Out of interest is there a dog food complete(dry), canned or fresh that is the best for dogs. I have heard many different opinions. This would be for puppies and dogs that will be shown and in order to keep them in tip top condition and health. Also which is the worst!

Think this question is not able to be answered, different dogs, different diets, different pockets, different possibilities.

The very best food will vary from one dog to another. They are all different, with different tolerances and demands. The best is what each one thrives on, and that suits the owner's pocket.

I agree with the other posters :)

This is what I look for when shopping for a food.

Must not contain by-products, ground corn, or grain sorghum and NO Chemicles like BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, propylgallate or sodium hexametaphosphate...I prefer to have the food preserved with mixed tocopherols, natural source of Linoleic Acid...I also like my food to start with a meat meal/meat then anything else.

This is just some of the stuff I look for in a dog food. Not all dogs will do the same on one food, all dogs like people are different, what agree's with one dog may not agree and work the same for another...All trial and error on your part to find what works best. Best to compare ingredients and see what you think sounds the best and see how your dogs do on it, but you will have to try them for awhile maybe more then a month or two to see a real change or not.

good luck hope u find something :)

Me I have mine on Nutro Natural Choice lamb n' rice
Nutro incase u want 2 check it out :)

Hi Dollface

Whilst the lamb meal in this food may be the largest SINGLE ingredient by the time you have added up the ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, rice gluten you will find this product is more properly called rice and lamb :D

I note that this food has added salt which is not called for in a dog food?

Also telling that it does not give a minimum %age of what is actually meat as opposed to everything else!

Lamb Meal, Ground Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Natural Flavors, Rice Gluten, Dried Egg Product, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, L-Lysine, Dried Kelp (source of Iodine), Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, Ferrous Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Copper Proteinate, Niacin, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Supplement, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid.

The best food is that which keeps the individual dog in optimum health and is species appropriate, the worst food is one that is not species appropriate, does not provide adequate nutrition, aggravates or triggers food intolerance/allergies/illness either in the short or long term.

damn, that was pretty much what i was going to say Tohme........ hehehehe.

Its a million dollar question, and you really do have to work it out for yourself and your dog....... just bear in mind, please question the view you have of what a healthy dog actually IS....... because a lot of people seem to take certain problems as being the norm (ie, dogs have smelly breath, stinky poo, itchy skin) when in fact it isnt at all!

Em

And don't forget that just because your dog appears to be 'healthy' on brand X - it doesn't mean they couldn't be 'healthier' on brand Y :}

so due to a boxers possible 'digestive problems' what food would you all recommend i look at? she's only 8 weeks and is on scrambled egg morning and night and raw tripe and eukanuba for dinner and cooked chicken and eukanuba for tea ( following breeders diet).
Allowing for time for her to settle when do you advise i start to wean her onto something else (eukanuba= poor company=not deserving of my money)
thanks

I think the dog foods with the least unwanted additives are Natural Dog Food, Burns and Naturediet http://www.naturaldogfoodcompany.com/ http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.com/index.htm http://www.naturediet.co.uk/  No animal testing involved.

I feed Burns and find it excellent. :-) Years ago when I was one of a number of kennelmaid looking after 90 Airdales and Lakelands the dogs ate much better than we did. They had porridge with eggs, milk and honey,fish with rice, stewed breast of lamb with pearl barley and veg,sheeps head cooked in pressure cooker with veg the minced to form a sort of pate  ( I won't include the cows paunch). The kennelmaids got mainly potatoes, marrow and sausages!!   Our other meagre supplies were put in a cupboard  for us on Monday morning and meant to last a week..they were usually gone by Monday night. We only earned £1 a week so had little money to buy food 'some of us' were tempted to pinch the dogs food !!
:-D
Ps. If there are any old'Tycroiteans' out there you will know what I am talking about and was that a real ghost or a poor starved kennelmaid?

