Does anyone NOT feed their dog grain free?

MurphysMinder said:
I wouldn't have a problem feeding grain, though Zenya is on a mix of Millie's and raw as she showed signs of an allergy as a youngster. I usually just either increase or decrease feed to manage weight. If Ivy isn't a picky eater I would just give her more kibble and don't worry too much about all the extra toppers.
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My worry is that without the toppers we may need to increase the kibble amount by quite a bit and we're already feeding her at the top of the guide range for dogs up to 35kg which is quite a bit more than her healthy weight.

Also...bit worried about the poos if we keep increasing volume in! If we have to feed more of anything obviously we will, but if we can optimise without having to feed much larger volumes that would be ideal.
 
I always recommend Millie’s but it wasn’t working for a couple of mine now they are in hard work. To have enough to maintain weight they were doing horrible sloppy poos.
A couple of people out shooting use skinners working 23 and their dogs look ok. I would worry feeding the muesli that it wouldn’t have enough protein for working.
 
MurphysMinder said:
Maybe the Millies just isn't right for her, which one is she on?
Not a fancy topper or supplement but I find a couple of Bonios (for a GSD) can add weight quite quickly. By no means a "healthy" diet option but does the job.
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Lamb and Veg currently, which they recommended. She's been on various mixes with them in the time we've had her, mostly chosen with their recommendation. The high fat one was my idea and did help her gain weight and condition after the stress of a house move, but I take the vet's point that it's not ideal ongoing. The MW seems good quality food and ideally I wanted to stay with them as their customer service has been good too, but it seems I need to be open-minded to trying other brands.

Clodagh said:
I always recommend Millie’s but it wasn’t working for a couple of mine now they are in hard work. To have enough to maintain weight they were doing horrible sloppy poos.
A couple of people out shooting use skinners working 23 and their dogs look ok. I would worry feeding the muesli that it wouldn’t have enough protein for working.
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That's interesting and quite helpful to read actually as I'd been assuming maybe it was something about her breed meaning the feeding guidelines weren't quite right, so with all the previous mixes we tried apart from the high-fat one we were feeding over the guideline amount (by quite a lot when you consider the upper end of the range was for 35kg dog and she's only aiming for around 27-28kg!). Their info says we should need to feed less volume compared to other brands but I've yet to test that out.
 
I honestly ignore the feeding guides completely, some of them seem to be plucked from the sky or must be aimed at very sedentary animals! If you can work out her daily calorie requirement you can figure an estimate of how much you’d need to feed to maintain ideal weight and see how it compares. I’d have to feed mine like a dog 10kg larger according to some guides, they could have you starving a dog to follow it

Eta. A looking at the lamb and veg guide it undershoots what mine would need too
 
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Calibra for both of mine, I remember when we first started looking for decent food for them it was the only one that I could see clearly exactly what is in it as I am far from an expert. One is on their mobility kibble and the other on her Calibra hypoallergenic insect diet, as prescribed by the hospital. Both look very well on it I have to say.
 
Yep, I use a mix of grain free and grain included feeds depending on the dog. Currently feeding Royal Canin 4800 (Sled dog food, 34% protein, 30% fat!), Briantos Duck grain free, Red mills Engage Beef, Red mills Engage Duck and Rice, Schesir mono protein fish, Royal Canin Maxi Puppy, Burns Senior/Weight Loss Chicken and Maize. So a real hodge podge depending on the dog.


And I wouldn't touch AADF with a barge pole.

Basically feed what suits your dog.
 
druid said:
Yep, I use a mix of grain free and grain included feeds depending on the dog. Currently feeding Royal Canin 4800 (Sled dog food, 34% protein, 30% fat!), Briantos Duck grain free, Red mills Engage Beef, Red mills Engage Duck and Rice, Schesir mono protein fish, Royal Canin Maxi Puppy, Burns Senior/Weight Loss Chicken and Maize. So a real hodge podge depending on the dog.


