I'm currently looking at various foods and was wondering what influences your choice of food.

Is cost a main consideration?

Are you worried by additives, artificial colours, preservatives etc.?

Do you prefer online ordering, collection in person from a small outlet, at a large per store (ie. Pets at Home) or with your weekly shop in the supermarket?

Do you prefer wet, dry, raw or a combination?

Would you prefer a UK made food?

>Would you prefer a UK made food?

Definitely! This is very important to me for many reasons, not least because the UK regulations are much stricter than those of some other countries.

Cost isn't so important now that sadly I only have one dog, but I'm still not made of money (!) so cost is always a factor. I dislike online shopping so prefer to buy from a 'real' shop; morally I'd prefer that to be a small independent outlet because I believe supporting small businesses is important for the economy of the country.

>Do you prefer wet, dry, raw or a combination?

A combination of all.

My main consideration is that it is a good quality food, my two poodles eat mainly wet food so I buy natures menu in tins for them as I have been advised not to give them foods that list animal and meat derivatives, so chose this as the main ingredient is listed as chicken or lamb or beef with no preservatives or colours etc. They also have a bit of Arden grange mini lamb and rice as so many people on champ dogs recommended it, (have changed over to this from Royal Canin. I chose these foods because one of my dogs is very fussy and much prefers the tins of Natures menu to any of the other good quality foods available and fortunately I am lucky to be able to afford it.

Ideally I would prefer a UK manufactured food but until there is a UK equivalent of the grain free foods like orijen I will continue to buy imported foods.  One of my dogs eats a UK manufactured food and I am reallly happy with how it suits her and I think that for me this is what it comes down to - what suits the dog best.   I prefer to buy online and either have delivered to home or work as it is convenient.  Where I buy from is price dependent.

When I feed raw I go to my local buthcer rather than buy from any of the companies selling pet meat.

i too would prefer to buy from a uk based company due to the stricter controls but having researched foods the yanks seem to have it covered. alot of their foods are grain free like taste of the wild, blue wilderness, evo, orijen, acana (both canadian). i prefer to buy online as there is alot more choice, alot of the companies now ship to the uk, my local petshop doesnt have many brands and petsathome is filled with junk like pedigree and bakers. price doesnt really come into it as i only own 1 dog. she gets dry food, currently "taste of the wild pacific stream" topped up with some raw.

After being in Australia for almost a year now, I'd like to say I'd still prefer to buy UK based dog food if I could!
In my opinion, there does seem to be a distinct lack of complete diets that I would be happy to feed my dogs.

So my influence at the moment seems to be comparing UK complete food ingredients to those available here in Australia.

for me I need to have a named meat source as the first agreement, little or no grain in it, no derivitives.  I best that I can for more dogs and what suits them.  Currently AG for the boys and Natures Harvest for the girlie.

Number 1 has to be quality. Having said that, I have worked my way down from what I regard as the best quality food, to what I believe is a good quality food, but not as good as the original, but at a price that I can afford to feed 5 dogs on (and incidentally, 2 much prefer it to the much higher priced!).
So 1 and 2 are quality/price but not necessarily in that order.
I want food UK made and using human grade meats.
I don't want artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
Dry food, but I also cook quite a bit of fresh for them.

That was quite a cryptic post Trialist.  You have me curious now, what do you feed now and what was the first choice?

Cost is not the main consideration but I do have to take it into account.

Yes I am concerned by any un-necessary additives - skin problems and colitis in our two due to food or enviroment?

Order from small company by phone - free delivery - reviews on CD in the past not encouraging - but our two seem to thrive on it (and colitis kept at bay for over two years, a record) - holistic - a dry food which we then soak. Would like to feed raw but have never as yet had the courage! Do add more meat occasionally.

I am aware that UK dog food is made to very strict regulations but do wish there were more available without grains. Would be interested in your results re cold press complete diets rather than extrusion.

I prefer to buy UK made food if at all possible.

I do worry about additives, artificial colours and preservatives- especially BHA,BHT and ethoxyquin.
Having a breed that suffers with more than it's fair share of cancer I don't wish to feed foods that can
increase the risks.

Yes cost can be a consideration especially as some foods which are expensive seems to have grains as one
of the first ingredients in the list of ingredients. I prefer to see the meat as the first ingredient in the list.
So yes costs can sway when comparing foods.

It's always nice to have a choice of varieties and types of food especially when you find one that suits your dog/s.
As dogs can go on to develop allergies/intolerances so it's nice to be able to stick with the same brand that your
dog previously did well on rather than having to chop and change to find a food that suits.

I have done all of the suggested methods for purchasing my pet foods.
Obviously to most it would be convenience that would be a big factor.
For me I try to support local small pet shops but some are quite expensive on higher range foods.
At the moment I use small outlet, large pet store and with my weekly shop plus the online :)
I also belong to 'breeder' clubs which reduces the cost of some of the specified brands of food.
So I find it useful to have these options available too.