I took Toby (1year old lab) to the vets last week, the vet told me that he is over weight, i have left out all his treats and only given him his complete food and fruit/veg, got him weighed this morning and he has not lost any weight, i use to feed him on Bakers which i didnt have any problems with, he seems to have put the weight on since he has been on Beta,
I found the site for Burns and contacted them, they sent me out a free sample which i received today, so i gave it to Toby this evening and he loves it, ive read all the info they sent me and it looks like a better quality of complete food, also the stockist in my area only lives around the corner from me and delivery is free with a 15kg sack :)

Heidi

thanks Tohme ;)

I used to feed Bakers as well but was recommended Burns and havent looked back since.  The boys do brilliantly on it and cant recommend it enough. plus they love it which cant be bad.

Claire

Excellent service i phoned the stockist tonight and he has delivered my first 15kg bag,
he is also going to bring me more samples of Burns oats, well impressed and Toby liked him  :)

Heidi

Hi Hidelberg, I have been feeding Burns for some months and find it great, in my experience a dog on Burns tend to be on the lean side but no bad thing in an adult..it also seems to improve skin and coat and gives a fresh breath (though of course each dog is different in their reaction to food) :-) I feed lamb and rice and venison and rice + Kelties. I hope you get on well with it too :-D

Hi Reddoor,
I and hubby read all the info that Burns sent us last night and it does look impressive and Toby seems to prefer it to the Beta which we were feeding him on, so far so good.

Heidi

Hi Heidleberg

I also changed Barney onto Burns four months ago, he had JWB for the first couple of months.  Burns is a fantastic food, Barney's coat looks great, his eyes don't run anymore (cocker spaniel), his poos are half the size they used to be and he doesn't suffer from wind anymore!!  The Burns team are also VERY helpful on the phone. Burns gets my thumbs up :D

Jax

Thanks to everybody for your opinions. It is most helpful and informative.

impossile to answer but i have fed a few i think decent. the one i feed now to the ones that can eat complete is broken down as folllows...any of you food label proffesors care to give your opinion of its good and bad points, thanks in advance.

Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Pearled Barley, Oat Flour, Duck, Ground Yellow Corn, Herring Meal, Brewers Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Beet Pulp, Whole Egg, Cheese, Flaxseed, Brewers Dried Yeast, Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A, D3, E, B12 Supplements, Choline Chloride, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Biotin, Zinc Oxide, Iron Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Copper Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate,Calcium Iodate, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Selenite.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein not less than 24%, Crude Fat not less than 16%, Crude Fiber not more than 3.5%, Moisture not more than 10%.

AGain nothing to indicate what the minimum percentage of meat/fish  is :(

Cereals: Pearl Barley, Oat Flour, Ground Yellow Corn, Brewers Rice, (so probably over 50% cereal content)  Bear in mind that the cereals used in most dog foods are what are known in the trade as "flats" and contain hardly any goodness and/or are not fit for human consumption for various reasons.

Beet Pulp: waste product of sugar processing, used to bulk up stools, can contain sugar residues not good for dogs.

Cheese: Many dogs are allergic to/intolerant of either the milk protein (casein) or the milk sugar (lactose) which results in gas and diarrhoea; also it is important to understand the source of this cheese, obviously not fit for human consumption - on what grounds?

Brewers Yeast - not something that dogs need and can be contra indicated in dogs prone to yeast overgrowths, eg Marmite ears.

Flaxseed - can be problematical to some dogs as can cause itchies and Omega 3s it contains not easily absorbable by many.

Salt: why?  It is of no health benefit to the dog, quite the contrary; and owners wonder why their dogs drink a lot on dry food............

The vitamins will be synthetic and so not very bio-available or as valuable as natural ones.

Crude Protein: we don't know what the ACTUAL protein bio-availability of this food is, therefore in real terms you do not know the 5age of protein in this food, you also have no idea what %age is "complete" and what is "incomplete".

Pet food labelling currently is not specific enough for you to know what you are REALLY getting unfortunately.

That do you? :D

Cooper,what is the name of the brand you feed??

christine

christine,its called fromm and i must say its the happiest i have been with any food thus far,in the adult gold menu (which i feed) every ingredient is of human consumption standards..until i found this i thought nutro the best i had fed