Hi

After reading lots of posts I've changed my labrador onto Naturediet as he loves wet food and I'm happy to clear up any mess, except there isn't any as he absolutely loves it! :)

I swopped him over nice and slowly and I can see a huge improvement in his coat and poos (Sorry!) but just wanted to check what your thoughts were on how much to feed.  The info I have got from them is 3 packs a day (he's 35kg and 12 months old).  I am only feeding him 2 packs a day but with a little bit of natural biscuit as I still like him to have a crunch.

Tyler's not lost any weight but as he's a lab he could eat his own bodyweight without trying, any comments would be appreciated.

thanks Yvonne

If he's not lost any weight, then keep on as you are :) What's written on packs is only guidance and is often far too much for the average dog :)

Daisy

Thanks Daisy, I will just keep an eye on how he looks.

Hi Yvonne,

The amounts recommended by manufacturers assume that you are not going to feed your dog anything else.  No biscuit, no treats, no little (big?) samples of whatever you had for breakfast/lunch/dinner :-) 

I fed my dog Naturediet too.  She really likes it.   I feed her less than the recommended amount as well.

Stacey

Hi Yvonne,

Have you tried contacting Naturediet direct either by telephone or by their website - www.naturediet.co.uk.  I contacted them when our new addition who is now 10 months old continually had an upset stomach, even being fed on the food the breeder was feeding her.  It turned out that her digestive system could not handle complete foods, even hypo allergic wheat & gluton free ones.  I contacted them when she was 12 weeks old and they were very helpful sending me booklet on puppy feeding.  They also send me a more detailed guide on how much naturediet they recommend adult dogs should have (without any additions ie buscuits). plus lots of other useful information on Naturediet. If you contact me via my e-mail address I would be more than willing to forward you a copy.

I order directly from them about 20 cases at a time as it is cheaper this way, you can order as little as one case and up to 60+ cases, the more you order the cheaper the cases are and you do not have to order only one variety, each case has to be one flavour but you can order as many of the flavours you like by the case.  It costs me £8.40 a case as I order 20 at a time and this usually lasts me about 4 months as I do not feed Lilly any buscuits.  They usually deliver within 2-3 days of the order which is great and a lot cheaper than each individual packet costs.

I also found out that they do a variety which is called Optima (which is only available from them direct) which is a mixture of Chicken, lamb & tripe with carrot, potato, brown rice, oats and seaweed which is supposed to be good for show and working dogs.  I have not tried this but I know of a friend who swears by it.

Hope I have been a little bit helpful.

Charles

I changed Bailey onto nature diet 3 weeks ago and I give him 1/2 pack plus mixer he is a westie he also has something for breakfast hopefully I am giving him enough.  I have noticed a massive difference in his coat already it is so shiny plus he loves it and chases the bowl getting every last bit.

I feed Abby, a Cairn (so Westie size) slightly less than half a pack a day.  Plus, she gets whatever meat and veg we have for dinner.

Stacey

Charles

Thanks for the post, I have had some info through from them which was really helpful, I will stick with feeding him the 2 packs a day and wean myself off the biscuits ;)

Do you store the packets in the garage or somewhere that mice could roam?  Just wondered if the packaging was a type that wouldn't attract animals to have a chew on.  Otherwise I won't have the space for 20 cases, they mentioned the cost reduction on the phone to me, but it's where you can store it.

Thanks
Yvonne

Hi Yvonne,

I store my boxes in a brick outbuilding as I don,t have a garage but I had to invest in one of those electric plug in mouse repellant units which makes a sound that stops any little furry friends visiting, I had to do this as yes I did have some little visitors who took a liking to an open box of cartons. And it has worked.  I was told by the pest controller that a mouse only needs a gap the size of a pencil hole to get it and he recommended this plug, it was not very expensive but I am sorry I cannot recall how much it was. 

