I want to bring my energetic Staffy up on a dry food and I cant choose between Hills Science Plan or James Wellbeloved .
I think I am more prone to the Wellbeloved as it contains no Gluten etc but there are few stockists by where I live ( Wirral in the North West ) .
Does anybody have experience of either ?
Lel

Only experience of Hills was due to my Rough Collie requiring the prescriptive diet as he had colitius. He faired very well on it for his whole life and never gained or lost weight. When he died at 12, he was a very fit looking collie (sounds daft after saying he died, but he had a haemorrhage which caused his death). Wellbeloved, I haven't tried. Only other two dried foods I have used on my Vizsla are: Arden Grange, but changed a year ago to Burns, as I was impressed with what I read. Both Burns and Arden Grange will deliver to your house free if you spend over £15 (easy done!)

shirley was this the w/d prescription diet as a friends dog has just been put on it for collitis just wondered if it stopped the problem completely or if you found it reoccured now and then.

It was Hills ID Prescription Diet (available only from vets - ie high price too!) - yes, it was pretty good for the collie. He did have probably two bad bouts of collitus during the 10 years or so he was on it, but if he ate anything odd at all, he really suffered - even passing blood on a couple of occasions. We were told to "starve" him for 48 hours to clear his system out. It did work. He didn't particulary like the food initially, but got so used to it in the end. As I said, his health and weight were very good and he remained a very fit dog up until the end.

Hi Cooper I know of 2 dogs put on Hills for colitis & then changed over to raw food & the colitis never returned & one is a 13 &1/2yrs golden retriever & still doing well!
Christine, Spain.

Have you asked your vet I used to get my JW from mine
Anne

Hi Lel

I feed all my five dogs on Hills Lamb & Rice variety or Chicken variety and they look fantastic on it. It may be a bit more expensive but I feel its worth it for the results you get. I dont know how the amount I feed per day compares with other foods but they have 380g a day (Weimaraners) and 90g a day (Cairns).

HTH

Cee Cee.

ive tried jw a couple of times, as have a couple of my puppy owners, i found they itched and had severe wind probs while on it.- :(

All the people I know that have used jw have had problems with dulling of the coat. In one case the dog came up all over with masses of sores. About half the skin on his body was inflammed and red and he lost a lot of coat.
Bec

Bec,
was this put down purely to his feed ? What breed do you have ?
The problem is all the feeds have such good write-ups from the manufacturers and promise all sorts . Maybe I will try the Hills then - its moister than the JW too . Does either dry or moist make a difference ?
Lel

I've never used jw my lot wouldn't touch it. The dog that had the sore skin was a cavalier king charles spaniel and when they put him back on his original food his condition cleared up so it was assumed must have been the food. The dogs that had dull coats were labs and retrievers.
I prefer dry and I think using the tinned hills is far more expensive than the dry but not 100% sure. Don't think there is any difference on whats in it though.
Bec

What breed do you have Dizzy ?
Lel

ive sharpei, they do better on lamb and rice feeds or chicken and rice, at the minute im using eukanuba lamb and rice, it keeps them in great condition and its the only one ive tried they'll willingly eat without anything added to it, they do a good breeder club too, you get 20 kilo for the price of 15

Has anybody else used Hills ? Would you recommend it ? It is fairly expensive compared to some brands but I dont mind paying the extra if it is good quality food
Lel

hills is an ecxellent food too, one of the best!!

Also one of the most expensive Diz :) :) :)
Christine, Spain.

hell yes!!!!! :D :D :D :D

Hi Guys,

My first Boxer was fed on Hills for 7 months even the dietary tinned stuff from the vet as she kept running around after food and bringing some up, I changed her to barf after reading an article and I honestly can tell you she stopped within 5 days of the change. So I am against some of the more popular protien packed diets now, but what works for others is fine by me.

BFN

Pam

And thank heaven for juicy meat & bones say my lot!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D
Christine, Spain.

Is it still ok to feed say chicken or fish with a dry food like Hills - on occasion I mean not with every meal ?
Also to those with any experience is the higher cost justified ? ie is it a better food ?
Lel

Callum my gsd that suffers with an intestinal problem was put onto hills i/d, he was fine on it, but my pocket wasnt, so i went through the internet looking for food that was for that condition and purina did one and it was cheaper, he was actually fed on purina as a puppy but the vets only offer you either walthams or hills because they are the ones that get all the vets signed up with them so you dont get told what other food is on offer unless you find out for yourself and ask them to get it in, and he has actually put more weight on than when he was on the hills, so im afraid i am a purina fan had no problems with it at all.

Diane

Hi lel, I know a lot of people do it, but the whole point of a complete food, is that it is exactly that - complete - to add meat etc. to it can upset the balance of protein etc, which had already been catered for in the dry feed, some people add a little tripe to the feed, to put weight on a dog for instance, but it is essentially not a mixer. I know you have said not every meal, but why do you want to mix the feed? Julie:)

ps if you contact JW they will be able to give you a list of stockists near you.

I suppose the thought of having the same food every meal seems a bit "boring" _ i suppose i wasjust thinking of variety really.
I did go on the JW site for stockists but when I contacted the listed shops , they never actually sold it ?? :(
maybe their list needs updating .
Lel

Hi lel, try emailing them, that usually provides more up to date info - I ended up emailing Autarky, cos their site was so out of date, they mailed me back days later, so I ended up ringing them in the end to ask everthing I needed to know - don't have the number for JW someone else may, or may be on the site - HTH Julie:)