I feed a mix of complete and the tinned butchers tripe loaf at the moment.
I'm trialing a different complete on my lot at the moment as one keeps getting yeasty feet and I've been informed
that reducing the protein levels can improve this. The jury is still out on that one. :)

Hi, sorry, it wasn't meant to be cryptic!  I just thought I'd avoid brand names as you weren't asking for recommendations and I didn't want to start a "well my food is best and I wouldn't feed that to my dogs ... " type thread :-D :-)
I started off with Burns, that's what I like and that's what I'd really like to feed.  Burns was ok price-wise for 3 dogs and actually more cost effective than most of the other brands in the same price range (I know 'cause I did a saddo spreadsheet to work out feeding costs!!). 
When dog number 4 came along I had to review feeding costs, so went to Arden Grange ... still a very good quality but quite a drop in price through their breeders club/internet ordering. However, if I'm honest, it was a complete pain to get as I had no local stockist, ordering online meant I had to order a number of bags to justify delivery costs, I have limited storage, and generally not around when they wanted to deliver so was getting it delivered to a friend's farm, so I still then had to shift everything back to my place!
I decided to go with CSJ lamb and rice and have been very, very happy with that, as have the dogs. But again, problems of getting it. Can only get it when I got to competitions, so then back up to bulk buying/storage, then if I decided not to go to the competition I'd end up in fear of running out (again, no local stockist).
A couple of months ago I changed to Chudleys wheat/gluten free, same cost as CSJ, and I'm happy with that and the dogs are, but I can get it from my local store, so can buy just a bag when I need it, hurray!  The 2 youngsters are very good though for my pocket!  They completely and utterly refuse to eat wheat gluten free food beyond what I'd call mere survival rations.  They like Chudleys classic, and are thriving on it.
Having said all that, I am about to buy a bag of Burns!  My oldest girl, just 5 and spayed, I have trouble maintaining her weight on anything but Burns.  Doesn't matter how much I diet her - I've been counting calories for her for a couple of months now and she's still put on weight - she yo-yos weight, just like her Mum apparently, and her owner!!  So, cause she's a special girl she's getting a bag of Burns all to herself!
Oh, and they get some tinned Butchers tripe loaf added.
Plus the fresh chicken, veggies and rice to replace any of the above occasionally!
Am I less cryptic now? Bet you wish you'd not asked ...

It's interesting this thread, specially as we're mainly brand name free - so much more relaxed! - as I'm thinking about what to feed a litter of pups planned for the summer. I've not been feeding my current make long enough and not raised pups on it, although people have posted me on CD to say they feed it to raise pups and are happy with it.  If I go my preferred route of brand, again, I've not raised a litter on it, although I have raised 2 young dogs on it.  If I go to the 2nd food I went for then I give puppy buyers the same problem as me in that it's a total pain to get hold of if no local stockist.  So am now wondering whether I use the puppy feed my breeder friend has raised all her litters on, including 3 of my dogs, with fine results, it's easy to get but ... their adult food isn't one that I would choose to feed my dogs!  But she says it raises strong, healthy puppies and she's right.  Ultimately, puppy buyers are going to go with their own ideas (I know I quite quickly changed my pups to what I wanted them to eat).
So thanks for starting this one, I'm enjoying reading people responses.

> Am I less cryptic now? Bet you wish you'd not asked ...

Sounds like a pretty usual kind of multi dog owner, as we often have to balance things, try to find a food that suits most of them, to avoid having five different kinds food etc.

I try to avoid having any more than two kinds of food in at a time becaue of storage.

Ah Brainless, glad you replied. Was thinking of you this morning ... would you be up for advice/communication off board?!

Cost is the main concern, but I try to get the best quality food for the money.

> Am I less cryptic now? Bet you wish you'd not asked ...

Not at all.  It goes to show that dogs are as individual as humans.  Mine are both on different foods for different reasons and it works for us but it is really interesting to read differing opinions.  Ideally I would like to cut the costs on food but don't want to cut corners.

My staffy had major problems a few years ago with recurring interdigital cysts (to the point the vet wanted to amputate toes!) and we switched from burns to Salters and haven't had problems since.  My rott boy is doing great on a mix of grain free kibble and raw after suffering GIANT poos when on a kibble high in grains.  If there was a way to get the quality of foods I want with the health benefits they enjoy for less money I would jump at it but it seems it is not to be.

> If there was a way to get the quality of foods I want with the health benefits they enjoy for less money I would jump at it but it seems it is not to be. <

This is really what got me thinking about this post in the first place.

I can't believe that in the UK we seem to be so far behind the rest of the world in producing "high-quality" and innovative foods. We manage to produce plenty of "lower-end" completes filled with grains and cheap fillers. Subsequently these "high-quality" feeds are imported, bumping up the costs. With my other thread that's going at the moment (Cold-pressed/pellet food manufacturers in UK) there just don't seem to be any UK companies producing these foods. Why? Air-dried complete foods, aren't available in the UK (yet). If anyone knows any different feel free to correct me. I've googled for ages and only come across companies in Europe and NZ.

We must be able to produce high-quality foods at a reasonable cost, or am I just being the eternal optimist?

Because there are literally hundreds of dog brands out there, added to the fact that we are numerically much smaller in terms of population than North America, plus the cost of producing food in the first place, we will never be cost effective in producing the high quality foods available over there; moreover very few of the existing population will cough up the price; you just have to look at what muck people feed their families on the basis of cost

For me it's a combination of cost, availability, quality and suitability for our dog.  Suitability is the most important aspect for me, the food has to be right for Finn and he has to be happy and healthy on it, everything else just sort of falls into place.

I feed 50/50 kibble and raw, I get mine all from the Wholesalers

I chose BARF for my dogs because I personally think it is a healthier diet than processed food.  I don't like anything with additives and for training I give them home made liver treats, they have very occasionally had dog treats but not very often.

I buy the meat mainly from our local butchers but sometimes from the supermarket, and I never feed them anything that I wouldn't eat myself, so I don't get unfit for human type food.  I prefer to buy from the butcher and mix my own veg and fruit so that I know exactly what is in their meals.  I have considered buying raw frozen food but don't really have the confidence in the quality of meat etc that is used.

Price is a consideration, but I do find raw feeding works out less than processed dog foods. 

Oh yes and it suits my dogs and they enjoy it, which has to be a main concern :)