I hope I've posted this in the right area, forgive me if it's not - new to this.
I've used Salters dog food for the last 5 years after trying many dried & wet foods. The condition of both my labs improved dramatically on this food, coat and general condition. Whist a lab is (if it has it's way) a canine dustbin, both of mine are fed slightly less than the website's recommended amount and thrive on it. Won't use anything else!

I need to think about the ingredients that is in my dogs food if I don't want them to itch, one of them to the point of sores, or to have upset tummies (IBD is fairly serious and causes pain) the other just gets uncomfortalbe as in itchy.

I agree karenclynes that there are occasions when a diet matters. My GSD has IBD and has a special diet, but I have 6 other dogs with cast iron stomachs and they can eat anything and have glossy coats, bright eyes and be full of bounce and health. For this reason in my earlier post I said
for most dogs it really doesn't make any difference If a dog has a problem that can be diet related then of course you watch what they eat, but for the majority of dogs this is not the case. Sometimes I feel guilty that I am feeding a cheaper food to my other dogs, but then I think again that owning my dogs should be something to be enjoyed and pushing myself financially to feed an expensive food unnecessarily would be a weight on my shoulders that would turn joy into worry.

Hi,

I agree karenclynes that there are occasions when a diet matters.  I don't agree that there are just occasions where diet matters, I think generally it matters just as it does with people!

for most dogs it really doesn't make any difference  I appreciate that you said this eariler but again, I don't agree, which is why I said this in an earlier post

Grains are one of the more common allergens to dogs, people just often aren't aware of it and put regular upset tums or itchyness down to, just normal doggyness when it's not. Allergies can have a big impact on dogs, far greater than people seem to be aware, they can affect things form coat to lethargy to lack of appetite to reactiveness.

On my degree course, all of the students were dog owners, in my year there were 67 students by the 2nd year and about 50% of dogs were on specific various diets for various health or behavioural issues with positive results, I'm quite sure that given that it was a large range of students in age and background that they weren't all afflicted with Munchausen by proxy syndrome, particularly given that it's a very rare condition!  Possibly more to do with the fact that they were students in a canine related degree, some of the students were vets, vet nurses, behaviourists etc and part of the course was nutrition based which meant doing research and looking at studies and papers and learning more in depth about nutiriton and the effects it can have.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I am feeding a cheaper food to my other dogs, but then I think again that owning my dogs should be something to be enjoyed and pushing myself financially to feed an expensive food unnecessarily would be a weight on my shoulders that would turn joy into worry.

As I said good quality doesn't have to be expensive, I feed three medium large breed dogs for the price of a lot of the cheaper brands of food.

I currently pay between £30 - £36 (depending on where I get it from) for a 15Kg bag of dry food.

I wouldn't pay more for an 'even better' quality food ever, because I prefer to top up my girls diet with part BARF. I buy fresh meats and chicken wings - even though the food I give would be sufficient anyway, and would always prefer to top up rather than buy a top of the range dog food.

My dog groomer is always trying to palm me off with her all meat based dry food, and I always tell her,  my girl gets the real McCoy anyway, far better. :-)

Sorry but I do not have a degree in canine nutrition - only a very long lifetime of caring for multiple dogs and animals to the very best of my ability, (using common sense with regard to feeding) and offering a loving home to abandoned and neglected souls. But then again I didn't have a degree in child nutrition but have beautiful adult children and grandchildren.
This is the last reply that I will send to avoid this thread rumbling on and on
Back to the original question Pedlee, yes, if there was a better quality food in my price range I would be very interested.

Um I dont understand half of this re foods,  Beta is what Jake BC had as a pup from his breeder and he is on the same now, onlt adult.
Whistler (CS) pain, was on Eukanuba? made him loose tried Beta, nope, then Natures Best Nope now Im on Science Plan mixed with Wainrights and he scofs the lot. I pay what it costs basically, if he is poorly fish/chicken & white rice. He's still with us.

>    > Exactly. It's rather like saying that a cow should only be fed a particular variety of grass and that allowing other varieties to grow in their fields is somehow 'not giving them the best'.

    >

> Cows are herbivorous - didn't do their health much good when they started to get rendered down sheep.

True. But which variety of grass is not so important....

> Dogs Carnivorous/scavengers - just have to question what a high percentage of cereal in their food does day after day.

Cats are obligate carnivores; dogs are omnivorous, predominantly carnivores - and having evolved to scavenge can get away with eating the most remarkably unexpected things - if a high proportion of cereral did them that much damage we wouldn't see so many dogs living into their teens on high cereal foods I don't think.

I personally am fussy about what I feed my dog (I am not so keen on dry food because of the amount of water they need to drink to go with it, and he won't) - but have become so because he has a sensitive stomach. There are certain foods I would not feed even if he had a stomach of cast iron - but I agree with JG that TOO much panicking about what food your dog has can take away the enjoyment of ownership. As a personal opinion I would like to feed my dog raw - I have come to the conclusion that, as for us, that is healthiest - but don't have the experience. (I believe it also works out much cheaper, especially with multiple dogs.) But what a dog needs is a balanced diet - I am more concerned about additives than cereals....