Dry dog food buffs....what to choose!

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Umbongo

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Hello,

I have a 10 year old border collie (20kgs). Had him since a pup, he loves to run and is never tired! He gets 3 walks a day (long walks at weekends) and when he is at home he is always playing with a ball etc. He is getting on a bit now and does suffer from a bit of arthritis. After a long walk he may be stiff/a slight limp in the evening/next day. He has metacam as and when he needs it which isn't often.

I have tried to add joint supplements into his food but he has never been much of a fan off food and can see through hiding tablets/liquid a mile off.

Most of his life my dad has fed him Bakers (not my choice!) He has since had a couple of bags of autarky chicken (was given to us) but now I would like to put him onto something that is suited for a senior dog that is still very active and suffers from stiff joints sometimes.

I have heard about (and am considering):

arden grange senior
james wellbeloved senior
hills vet essentials mature
hills healthy mobility
hills j/d (I work in a vets that supplies hills!).

my dog lives with my dad, so I have decided to take control of buying in his food and flea/wormer etc...otherwise he would be forever fed sausages with gravy and never wormed/fleas etc! He gets half a bowl of biscuits morning and evening with some wet (whatever dad finds is on offer in tesco!) usually something like pedigree/butchers etc.

I work in a vets so although I have already seeked some advice there, I am interested in others reviews or if anything else could be suggested.

I want to try to do SOMETHING and change his dry food to something a bit more suitable!

Thanks!!!
 
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Thanks will look at skinners. Am leaning towards arden grange, have heard good things about it!
 
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Out of interest, what do people have against Hills?

Is it the sales/pushing through vets side of things or the quality of the food itself?

Whenever I've had cats or dogs on Hills they've thrived :confused:
 
Both mine are on Hills - 14 1/2 year old Border Collie and 7 year old Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Have used Hill's Science Plan Canine Mature Adult 5+ Active Longevity Large Breed Chicken for years.

What's wrong with it? (and don't need facetious comments such as 'what's right with it?')
 
Nicnac said:
Both mine are on Hills - 14 1/2 year old Border Collie and 7 year old Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Have used Hill's Science Plan Canine Mature Adult 5+ Active Longevity Large Breed Chicken for years.

What's wrong with it? (and don't need facetious comments such as 'what's right with it?')
Click to expand...

Ingredients:-
chicken 19%, total poultry 27%): Maize, wheat, poultry meat meal, animal fat, digest, flaxseed, soybean meal, maize gluten meal, pea bran meal, vegetable oil, minerals, rice, cartilage hydrolysate (source of chondroitin sulphate), crustacean shell hydrolysate (source of glucosamine), vitamins and beta-carotene. Naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid.

Basically a cheap food hyped up.

27% total poultry means there is 8% poultry meat meal and thus more than 7% of Maize & wheat. Unspecified animal fat, soybean meal & vegetable oil are not good and fat is declared at 14.5% which is high (& will give a glossy coat)

Compare with this one -
"Whole rice (40%), turkey meat meal (21%), naked oats, peas, linseed, sunflower oil,
beet pulp, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Joint Aid supplement (2% comprising of glucosamine, chondroitin, collagen, MSM, glutamine, curcumin, oils & fats, beta glucans, oligosaccharides)" which is about £10 a sack cheaper and doesn't have dodgy ingredients.
 
moppett said:
if i had to feed dry, i would choose applaws as its the best with 75% chicken or if i won the lottery perhaps ziwipeak
Click to expand...

I normally feed raw but not possible for my partner due to lack of freezer space! His bat s*** crazy mother insists on buying his dog any cheap crap on the supermarket shelves. I've switched him to applaws. It isn't cheap but good quality food with a high meat content and no grains!
 
Dogs are hardy creatures and can look to be thriving on poor quality food. Dogs do not require cereal and can't properly digest it. It's a cheap filler which is totally unnecessary, purely there to bulk up the food. You wouldnt feed your dog hay or a handful of oats, so why give it in their kibble, disguised?

The food is sold by vets who are sponsored to sell it (after their one day of nutrition training for all species, unless they've studied it further after qualifying).

There is much better quality for the price. It concerns me that this stuff is sold by vets because it makes us think it must be good.
 
Hmm, that's interesting. I must admit, I've always been a bit suspicious of the Hills/vet relationship, particularly after witnessing a very pushy salesman.

That said, any animals I've ever fed on it have been healthy and long-lived (touch wood!). My JRT X is currently on NatureDiet wet food with a few Hills Oral Care nuggets thrown in for her teeth, which are so huge she has to really crunch them. I'm happy with this mix.
 
I feed Fish4dogs to all mine.

Fab stuff, my 15yr old looks fantastic, still on daily walks and runs around with the others.
 
Thanks everyone, I think I am going to try some Arden grange senior. Sounds better than the bakers/autarky chicken he has been on! I would LOVE to put him on applaws but I can't seem to find anywhere that stocks the senior 12.5kg only the 2kg. Not sure about Skinners, it looks like more rice than anything else? Also he hates the Joint aid (tried him on the granules before) so I'm not sure he would take to food with joint aid in it, and I can't find any small size bags to try first?

RE Hills, I don't have much experience of them, but I have always heard good things of the prescription diets D/D K/D I/D etc

Just had a look at fish 4 dogs, looks a little out of my price range unfortunately, although I might buy a couple of samples for him to try. Is Fishmongers sort of similar?
 
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OK interesting responses - thank you. I don't buy it at the vets but order over the internet via Medicanimal as they deliver for free and give 10% discount to boot when I buy 2 bags. I used to use Royal Canin but it made the border collie put on weight.

Will look at alternatives as per suggestions :)
 
Also do fish4dogs and fishmongers smell VERY fishy, as my fat cat would destroy the cupboards to get to it!!!

Thanks again, I am very clued up on equine nutrition but am still learning about small animal nutrition!
 
Fish4dogs have radically changed their recipe recently so the fish content has been halved to around 16% and it now has pea flour as a major ingredient, so no longer top quality, but still top price. The new superior range looks ok.

Fishmongers has more fish content and seems to be much more economical.
 
We swapped our sprocker from Burns to fish4dogs and her condition has really improved, she eats every last bit now within 5 mins of putting it down, whereas with the Burns she would pick at it all day. It's cheaper on amazon when not on offer on fish4dogs website and doesn't smell too fishy.
 
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