Hi all,

My second question of this forum, once more regarding food. I would like to know which foods you would recommend, and which foods you would not. I have a healthy eight week-old labrador, currently fed on Burns dog food, but I am looking to switch to either one of the premium foods (Eukanuba looks good), or to Baker's Choice complete, at some point. Once I decide on a food however, I look at some reviews and see that there are bad points to them. Burns for example has some people saying it's good, while others criticise it and say that it has made their puppies thin. Similarly different opinions appear for Baker's Choice, Vitalin, and so on. I realise in the end it's my choice, but I don't want to get my dog started on a dog food that will have negative effects on it in the future. It would be great to hear some feedback on what your recommended food is for your dogs. Thanks for any feedback you can give,

Aureus.

Firstly I wouldn't class Bakers as premium, but thats just my opinion :D
Secondly our 15 week old is on Burns mini bites, soon to be switched to the Canine Extra, and I wouldn't say he was thin, but he isn't fat either, just right, a pup carrying too much weight is not a good thing.
So, I'd say stick with the Burns, unless it doesn't agree with you pup, waht was your reason for wanting to change?
That, of course, is just my opinion :) It works for our pup and our 2 older girls
Emily

I certainly would not take a dog off Burns to change to Bakers, I personally would not feed Bakers at all.  Is there a particular reason for wanting to change?

can i ask why u dont like bakers i feed my 3 dogs on this and they are fine all are healthyand are the correct weight for there breed .

Aureus,
yesterday you posted saying that your pup was on Vitalin and that you wanted to change over to Burns and today you're saying that the pup is on Burn's and you want to change to another brand. Can you clarify what your pup is actually on and why you want to change? And also, in my opinion, Burn's does not make your dog thin it just stops the very rapid weight gain that causes problems in many pups.

Sarah

Smurggle: She is currently fed on a mixture of Vitalin/Burns, with an emphasis on changing over to Burns over a gradual period of a few days. If I seem indecisive, I am. I've seen hundreds and hundreds of different pet foods in recent weeks, and am just getting completely confused about which food will be best for her throughout her life.

Emily and Kayc: I was simply put off by a few negative reviews, which I realise are in the minority. I have recently seen many positive reviews for it as well, and so I've decided to stick with it after all.

Thanks for the help all.

>I've seen hundreds and hundreds of different pet foods in recent weeks, and am just getting completely confused about which food will be best for her throughout her life.

Its so easy to get stressed out over food when the reality is most dogs do very well indeed on most foods :) unless you are one of the unlucky ones to have a dog having very specific requirements and these people are not as common as you might think if you use the internet they just naturally appear there in numbers looking for assistance with there problems :)  Just pick something that you can obtain easily and at a price you feel like paying and see how it goes or if you don't feel confident about that opt for what your breeder used presuming you liked the look of her dogs enough to choose your puppy in the first place :)

Aureus,

I'd agree with Isabel - Dont get stressed. You've got a labrador, so feeding is the easy part! I know loads of people that work labradors (including myself), who just find a brand that they are happy with (usually whatever they try first) and stick with it. Their dogs end up healthy, in good condition and capable of hard work.

Hiya,
sorry Aureus it just sounded like you were swopping her food every couple of days! I know what you mean about the amount of food on the market and the conflicting advice, it's something I've agonised over as I don't want to feed Kobi anything that will do him harm later on in life. As other people have said on here the research into diet and health for dogs is incomplete and vague at best but if this helps, from the research I've done myself the best thing you can do for your pup is to make sure she's not overweight, not getting too much protein as a pup (which will make her grow too quickly) and to make sure she isn't having a huge amount of Calcium. I think that anything approaching 30% protein is way too high for a lab puppy and you should be aiming more around the 20-24% mark. I have been reliably informed that a slow growing puppy will still reach the same height/weight etc.. as it would have but it will do it in a slower time, at a more healthy pace.

There are many foods that fit into the above category, then you just have to choose something you can get hold of, can afford and that agrees with your pup (and in my case I prefer Burns because it is not tested on animals).

Good luck with your pup and stay on the forum because it's nice to hear from other lab puppy owners!

Sarah

Well I would always asssess the quality of a food by the ingredients and class the best as those with the highest proportion of meat and animal protein contents, and trhe lowest ceral and by products.

For this reason I like Ardne Grange, Autarky the most.  They are a good price compard to the likes of Eukanuba and Proplan with similar formulas.

Then down the line I have had ggod results with the ranges from Wafcol and skinners, though they have a higher cereal contendt than the above.

Steer clear of any foods like Bakers and Pedigree complete, Pal etc which have lots of fancy shapes and colours, as these are for your beneefit not the dogs.

I agree about fancy shapes and colours being for the human's benefit :) but I think if a dog was already on them, doing well and not showing any adverse reaction such as hyperactivity or itchyness, as many of them won't, then I don't think I would be worrying too much about changing either.

Yeah but i wouldnt risk what these things can do in the long run,its just not worth it!! I wouldnt feed similar human products to my kids,i definately wouldnt feed it to my dogs!

Aureus how is your dog doing on Burns?
Burns isnt my first option in dog foods, it's better than bakers , proplan and definately better than eukanuba ;) , but downgrading all the way down to bakers or crapanuba would be like swapping a fillet mignon for a fish n chip shop snitzel :D There just is no comparison!

There are plenty of other more natural dog foods out there for you to choose from,there is no need to start feeding the cheap stuff just yet :)

Colourings do not have any effects in the long run that they do not have in the short run that I know of.  And I don't think shapes have either :D 
So your kids get nothing with colouring in at all, no sweets, no shop cakes, no pop, no anything?

I'm talking on a DAILY BASIS,for every single meal,this is how alot of dogs are fed! Nothing but dry kibble a.m and p.m for ever more!With NO fresh food additions. In answer to your question,yeah my kids do get all of the things you mentioned,every now and then,my dogs also get naughty treats,every now and then,but not everyday for every meal :)

But what are the long term effects that you alluded to and how will fresh additions affect anything?  I agree I wouldn't start with a food containing colourings just in case mine was a dog that reacted but I don't see the harm if a dog is already on such a food and not showing any adverse reactions.  I am not aware of anything damaging in the long term, although the Dept of Health has issued plenty of dietry advise for humans regarding, fats, sugers, fibre, avoidance of excess salt etc I don't remember any official advise about avoiding colourings even for children.  As one of the baby boomer gereration I grew up with Smarties and vividly coloured Ski yoghurts :) but my generation is expected to have the longest life spans ever it is the lastest generation with their high levels of fats and no fibres that are expected to have a great reduction in life span but I don't hear any suggestions it is due to additives.

Hello again all,

My dog's now happily chomping away at Burns dog food, and seems to have adjusted well. I have no desire now to switch dog foods, although I do have an extra bag of Ardne Grange that I bought a few weeks ago. Though I intend to stick to Burns in the long run, would it hurt my dog if I added half Ardne Grange, half Burns until the Ardne Grange food has gone, or should I just stick to Burns and throw the AG away? Either way, thanks to everyone that has replied here, as I'm a lot less fussy now about what to feed my dog :)

Hi Aureus,
glad you've made a decision, I recently went to Crufts and got given a load of free samples of different foods, being the stingy person I am I won't throw them away. I just give them Kobi as training treats a few at a time, or put some in his kong/training ball. So why dont you do this with your spare food?

Sarah

Well I certainly wouldn't throw the Arden Grange Away.  there were a number of forum members who were usign Burns and went back to Arden Grange.  I would class it as one of the best completes.

Mixing it will do no harm at all, as long as you follow the normal rule of introducing it gradually.