How do you judge the quality of proprietary dog foods? Having read the posts about getting a better quality food than Bakers, I am curious - and sceptical - about all the "advice" or marketing put out by reatailers and manufacturers - how did the rest of you choose your dog's diet? we went on what the supplier fed, friend's reccomendation and veterinary advice - " It's common sense, and if he eats it all first time without diahorrea DONT CHANGE IT! Wolf cubs dont get variety and dogs dont need it either. Science my foot! It s all a racket to keep owners dependent on manufacturers." I've seen loads of diferent feeds mentioned on here and it seems as controversial as feeding kids - come to think of it I fed them like wolves - this is it, eat it or your brother will!

hi
i agree if you find a food that suits the dog don' t change it just cos someone recommends a different brand that suppose to be better quality, when i was a child ,(long time ago!) we fed our dog on scraps and chappie dog food could'nt afford anything different but our dog lived a healthy life with hardly any trips to the vets and lived to the ripe old age of 16 years! feeding your dog has got very commercial and expensive.

j

That is why i now feed raw!!!

My dogs definately enjoy some variety every day, dont seem to miss their 'balanced meal in every bite', nor their 'added vitamins and minerals', and they are doing far far better without the extra added carcinogens, anti-oxidants, preservatives, added fats and sugars and colourants..........

Em

I judge the quality of the food by the condition it gives the dogs its fed to- not the name or the price! Some complete foods use ingredients from better sources than others - ie some will have chicken - but its the waste bits- and others use whole fresh chicken. I personally dont like multi coloured biscuits, there is no need for extra colouring - after all the dogs cant see them!
Some foods are especially good for those with allergies/skin and other problems. I only recommend the foods I feed or have fed. My labrador is doing very well on one complete food - but the oils/fats are not high enough for my westies, so they have half that and half a higher fat food to get the condition right.
I agree its bewildering for novice/new owners to try and choose which one to use. It doesn't help when vets will push one particular food, saying its the best one , when they get lots of commision and the dog would probably do fine on something less specialised and less expensive. But most new puppy owners will follow the vets advice re which brand to feed ,regardless, as they assume the vet must be right. I wonder how many thousands of owners shell out for Hills Prescription diet , when there is no need!!!!

Thanks for the comments - the bit about judging by results sounds sensible and I've seen great looking dogs fed on Chappie I'dlike to know more about feeding raw - BARF isn't it? so I'll search the web for the site.Smal child has just run in shouting the dog has green bits in his poo - that'll be the green chew sticks from Poundstretcher again, blast the colourants!