Hi
just wondering to all those labradors owners out there.  I have been feeding Desi Eukanuba puppy food for large breeds, this is what she has been weaned on to but since Sunday she has had a bad tum and the vet has recently given me some tinned sensitive food for her for 3 days.  I have been unable to find it in any of the pet stores around here.  I was also told by my vet nurse yesterday that it is not good for labs as there is too much protein in it.  There are so many different dog foods on the market and I am finding it all rather confusing.  I have heard that James Wellbeloved,, Natures Best and the Science Plan are all good makes and wonder if any of your labs have favourites or what you would recommend.  I woud like to start her on something as natural as possible that she will enjoy eating.
Thank you
Van

Chappie works well for sensitive tummies, and Waltham (Pedigree) also make an ID food, which your vet or pet food shop can order, for you. As to normal feeding it depends on what you can afford and what you can get, some people prefer to feed a diet they design themselves and other prefer to feed a complete food where someone else has sorted the balance out for them, and some feed some of each. Labs are not known to be fussy eaters so go with what either you or your breeder thinks will suit. The vet may well have an ulterior motive and in most cases is not the best place to buy your dog food.

My lab is on Eukanuba adult maintenance food.

Sometimes I mix a little chicken in with it or a bit of rice to add the flavours cos otherwise he would get bored of it and it is expensive to buy.

I once changed to Royal Canin labrador food but it didn't suit him at all and to be honest I was scared to change from eukas just in case.  What sort of bad turn did he/she have?

Van,
Firstly it may be that your pups upset stomach is nothing to do with the Eukenuba, particularly if he has been weaned on it and only developed the symptoms a few days ago. Knowing labradors it may be caused by something he has eaten in your garden or on a walk - they absolutely love to eat the most unimaginable filth!

My own labradors (plus Jack Russell & springer) are fed from the Masters range of dry, complete foods. The pups are fed on 'Eclipse' and the adults on 'Meaty Crunch'. I cant remember the protein levels, but can have a look later if you are interested.

Eclipse costs about £23 for 15KG
Meaty Crunch costs about £13 for 15KG

In all honesty I dont spend any of my time looking at the back of the dog food sacks to find out whats in it, but I spend an awful lot of time looking at the dogs that are fed on it (both as pets and working dogs). I know a number of people locally who also feed this brand, predominantly to gundogs and terriers, but that is only because they are the type of dog owner that I know!

In my experience :

The dogs eat it with enthusiasm (but then my dogs would probably eat anything with enthusiasm!)
They look very well on it
Their poo is neither runny nor foul smelling
They dont need treating by the vet
They are pefectly capable of very hard work fed on the 'Meaty Crunch', although I would probably use one of the higher protein varieties of Masters if I was working them hard more than once a week.
A dog that came to me for training (that was underweight and had foul poo) improved significantly switching to this variety.
I have personally known a few people that have switched to the brand and then stuck with it because they have been pleased with it.
Pups that i have bred have been kept on the food (where the owners have been able to get it) and their owners have been happy with it.

Masters is not usually available in pet stores. i get mine locally from an agent and I'm not sure how widespread they are.

I have no vested interest in this company, the food suits me, my dogs and my pocket!

I'm sure that there are a number of other brands that will be just as good and feeding raw has its advocates.

Best of luck.

Apparently there is a food made especially for the labrador's unique requirements available now in the UK;

http://www.caninehealthnutrition.com/labrador.htm

I am feeding my 11 week ol lab on James wellbeloved puppy food. He loves the duck and rice but not the lamb. He is obviousley tiny so I dont have a vast opinion on it but he is doing fine and his poo is just right and my mums 2 adult gsd have always been on james wellbeloved and they have excellent coats and loads of energy. I too was told by the vet to buy a certain food apparently designed for labs by royal canin which is only available at the vets at the moment but I was dubious as hhe was selling it and it was over twice the price of jwb. I am not going to feed him rubbish to save money but if I can get a good quality food for that much cheaper then I am going to do it. My only concern is that jwb is just puppy food and not large breed puppy anyone have an opinion on this? My mums dogs as pups were just fed puppy and she swears there was no such thing as large brreed puppy food then?

I tried my H on Royal Canin.  To be honest the biscuits are massive and he tends to scoop them up so I can only imagine how much they swell inside him!  He ended up with gastroenteritis after I had fed him on them.  Never again!!