And I wouldn't touch AADF with a barge pole.

Basically feed what suits your dog.
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I'd be interested to hear your view on AADF if you're able to say?

I had started to notice it seems to privilege very high protein foods in the rating system and more protein isn't automatically better, and when I tried to filter by lower protein it didn't seem to work.
 
ihatework said:
I downgraded from expensive fancy, to skinners field & trial and tbh both dogs do better on skinners 🫣 just looked at the ingredients, rice & oats seem to be the main carb source for one and maize/oats/barley for the other.
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I like Skinners F&T too, our terrier did well on it. I only stopped buying it because the bags (available from the local agricultural store) are so enormous that an 8kg dog couldn't get through it all before it went stale!!
 
Stopped using Fish4Dogs years ago when they bulked it out with pea fibre, which made the mostly whippet very poorly. Changed to Angell PetCo (the original Fish4Dogs) until they did the same thing. Now on Butternut box/Forthglade, with added sweet potato/sardine and with handfuls of Skinners Field and Trial for extras if he wants it. He declared he would not eat any dried food about 2 months ago, hence the change to wet. As he's 16, I couldn't be arsed to argue. The Butternut box he adores, and digestively is amazing but he has dropped weight, so had to top it up with carbs.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
I'd be interested to hear your view on AADF if you're able to say?

I had started to notice it seems to privilege very high protein foods in the rating system and more protein isn't automatically better, and when I tried to filter by lower protein it didn't seem to work.
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I'm not convinced by the rating system or his credentials to be pontificating about foods
 
I hadn't been on AADF for a long time; one of the first top rated dry foods I clicked on is 49% protein and £131 for a 12kg bag.

Also since when did Cobbydog branch out into the cold pressed grain free type market, I remember them for the muesli that only had a sneeze of meat content in it, and that sticky multi-coloured kibble.
 
blackcob said:
I hadn't been on AADF for a long time; one of the first top rated dry foods I clicked on is 49% protein and £131 for a 12kg bag.

Also since when did Cobbydog branch out into the cold pressed grain free type market, I remember them for the muesli that only had a sneeze of meat content in it, and that sticky multi-coloured kibble.
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£195.55 for 18kg? Who pays that???? Wild Pet Lean 80/20 for anyone interested...
 
I have fed all sorts over the years but our present greyhound seems to have an allergy. He developed pustules on his bare thighs and brought back his breakfast immediately after eating every morning so I put him on a hydrolised protein food for six weeks and he is now only allowed grain free Forthglade products. I had never worried about grain or no grain but he seems to react to rice and to chicken. I would not have suspected rice but anything with rice comes straight back.

Quantity wise, he seems to need way more food than the lurchers weight for weight. I also divide his ration between three meals instead of two and I increase how much I give in cold weather.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
I'm still sifting through on AADF but Symply looks quite good (a bit more ££ than MW) and possibly Arden Grange but they do a lot of mixes so I need to work out which one.

Supposedly Greyhounds need no more than around 20% Protein and often the higher quality foods have much higher than that, which is also making it tricky!
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I kept hearing that you should be careful with high protein for working spaniels as they can go bonkers on it, but our little skinny spanner needs a lot to keep weight on.
 
Been through all sorts over the years and was keen on less grain, but these 2 are ok on occasional biscuits/pizza crusts. Is Ivy an ex-racer? I can’t recall. I know one raw supplier produced green tripe for the nearby races back in the day.

We feed mostly raw, 80:10:10 beef mix we asked the local producers to make, lamb, green tripe. They have salmon oil, natural yoghurt, white bait, liver, kidney when it’s in, strictly no chicken! Trial and error, we started them on kibble, persuaded by puppy offers, stupid and gave them the runs. In the morning and for lunch, they have a little square of Wainwright’s trays. I think they’re made by the same manufacturer as Forthglades. I’ve recently reduced volume: despite feeding the percentage recommended and them going out x 3 a day, they need to be fed by eye, imo.
 
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