Hi All,

I'm thinking about taking our puppy off Hills and changing it for something like Burns - your thoughts on Hills please?  Good or bad?  Our pup will wolf it down as long as it's mixed with something wet to give it a bit of taste/flavour otherwise she won't touch it.

Cheers
Nicky

Hi
I havent used hills, but do feed Burns.
The only thing with burns and my kai is the constant food raids/ sideboard surfing LOL
Apart from that he's never turned his nose up with burns. What i do do now is reduce the amount of burns per day and add a pack of naturediet instead. it helps give him his full belly feeling quicker and has greatly reduced his need/want to surf. :D

If your pups eating well and looking good I would stick with Hills. Some people will tell you Burns is great, some will say it doesn't suit their dog.
You could swap onto Burns and find that it won't suit your dog.
Bear in mind that you don't just swap the food over but would mix it in with the Hills over a two week period increasing the amount of Burns and reducing the amount of Hills to avoid tummy upset.
If your pups happy with Hills stick with it.
I'm not favouring one food over the other as personally I wouldn't use either of them, again because they don't suit my dogs.

Hi nicky

Take alook at hill's ingredients :( Off the top of my head it contains alot of grain fractions,not grains but the cast off's of the cast off's,peanut hulls,known cancer causing preservatives,and if your lucky there might be a bit of meat in there,maybe.....

Hills are on this list of foods to avoid if you want to feed cruelty free dog food..

http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm

Some good foods that i've tried on my dog that aren't on there are Burns,Eaglepack and Arden Grange :)

IMO no dog lover would ever feed this food to thier dog both on content of the food and the ethics of the company.-Jo

HI All,

Thank you for all of your comments.  I must confess I wasn't expecting the issue of animal testing to crop up - so that's given me something else to think about.  Interesting that vets should supply Hills if the ethics of the company and food content is supposedly so bad.  I will raise this at my next visit and see what they say.

I've just been to my local kennelgate and it seems that the vast majority of the foods they sell are on the 'bad' list.  I might give Burns a go and mix it with Nature Diet once the Hills food starts to run out ( I know I need to introduce a change gradually).

Thanks for raising the issue of animal testing and pet food, I now find myself with a moral dilema.  Now this issue has been raised, could future posters refrain from adding to the animal testing comments adn stick to the nutritional stuff as I'm looking for some good advice on foods not a debate on animal testing.

Many thanks
Nicky

Nicky Some labs are what you would call 'good doers' One of mine would I think thrive on sawdust and horse poo. He had to come off of Hills as a puppy 'cos he was growing far too fast and we were worried about his joints.

With regard to nutrition, I tend to take the view that so long as their diet is about 80% on target they are probably still doing better than I do with mine. How many of us have 5 portions of fruit & veg, no caffine, fizzy drinks etc? So dont worry too much, a happy pup and owner are just as important :) 

Lovely reply thank you Bluebell.  You're right of course, I think I'll get her weighed again ASAP and ask for their opinion on her size/diet, etc  And then we can think about food/meal regime changes.

I think part of the problem is extra treats as rewards - we're doing a lot of training with her and also things like strips of pigs ears to help her get through the teething stage.  We have reduced the amount of food at meal times - it's hard to know what's right and what's not where you're new to dog ownership!!

Thanks again
Nx

>> think part of the problem is extra treats as rewards

why not use some of the dry feed as rewards when training ( out of the daily ration of course )
that is once you have her on a feed she loves :)

Vets receive commision by selling Hill,the company also sponsers the vet schools ;)

Take a look at this site,it has some great info about vitamins etc. and what dogs need in their diets.

http://www.cyberpet.com/cyberdog/articles/health/prescrpd.htm

........and all other suppliers sell their goods for free? :)

No but the OP didn't ask why the supermarkets/pet stores supply it ;)

Ok, so the answer is for the same reason that other suppliers stock it ie a profit can be made for the business and they either do not think there is an ethical issue or they disregard it but as Nicky does not wish that to form part of this discussion I will not go into my thoughts on that ;)

Hi Nicky

Just to say I also fed my dog Hills for two and a half years. I assumed because the vet sold it that I was doing the best thing. Well, he had odd bouts of sickness, odd bouts of loose stools and then odd bouts of straining. Also, he seemed to have an itchy tummy and was always scratching it. Looking back now, he was a bit 'hyper' at times and occasionally irritable.  He was often at the vets because of the tummy problems - in the end they did blood tests but could find nothing wrong. Sometimes he'd eat it all, other times he'd sniff it and walk away - even if I added vegetables to it. Luckily for him, I was visiting a friend for a few days in April and she mentioned that he didn't seem keen on his food and suggested I tried Burns. I picked up a leaflet and did a bit of research on the internet and in the end picked up a trial size packet of the lamb and rice and added it gradually to his normal food. Well, the difference was amazing. Within just a few days his tummy seemed 100% settled, his stools have been perfect and easy for him to pass ever since (I've also noticed that he does less of it so I guess there isn't so much rubbish that he needs to pass ?). He hasn't had a single bout of sickness (I'm typing this with crossed fingers !) and no itchy tummy. He eats every single bit - no hesitation !. I often add veg to it to keep it interesting though !. If you do decide to change keep an eye on weight. I found that he was often looking for food and seemed hungry. He lost a little bit of weight (not a bad thing though) so I gradually adjusted the amount I gave him until we got it right. His weight is now spot on, he looks great and appears to be one very happy boy !.
Interestingly, a month or so after I started on Burns I met his vet. She asked after him and I told her how happy I was with him and that he was doing so well. Guess what she said ? "Yes, I feed my two on Burns as well" (odd, as she was the one who recommened that I bought Hills for him from her vet surgery !!).

I had similar problems with Burns, not Hills.   Chronic mountains of sloppy stools, weight loss and they didn't appear to be particularly keen on it either.  

Overpriced for only average ingredients, low animal protein content.

I have tried a few different foods on my fussy,colitis prone Boxer and Arden Grange seems to suit him the best.It has quality ingredients,is well priced and produced without any cruelty,it's also available online directly from them  :)

My freiend has mostly resuce GSD's who are known for delicate digestion.  She ahd one colitis prone bitch that was good on one food utnil they changed the recipe, disayter in an elderly dog.

All of hers are noiw on Arden grange Lamb and Rice and it was a lifesver in this bitches case, but all the others do much better on it than on various feeds tried before.  Her border collies on the other hand tdo fine on whatever is on offer at the wholesalers warehouse, she won't change the GSD's from the Arden Grange.

They also do a lovley fidh based one now too, as well as the chicken and Lamb in the adult classic.

I do know of a GSD breeder who won't use anything else but Arden Grange.

I know other GSD breeders who feed only raw.

Horses for courses, GSD should not have a "delicate" digestion.

Seems to be very common among rescue shepherds.

It is quite common for some GSD's to be intolerant to certain foods and prone to gastrointestinal upsets.   

I agree, I think there are far better foods out there than Hills, personally I would never feed my dogs on it as I have had and heard of bad experiences with it.  I would rather use burns if my dog settles on it.  Currently mine are on a chicken, rice and veg dry comp meal and in the evening they get a little chappie mixed in - as my bitch has a sensitive belly this works wonders for her and they are healthy, fit and have lovely shiny coats - all for under a tenner, expensive foods are not always the best - each dog is different ;)