Food for old gits

CorvusCorax

Deary me...
Joined
15 January 2008
Messages
62,285
Location
End of the pier
Visit site
Hiya, I know I've been talking about this for a while but I will have a third dog coming, all being well, and I need to get the older two off the rocket fuel and onto something more appropriate, as they're both retired and activity levels don't justify pricey high protein stuff.

So I'm looking for dry food, pref fish as the animal content but could go for lamb based or would consider duck (the younger one can't do chicken) pref no wheat.
Price range 25-30 per bag.
Youngster will probably come with Happy Dog.

TIA!
 
We feed an unbranded one from golden acres, the shops put their own labels on it, they have pawprints on the bag. We feed ours on salmon and potato which does them well and the family oldies/fatties have a senior light version that's fish based too. We pay £32 for 15g of the salmon and just under £27 for 12kg of senior/lite. Hyperdrug sell it to see what the bags look like, but lots of shops sell it as their "own" food.
 
What about Burns Alert? I've put mine back onto Burns a little while ago and they are just so much better on it than anything else I've tried. Burns Alert is a working dog food but for assistance dogs so VAT free but low energy. Sprollie is focused but not nutso on it! They have a lamb version. Spaniel gets the high energy working dog one, think that's just chicken though.
 
Thanks all, unfortunately anything chicken based isn't a goer.

I'm just out and about pricing food at the moment. Autarky Mature Light Salmon seems to tick the boxes at the moment.
Burns Alert doesn't appear to be available on the shelves here but will check it out online.

Now heading to P@H lol.
 
I thought Harrington’s was meant to be crap? I think I read that on here.... poor rating on a ‘quality’ food website or something?

(yes, I have now offended thousands of Harrington’s dog food feeders, sorry!!!)

mine absolutely loved Arden Grange lamb but it’s a bit above your price range - I think around £36 a sack? If you buy it online it’s probably cheaper, that’s my local feed store (who give me a discount from that price bless them!)
 
Last edited:
Willow has Moles own veteran hypoallergenic not sure what in it, Used to have skinners duck and rice and has had salmon and potato but does best on the moles one. Have heard vets recommend chappie for sensitive dogs but not tried it. Friends dogs have the fish loaf out of tins but think the dry is pretty muh the same
 
I fed autarkey lite salmon for ages and all the dogs really thrived on it. It’s high fibre so was good for the Rufus hound’s anal glands as well.

I would still be feeding it but Willow developed bladder crystals and for some bizarre reason, Chappie dog food stops the crystals forming so her and Rufus are on the Chappie now.

Button is little old lady skinny and Chappie is too low fat for her. I tried a couple of things but she’s now happy and thriving on tinned Butchers tripe mix. Sorry, I know that’s not a dry food :)
 
CSJ have a huge variety, but when you whittle it down to kibbles with good ingredients without common problematic ones like chicken, beef, soya and wheat, a reasonable meat or fish content (fresh meat/fish is about 2/3 water), the better ones like No Grainer don't work out as such good value as some good quality kibbles by the time you factor this in, plus the £7 delivery charge. Meat/fish meal has had the water removed, so that needs to be taken into account.

Autarky salmon uses fresh fish, I checked with them, so the quantity of salmon is a lot less than first appears once you've deducted the water content. I've been buying Autarky white fish and potato recently, which has a decent content of fish meal and doesn't contain grains, so has nothing that's going to cause problems for most dogs. It's a good food for the price, it's cheapest from Time For Paws. I also rate Skinner's lamb, salmon and duck with rice, I fed that successfully to my greyhounds for years, and they have quite sensitive digestion. The meat content is low though. I don't think senior dogs generally need a low protein content food unless they have problems with their kidneys, for example; it's the quality of the protein that matters, ie from meat or fish, not soya.

There's so much choice it's mind blowing, but I work out the price per kilo and factor in how high the meat/fish content is and the quality of the ingredients and if they suit my dog, as well as if delivery is free. Once I've done this, it narrows the choice down a lot. Allaboutdogfood.co.uk has reviews of the vast majority of brands available, and very good articles. There's a dog food selector tool too, which is brilliant. It's well worth spending some time on there, it's so informative.
 
Thanks all.

The first place I was in yesterday would deliver two bags of Autarky for free because of the spend.

I will check out the site, also need to visit the greyhound man I used to buy my raw off, as he stocked a few brands as well. Still have more than a bag and a half of JWB to get through lol.
 
Just to update, a local feed place does Autarky (and raw) and I reckon I'll be able to feed the three of them for less than I'm feeding two now, so fingers crossed and thanks for all the feedback!
Just in case it might help, I bought a bag online for my old dog after reading this and she wouldn’t touch it until I soaked it in warm water for half an hour.
 
Top