Just so you know, the £8.40 per case applies for orders of 10 - 40 cases so if you ordered 10 it would be the same price.  Also if you pay by switch instead of visa they do not charge a 5% fee which they do for using visa for some reason.  I only order 20 cases at I have room to store them.

Charles

Thanks Charles, will look into my electronic repellant and get ordering, with Switch!!

Yvonne

I am curious re; the storing method,i would have thought it would have to be stored in the fridge or freezer,how come it doesnt go off sitting out in the open?
I live in Australia so i'm not too familiar with naturediet,but seeing it has meat,how does it last unrefrigerated?
We have a product here called "the formula" which pretty much has identical ingredients as naturediet but it only lasts around 1 week in the fridge before the use by date expires.

I am very intrigued by this

Hope to hear from you soon :)

luv christine

Hi,
It doesn't 'go off' because it is vacuum sealed in a strong container, similar to a can.
:)

My X Lab is 36 kilos, he is fed two packs a day, though he is 5 and a bit lazy.  He doesn't have anything with it and is looking great!  I order mine from Berriewood, with free delivery in some areas it costs 42p per pack if the order is over £100 which is cheaper than direct from ND, and I can get my cat food from them too, which is handy!
Hayley

Hi

You said that you feed Bailey nature diet mixed with a mixer, what mixer biscuit do you use and roughly how much of the mixer do you put to the 1/2 pack of nature diet? What do you feed him for his breakfast. I have got a 1yr old westie called Hamish who is currently being funny with his food and on reading this post i just wondered how much mixer you put with your nature diet of a day. What variety of the nature diet do you feed as i brought hamish the chicken,carrot and rice one, do you heat yours up or just feed from the packet.
Hope you don't mind me asking.
Thanks
Helen

Nature diet is designed as a complete food - so you don't NEED to add mixer (although some folk add a little mixer to add variety I suppose) Personally I'd be happier adding a small qty of a kibble style complete meal, and reducing the amount of NAturediet..

What about once opened, for those of you using half a pack at a time - what do you do with it then?

After opening you need to keep Naturediet in the refrigerator, it keeps for 3 days, per Naturediet.  Which is good for me, since Abby only gets 1/3 of a pack per day, since she gets liberal helpings of people food.

I just pop the open pack in a plastic bag.  I reheat in the microwave until it is room temperature before serving. 

Stacey

Hi

How long do you heat it in the microwave for?
Hamish has just had some for his tea and ate it eventually, although it seemed to take him a while to get through it! Whether it is where it is quite a thick mash this is why it took him a while to eat i am not sure but he was licking his lips afterwards!

Direct from Nature-diet they recommend that the half opened carton will last in the fridge for max 3 days.

I to use Burns or "All in one" Holistic complete food with a small amount of Nature diet added. But one of the dogs just has nature diet and green veggies due to an allergy.

I mix it with Burns as well as it just makes it a little more interesting.  I dont tend to keep it in the fridge though as I use it with 24 hours with two dogs but keep it in one of the those sealable sandwich bags which seems to do the trick.  Personally my boys love the fish flavour but god does it stink!

Naturediet belongs in the fridge after it's opened.  Same as you would do if it were an open pack of cooked food for people. 

In warm weather toxins will build up very quickly - and there is no point in testing your dog's digestion and resistance to bacteria.  They do that well enough for themselves, at least mine does.

Stacey

Hi

How much of the burns do you put to the naturediet of a day, i gave Hamish so naturediet yesterday with some JWb but he seemed to take ages to eat it as i think it is were it is stodgy and he has never had this sort of food before, do your dogs gobble it up quickly or do they take a while to eat it?

Helen

Hi Helen

I split their meals into two a day.  They have just burns in the morning and then burns and naturediet in the evening.  My adult BC has about a third of a packet of naturediet with the rest of his quota of burns.  I tend to mash it up with a fork and then give it a thorough mix up which coats all the biscuits and seems to do the trick.

Claire