a tail wag more than it does when she's about to get a couple of lamb ribs 🙂
I get it from here:
https://honeysrealdogfood.com/
Happy dog reunion btw 🙂
I highly recommend using pet forums dog food section where a lovely lady called Rona categorises all dry and wet dog food into categories of quality along with price per portion. I stick to amber and what I am prepared to pay which works out the be burgess sensitive lamb and rice. This will differ for your budget etc.
Dr Johns Silver. £11 a bag now for 15 kilos I think. It is all the sheepdogs ever eat (apart from afterbirth at this time of year and a few bits of dead/rotton stuff whenever they can find it). And they all live to be well over 13 without so much as a vet visit and usually die in their sleep. You can pay a lot more. But I don't know why you would?
James Wellbeloved here also.... damn expensive but our cocker is in rude health and looks great.
We use James Wellbeloved. Dry food and our Border Terrier has never had any issues with it.
Exactly that.
One of the non-wheat or gluten CSJ feeds. They operate through select local suppliers and you'll need to use their website to find your nearest one. Ours is an older lady with a garage full of dog food.
We need pics obviously!
Basic working dog food from agricultural suppliers. All this processed dog food causes bad teeth and health issues. Our collies never have any major issues or teeth issues.
Our old English is on raw food, mix of meat, bones, offal and veg. Has been for a year now and still loves it. Got bored of kibble real fast and she never settled with it, love carrots and broccoli though...
+1 James Wellbeloved complete dry food, adult. , Dry in the morning, dry with a bit of wet and a sprinkle of 'Joint Aid' granules in the evening (they are getting on a bit).
I've only ever tried IAMS. It was fine. A bit grainy and kept repeating on me. A bet's a bet though.
I get the raw Natural Instinct stuff from a place round the back of my works.
Dogs love it and it reminds me of mincemeat in an ice cream tub.
Burns dry food.
As others have said, avoid anything with wheat in it.
thanks for the advice folks. I was looking for some higher protein content food.
Does anybody order from the internet and get it delivered?
As for pics, see below.
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Whatever you decide check the label and make sure the list of ingredients adds up to 100% (same with the list of analytical constituents). If it doesn’t (I’ve just checked one of the better quality foods, mentioned by a number of posters on here, and it the ingredients only add up to 68%) then you can only speculate what the missing ingredients are. These missing ingredients are ones that can be changed without you knowing, so you can find something your dog has been happy and healthy on for months can suddenly upset your dog and it no longer wants to eat it or worse the new unlisted ingredients cause health problems for your dog, usually itchy skin or a rash which can involve numerous expensive trips to the vets to try and determine the source of the problem which you can never pin down to the food as the ingredient which is the culprit is not listed.
Also try to keep away from foods that have a lot of E numbers in their additives list.
If you’re having trouble sleeping and want something to read you could check out the pet food legislation www.pfma.org.uk/uk-pet-food-legislation
Beware forums (everyone believes they are feeding their dog the best food) and pet food comparison sites (which often have hidden backing from manufacturers so are not totally unbiased).
Best advice I can offer is check the labels first and once you’ve found a food where all ingredients are listed, that your dog enjoys and is healthy on, and that you find affordable, stick with it!
Whichever makes your dog fart the least!
Harringtons was like putting my dog on a vegan diet with lots and lots of beans. The gases could have killed us if we'd continued with it.
Kirkland dry food from Costco. Our Akita had quite a sensitive stomach and most other foods gave him the runs.
My lab eats raw beef and green tripe, with a bit of fruit or rice mixed in, and occasionally some carrot. The green tripe means she gets digestible greens. She also gets a few meaty lamb ribs to keep her and her teeth in good shape. We have the raw meat delivered in 3lb bags at £1.50 each and she goes through one in a couple of days.
One of the real advantages is the poop. Her stools are firm, not very big and not particularly foul. They pick up really easily. Compared with some dogs fed on kibble I know which I'd rather deal with.
Our two get Natural Instinct raw meat and duck necks/lamb ribs/etc - wouldn't have them on anything else, ever. Theirs are the only dogs on the yard (out of 8 ) whose stools don't stink to high heaven, and everyone always comments on how fit and healthy they look. No bad breath or dental issues on either. We switch between the chicken (usual), the turkey (leaner, if they need to slim down) and the duck (higher fat if they're getting more exercise and dropping weight).
My two labs are both on Arden Grange Large Breed
Junior is on puppy food still, but they'll be moving to the same food when the time is right
Seems to suit them, don't mind paying for something that I know works well for them. Their coats are so shiny that taking photos are a nightmare (shiny black dog), they don't get baths, just a cold hose after a muddy walk
Mind you, they don't seem to mind eating all sorts of other available crap when they find it
Millie's Wolfheart here too for our lab and boxer. Order in bulk online, quick delivery.
