diet-comparison of 'natural' branded food

[MotherOfChickens]

hello.
I a trying to do a bit of research into a better diet for my setter. He has no dietary problems that I am aware of and is an ideal weight but all this talk of RAW etc has got me thinking that I could do better by him than a well known brand of kibble.I don't however want to do the RAW/homecooked thing for a variety of reasons and cost is a factor.

So I have some questions, please be gentle!

How do Nature Diet and ones such as Wainwright's trays measure up as complete 'holistic' type food? Wainwrights would seem quite reasonable as he would need one tray a day (although this doesnt look like alot!).

can you feed a commercial food in part and also feed raw in the form of the frozen meat you get say at PaH. How do you know it's balanced?

I used to feed butchers bones but was put off when both dogs became very ill, but can I feed fish. eggs etc in addition to a commercial feed? He has coat issues (neutered setter with allergies but not food allergies) so would like to help that too. any help gratefully recieved-an if this doesnt make sense, blame the rioja..

 

[CinnamonChristmasCookie]

You can feed whatever you like as long as you think it's good for him. I go for most natural (and have added Nature Diet recently for variety-they all love it and get it mixed with raw or kibble-Orijen) I used a Wainwrights this week on the adult dog-loved it and he's a fuss arse.

Raw is cheap as chips if you source it properly so green tripe = £10.50 for 30lbs, chicken mince = £10 for a 60lb box, 10 kg of chicken carcasses for £10, went to lots of butcher to source all this and I add in whatever's on offer eg whole fish, chicken legs etc. My lot get whole raw eggs every now and then and offal is very cheap: I get whole pig offal from the butcher-lungs, heart, windpipe etc. Nice!

Whatever you choose, the thing to check (as you obviously are aware) is the protein content and ingredients so avoid cereal fillers. For dry, Orijen (Acana), Arden Grange, Skinners, James Wellbeloved, Barking Heads, K9, Wainwrights, all good.

I'm not keen on P@H meat chunks-Christ knows where they got the beef chunks from but if I see any beef like that again, I will actually chuck up)

I definitely wouldn't touch any dog food you can buy at a supermarket-all below par, IMO. Read the raw sticky on here and here: http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/111437-raw-feeding-everything-you-need-know.html epic but worth it.