I imagine that (unless you are a breeder) most people tend to end up on whatever the vet recommends - I wasn't particularly impressed with what the breeder gave us as it was a real cheapy food (think: if it were a cheap version of a human food would I eat it? No!) when we got Millie but the vet gave us a free trial pack of Hills large breed puppy which she took to no problem at all (but then labs aren't known for being fussy eaters!). She's just over six months now so we have just finished moving her onto adult food but I have to say she looks fab on it, very shiny coat, gorgeous BIG teeth and really a happy dog. The vet was really pleased with her at her check up so it's obviously working for her.

Not sure about this food that's specifically for labradors. Would be interested to hear what John thinks of it!

A

the food the vet tried to sell me was a new food by royal canin thats not in normal shops yet just vets and it is all different. I think its just called royal canin it said vet size on it but was quite big so maybe its called vet size?? dont hold me to that and it comes in mini medium maxi and giant and all 4 have puppy junior adult and senior. It is really expensive and to be honest I did give max the trial pack the vet gave me and he didnt like it at the time he was still having pro plan large puppy food from breeder and he picked out the individual pieces of pro plan and left vet food. but he moved over to jwb without noticing. I found the pro plan pieces large and he prefers the smaller pieces of jwb. Now I just need to know when to stop soaking it or do I carry on forever?

A food especially for labradors. I've seen this advertised before and my initial reaction was that its a marketing ploy. I'm sure that its a perfectly adequate food, but I really cant think why a labrador needs a specific diet. (Other than the fact that they are by far the most common breed in the UK & US and therefore present the biggest market ;-) )

People really do seem to look for things to worry about. I'm amazed that feeding dogs can provide such a level of debate as occurs on this forum.

"but I really cant think why a labrador needs a specific diet".

Neither can I, apparently there are now special diets out for dachshunds, poodles, yorkshire terriers and bitches! 

The mind boggles!

The thing with commercial dog foods is that there are such a large variety of foods available which (unless you have a detailed knowledge) are all near-as-dammit the same, in terms of the end result. Therefore clever marketing is essential for brand awareness and sales results.

All I know is that in the list of things that I am going to think about next week, feeding the dogs will not be high on the list! :-)

What complete rubbish! As all dogs stem geneticly from the same source the only possible reason for differing food for different breeds is in the size of the food! Toys having smaller mouths than the giant breeds. I can only put it down to a marketing ploy to the gullible public!

For my part, I feed Masters Meaty Crunch during the summer but these days change to Masters Performance grade for the working season.

I feel I should add to that by saying, old man that I am, I still use timmed food for my very young puppies, changing to complete when I go over to adult food at around six months. I still remember all the troubles we had with complete food when it first appeared.

Best wishes, John

I just noticed I wrote Timmed! That of course should have read Tinned!

A case of FIGBIN!!

John ;)

senior moment J ;) or dyslexic  hic pardon ;)

Finger In Gear, Brain In Neutral Mattie ;)

Well its true that all dogs stemmed from the same source but that doesn't mean that they haven't made some adaptations over the thousands of years in domestication.

Arctic breeds for instance may be able to cope with a mostly raw fish diet better than others and it is thought that Collie breeds digest oats particularly well so the concept of breed specific diets is not entirely stupid.

BUT that doesn't mean that I don't think that the "Labrador food" is a marketing ploy :-)

Julie

Obviously all animals adapt to what is plentiful in the area where they live Julie.

Labradors were originally used by the Newfoundland fishermen to retrieve the ropes from the sea, which is obviously where I've gone wrong with my dogs diet!!  I'll mince up some rope tomorrow ;)

Best wishes, John

Ah!  there's the key to why they've evolved to be so greedy.  Must eat huge amounts to get enough nutrition out of rope ;-)

Julie

i feed my 10 month lab Burns-i have done since we got her as a pup (she used to be on Beta). I've never had any problems with it and shes never left any in her bowl-but i suppose thats the ganet coming out in her! I do switch flavours each time I run out, just for variety, but apparently its worthwhile doing as Burns reckon its possible for a dog to become allergic to Burns food if the dog is only given one flavour / variety constantly without a change.....Not sure if this is true though....? It might be worth trying a gluten and wheat free food to see if this makes a difference with Desi's tum. They tend to be the culprits in food sensitivities. JWB and Burns will send you a free sample if you request one via their websites.

have you considered BARF, or NatureDiet?

wow
thanks everybody I have just read all the posts to my question.  Lots of information to go on.  I got today the Science diet for large breed puppies with chicken and will see how she goes on it.  There are so many different brands though it is very confusing.  I had heard of Royal Canin but again it does seem like a bit of a ploy for lab owners to buy it.  Any one else use Science diet for their labs?
van