They have a range of wet/dry options with differing protein/fat/carbohydrate ratios. Good, natural food.
We feed our dog on Lidl's Orlando dried food, about 7 quid a sack.
The vet always say that she is in great condition for an 11 year old dog.
The vet always say that she is in great condition for an 11 year old dog.
But she's only 4. 😆
I feed mine Markus Muhle cold pressed + whatever meat is in the bargain bin at the supermarket. This week it's been beef heart, but turkey mince, beef kidneys, chicken livers all go for peanuts at Tesco
Mine (40kg) gets a mixture of Naturediet wet food mixed with Arden Grange or Science Plan kibble (for sensitive tums). He has been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and seems to cope well with these foods. If his IBD flares up, I change to Natural Instinct raw food for a few days and that seems to calm his stomach. Vet is happy with the results and dog loves his food.
Suede says hullo to the bear.
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We gave our Lab Welbeloved for years as it was the only decent one that kept her chod in order. Always bought the 15kg bags when on offer but the offers seemed to be getting fewer and less generous.
Tried her on the Harrigtons stuff as we had to get an emergency bag from the Supermarket and found that she enjoyed it at least as much and although not quite as good at producing neat bobs it isn't too bad. She seems as healthy and full of energy as ever. The fact it's half the price of Welbeloved and can be bought from either of the big supermarkets in town mean she's stayed on it.
mefty - Member
Skinners Field and Trial
We used to use this for years (for my 2 dogs and also my parents for their 4) and pretty sure it was the cause of bad teeth in all the dogs. It seems to have a sticky molasses coating and since moving away from it our dogs teeth have improved (or rather stayed clean after they had a scale and polish!). I now use Purina Proplan for my young lab and she's great on it - my BIL is a vet and that's what he feeds his 2 on. The older dog is on Arden Grange senior as she's a fussy old sod, but loves it.
[b]@HansRey[/b] - we use Berrywood for our dogfood deliveries. Very reliable, quick delivery (even when you don't pay for next day, often arrives next day). Very convenient.
A fine looking dog indeed! Thanks for posting pics. 8)
Interesting thread. Our 5 month old Ginger Lab (Fox Red for the posh) is on Chudleys Puppy/Junior, however I checked the constituents after reading earlier & less than half are listed plus she farts like a farty thing! So we'll be looking at something else. The LPS (local pet shop) has a decent range in luckily.
I went to Pets at Home in Croydon yesterday for dog food and treats. We got her a 12kg bag of some James Wellbeloved food. The food was well priced, but the treats and toys...
She's gonna get a stick from the park to play with when she breaks her new toys.[img] 
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+1 for the honeys real dogfood raw food. Our Rottie has fungal skin problems and our staffie cross terrible fart problems and both are clearing up on the raw food. Honeys will offer you no-expectation, vet-led advice and quotes as well.
We have the raw meat delivered in 3lb bags at £1.50 each and she goes through one in a couple of days
Where do you get this from? We're looking at going more DIY and looking around for options.
Yorkshire Raw Feed, Birstall. They only deliver in Yorks though.
Which dog food? The one that's on offer. It's a dug, not Jay Rayner.
James Wellbeloved Lamb and Rice if they're all the same price.
Porridge with tinned tuna stirred through it if we ever run out of dog food.
The most recent winner of the bowl-pushed-furthest-round-the-kitchen-in-pursuit-of-the-last-molecule seal of approval is AVA Vet Approved senior chicken flavour. Nori the Scottish terrier seems to really love this stuff.
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And yes, it's on offer at Pets at Home.
@ StefMcDef
Glad that approach works for you - Nori certainly looks like he's doing well on it - but don't knock people who want to put a little more thought into their dog's food. Some dogs may actually benefit from eating food other than the stuff that's on offer at Pets at Home.
I mean, I don't eat the human food that's on offer at Sainsbury's and I'm not Jay Rayner either.
Raw is the way to go. It's done the canine world proud for thousands of years. As previously mentioned by other posters who feed raw, our dogs "numbers two's" come out less often and being little pebbles much easier to pick up unlike the humongous piles of gloop I see some owners have to pick up. The way I look at it is the body takes on the food given to it, takes out the good stuff what it needs and craps the useless stuff out. If you feed your dog loads of crap you'll get loads of crap out. Ever heard of the saying fit as a butchers dog ? Rings true imo
i was skeptical about the raw diet, but my parents have raised their gsd pup to adulthood with it and he's in great shape
Have been feeding ours Cannagan which he's got on ok with but some of the remains have been difiicult to Bag ! Swithcing to Simpsons now bought online and delivered and the results seem good - have transitioned across very gradually though and will move off Puppy and onto the Big dog stuff in 4 kgs of food time.
Would really like to switch to Raw but just don't have space for the extra Freezer currently that it would need.
The ultimate answer has to be Raw and then take yoru pick of the 80/20 foods after that - thats what we came up with anyway