I'm reasonably new to the forum and have been reading a great deal about diet.
I would like to change the food I give to my 5 dogs but I would like to stay with a complete food and compliment it with things like fish and some veg and maybe pasta (if thats advisable).

So which food would be a good bet?  I have been looking at things like Arden Grange, Royal Canin and Natures Diet, (one of you put a useful link on a post somewhere and I followed it).
My dogs range from 10 years they are a Goldie and a Collie, then I have a 2+1/2  year Sheltie and the 2 Sheltie pups 6 and 7 months.

At the moment the older girls are on IAMS which I gather has lots of cereal and fillers, when I look at the price I pay for the IAMS I could get a better quality food for only a few pounds more, the pups are on Pedigree Puppy as that is what the breeder was feeding them.

I still have 15kg of IAMS to work through and 6kg of Pedigree but it would be a good idea I think to get a new food that I can start to mix in and wean them all on to.
Would the old girls need a different diet to the older Sheltie? I had intended to keep the pups on puppy until they were a year.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Do you have to change or do you just want to?  I think I recall a previous post about different foods, cheaper ones, and lots of bags of IAMS on special offer - was that you?  I may have a mind designed to remember all but the most useful things, like "where did I put my car keys?" :)

I feed AG Lamb and Rice and it suits both of mine very well; my older dog, who had previously been a bit fussy, will never turn this food down which I take as a strong recommendation indeed!  I've found prices vary a bit dependant on source but recently bought 15kg bags for £22.13 which was the lowest I've seen it.  They do a good range of foods and they offer great customer service.  You can speak to Nessa at AG who can send you lots of information about their food and some trial bags if you want to taste it first.

I've also heard great things about Challenge Dog Food Salmon and Potato which is apparently a very good hypo allergenic food if you are wanting to change for allergy reasons. They also do Salmon and Rice for puppies.

There seem to be as many recommendations for foods as there are foods themselves - good luck wading through all the advice.  I've followed my breeders wise counsel thank goodness which makes decisions of this kind so much easier... :)

Hi dogs a babe
Yep that was me with the special offer on IAMS, got loads of the stuff and the girls seem to like it.

I don't HAVE to change my girls food, they're all fit and healthy and of good weight, (the older Sheltie is a bit plump due to spaying though).

I just feel that I could perhaps give them a better food for the price I'm paying.

I want to get the pups changed and on to a good food and as I'm buying for them it makes sense to have 'everybody' on the same brand.
Thanks for your suggestions, I'm gob smacked cos you've bought a better class of food more cheaply than I can get the IAMS (at normal rate).
My Collie is very fussy and will go days without eating so maybe a change is needed.

Hi Nicola,

I would echo what dogs a babe has said re the Arden Grange, I have 3 dogs (a mixed bunch like yours by the sound of it - 6yr old Alaskan Malamute, 3yr old Cavalier and 9yr old Samoyed), they are all fed on AG Lamb & Rice and I couldn't recommend it more. My Cavalier can be very fussy and that was one of the reasons I took her off the Royal Canin she was on before, she wasn't enjoying it. She loves the AG and really gobbles it all up! My Sammy came as a rescue and was very overweight, I put her on AG and she has done brilliantly, lost loads of weight and looks fantastic now. My Mal loves the AG too.

I do believe its very important choosing the right food for your dog, what will suit some dogs won't necessarily suit others. Ness at AG is ever so helpful so if you do have any queries I would speak to her. I think I pay about £23 a bag for mine. I was discussing this with a friend yesterday who was surprised that I could get the AG at that price - I think she pays a lot more for a lower quality food.

Thanks for the info both of you, I will check out the AG, it sounds as though it could be the one to go with. I can't believe the price. I usually buy my dog food in Tesco's, it's on my way home from work. The normal price for the IAMS is about £9 for 3 kg if you scale that up to a 15kg bag I'm paying silly money. I think that not only will the dogs benefit from the change but my purse will too :)

A woman I know that breeds Labradors has recommended 'Gusto' what opinions due you have on this one?

There was a thread about Gusto not so long ago - perhaps someone slightly cleverer than me can point you in the right direction, or you could do a search ?! (memo to self, must learn links!)

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=959859

There we are :)

Thanks Silver :-)

Thanks Silver

>A woman I know that breeds Labradors has recommended 'Gusto' what opinions due you have on this one?

IMO,It's a terrible food.If you can find the ingredient list you'll see why.

Hi Ktee

I followed the link that silver put on, having already checked up on the food and it's ingredients, and to be honest I was quite surprised as most of the comments seemed to be of a positive nature except the very last one that was along the lines of what you have just said.

What surprised me was that having posted a thread some weeks back on whether I should change my dogs food and was I feeding them a cheap diet the general concensus of opinion was that I feed my dogs on a low quality food (IAMS and Pedigree) plus tinned and fresh fish and everybody expounded the virtues of things like JWB, Arden Grange, Natures Best etc etc, so when I read all these good things about Gusto which to me looks as though it's very little meat protein and a loads of carbs and gunk I was gob smacked to say the least.

