Hi

I am looking to change my dogs food, and my local store have alot of the beta range. Has anyone else used this with a large breed? What did you think to it? I have Akita's and am looking to put my 12wk puppy onto Beta Puppy/Junior chicken & rice, and my older ones (ranging between 9 months and 6yrs) on the adult lamb and rice?

Thanks in advance

Fagan was on this when I first bought him home at 8 weeks, he did about 5 huge sloppy poos a day on it :(  It blatantly didnt suit him but his brother I believe is still on it and looks ok (dont know what his poos are like though - didnt like to ask ;)  )

It is not a very good dog food and relies on cheap ingredients.    Mind you it is prob a tad better than Bakers.

That may be your opinion but those of us who actually feed it find it suits our puppies and dogs very well.  Cheapness of ingredients has nothing to do with it in my opinion is the man who eats chicken, peas and apples any less healthy that the man who eats partridge, asparagus and kiwi fruits? 
Sorry, Bears Mum, I have no experience of feeding it to large breeds I think the rearing of large breed pups, in particular, is a very specialist subject perhaps your bitches breeder or your stud dog owner if they are more experienced in this area can give you advise.

We used to feed Beta to our Labrador when she was a puppy. She was fine on it, bit hyperactive, but we never thought anything of it. We mentioned this to our vet, he said that maybe we should try something different, as she really was quite hyper, and a bit destructive (actually chewed a whole in our hall way wall!) So we changed her onto Nutro, the change in her was dramatic. She all of a sudden lost her hyperness, she got tired a bit quicker on walks(she runs about 100miles an hour) and the destruction stopped. All our dogs are on Nutro now and they are brilliant, beautiful shiny coats, one of my dogs has a gluten allergy, so Nutro is perfect for him. He came to us on Technical, he had terrible problems, he lost all his coat, poor thing. As soon as we changed him onto Nutro he grew his coat back, and looks gorgeous.
I think it is down to the dog, and which food suits them best. For all my dogs Nutro is the best thing for them.

I would always look for a food whose main ingredient was meat as they list them in order. I think you will find Beta's first, and therefore the main, ingredient is wheat. My friend's dogs were on it (that's 5 collies, a bully and a GSD between them) and they all had problems with their skin or loose stools. They eventually listened to what I was saying and changed it and now they are fine. Dogs do not need wheat in their diet and many are in fact allergic to it. Just my opinion tho, I'm sure there will be others who will disagree, there always are! ;)

Of course it might not suit some :) but in 25 years I have never had a dog allergic to wheat, nor have any of my family and friends in fact I have only ever come across it on the internet and some of those seem rather uncertain to me so I am not sure it is true to say "many" are allergic to wheat.  I have tried completes with meat as the first ingredients and found they did not contain sufficient fibre to ensure healthy bowel action for my particular dogs so as they say horses for courses :)

I can't see why you would ever put fibre as a bigger priority than meat in dog's food. Unlike humans (and this is were most people make the mistake in thinking that a dog is a human wrapped up in fur)  the amount a fibre a dog needs is no ware near what a human needs its to do with the length of an intestine being small in a dog a long in a human.other difference are we walk on two legs dogs walk on all 4 legs -Jo

I thought my post had explained quite well why I regard fibre as important :)  It may be nowhere near as much as a human needs but, for my dogs at least, it is more than offered in any meat led recipe I have tried.

>Dogs do not need wheat in their diet and many are in fact allergic to it.

I think you mean many may have an intolerance to wheat, rather than an allergy. An allergy causes a sudden and life-threatening reaction, not simply a matter of slightly loose stools.
:)

When i first got my bullmastiff she was on beta, her stomach would swell, she was really gassey.  If you put your hand on her stomach you could feel it bubbling with wind, so i took her off it because her poos weren't good either, so i personally wouldn't feed it she's now on james well beloved and doing fine.  It is really the individual dog and how they cope with digesting the food.

Warm regard Susan

One of my old girls had a similar reaction to any food containing soya. But it was an intolerance, not an allergy. I had to check any food she ate contained no soya because she came close to bloating a couple of times.

Hmm not sure I would agree with you there JG.

I have an allergy to metal, it does not cause a sudden and life threatening action.

Anyphylactic shock however does, but this is an extreme allergic reaction.

There are a lot of people who have allergies to many things, very few are life threatening; allergic reactions vary in intensity from individual to individual.

According to this, an allergic reaction occurs very soon (from minutes up to 2 hours) after eating the item to which one is allergic. It's also quite clear about the differences between allergies and intolerances.
:)

Exactly.....

Hi, this is very interesting!! i have always used beta puppy, soaked & mashed to wean & then dry from 8 weeks , i then introduce james wellbeloved , gradually, from about 6 months ( recommended from my first mini dachshunds breeder ) i have never had and loose poop probs from any litters ........ until this time !! i have alitter of 4 who  have been doing about 6 sloshy poops a day!!!!!  spoke to the vet who said to change diet to JWB puppy & bingo !!! within 5 days , nice ???!! firm poops 4 times a day , one after after each meal ...... hope i havnt put u all off lunch !!!
lol
caron x

Allergy, intolerance, whatever you want to call it, these dogs all reacted to Beta. Now they eat something wheat gluten free and are fine.

Exactly but for the majority of dogs who are not intolerant/allergic to wheat there is no reason not to feed it if they are thriving and enjoying it.  It does not make it a bad food just unsuitable for a minority like every other food or diet you can think of.

I've never used it personally but my friend has five akitas all fed on it with minced chicken and they do great on it. They are in fab condition. 3 out of the five are shown and do well every time.

So let's get this right, youre friends   buy Beta complete food (as in a complete meal)
And then they add thier own meat to it. Seems a bit pointless buying a "complete" food then adding your own ingredients or would you say that beta is not as good as other completeS with higher meat content because you then have to add meat?  -JO 

I have had a few puppies that come to me who were being fed Beta puppy and they all done very runny poo.  I changed them straight over to Pets at Home and within 12-24 hrs all poo's were normal and firm.

Bev