I think I will not be switching to Gusto.

> Gusto which to me looks as though it's very little meat protein and a loads of carbs and gunk I was gob smacked to say the least.

And yet the people that have actually used it are giving it positive reviews.  Does that not tell you something about whether all these dire warnings about carbs and gunk are, in fact, well founded or not, Nicola? :-)

This is what I find confusing Isabel, it seems such a low cost food with poorer quality ingredients and so completely different to the high quality ones that lots on this forum seem to advocate. Me know not what to think, hence being gob-smacked :)

>> And yet the people that have actually used it are giving it positive reviews.  Does that not tell you something about whether all these dire warnings about carbs and gunk are, in fact, well founded or not, Nicola? :-)

The thing is Isobel that a manufacturer only needs to feed a new food to a group of dogs for 6 months with no obvious health problems for it to be labelled complete and so go on sale.Many health problems take much longer to develop.I do not believe that all dog foods are created equal regardless of ingredients or cost.
I have a grooming salon and the general health of a lot of the dogs is quite frankly awful.For example,I'd say about a third of the dogs come in with bad ear infections(I'm not just talking waxy ears),some dogs ALWAYS come in with ear infections which their owners say are treated but just come straight back.Lots of dogs have skin allergies and very dry scurfy skin which of course gets worse with age.Most dogs(I'd say 98%)are overweight with a good number really obese.Many dogs are very arthritic from a relatively young age(for example a 9 year old cavalier-only slightly overweight but in so much pain he can barely walk or a 7 year old collie cross already arthritic or an 11 year old westie already on a very high dose of Metacam).Some owners don't notice that their dog is in pain.Most older dogs have dental problems as well and once they reach a certain age the vets won't do dentals,even when the dogs mouth is swollen and teeth are actually hanging out.The pain those dogs are in must be excruciating.
We have also had 2 dogs in the past month being diagnosed with diabetes-one a tibetan terrier cross who was just 7,the other a 6 year old shih tzu(apparently the dog's vet said these dogs are very prone to illness due to inbreeding).
There have also been several cancer cases in relatively young dogs.
Now quite a few dogs have been coming for to be clipped every 2 months or so for 7/8 years so its given me a good insight into the possible effect of certain types of food on long term health.I have taken to asking owners what brand of food they feed and of course most are fed on Bakers,Pedigree and other similar high carbohydrate brands.When I have suggested to owners that they change to higher quality food(ie higher protein,grain free or home prepared food/raw food) the health problems improve/disappear but not all owners listen to me.I honestly believe that most owners are just too trusting of the dog food companies and believe what they read on the packet unaware of what its doing to their dog's health.
This is something I get pretty upset about(obviously as I've known some of the dogs for years).
Of course some dogs will do ok on a poorer quality food but lots won't.For example,some westie owners will just say their dog has "westie skin" ie sore and itchy which is a "breed trait" (their words)-but how many cases are down to poor diet? Or how about "spaniel ears" (ear infections) which again one owner said their vet blamed on inbreeding.
Sorry,rant over....

Helenmd, you obviously did not read my reference to people who have actually fed this not simply what the manufacturers may claim.
Now, as it happens, we are happily celebrating my dogs 14th birthday today, fed for almost all her life on the foods that are eschewed by the internet food brigade.  At what age do you think I should start worrying? :-D

as a veterinary nurse i see the same few breeds come in again and again for skin complaints. yes some may be diet and environment related, but i think its safe to say that genetics must play a part. there are breeds which ive never seen skin complaints in and others in which a lot of the dogs have problems. personally i think a lot is down to the breeding.

>as a veterinary nurse i see the same few breeds come in again and again for skin complaints

We have a surprising amount of (unrelated) border terriers with allergies/ skin complaints. Most odd for such an otherwise natural breed.

that is quite surprising, havent seen many with skin complaints, and as you say they are normally a sturdy wee breed.  they are getting very popular where i live so maybe more inexperienced people breeding?

A couple of these (one on permanent Piriton, another having individually-concocted fortnightly injections from the allergy lab, which unfortunately seem to be of no use whatsoever) are from reputable breeders. Another - unrelated but not pet breeder - has quite a serious heart murmur. In fact the only 'pet breeder' one (whose mother was a horrible-natured piece of work) is completely healthy and totally friendly to man and beast. B*****y typical!

Hi dogs a babe
I took your advice and got in touch with 'Nessa' at Arden Grange.
Very helpful she is too, informative and not pushy. She has suggested I put the older girls on a senior diet, and the younger ones on adult although if I wanted to the eldest Sheltie could go on a light diet to trim her down a bit.
She's going to send me some samples.
Where do you buy yours from if you don't mind my asking as I notice there can be quite a variance in prices?

Yes I've got nothing but good things to say about AG - perhaps I should ask for commission!! :)

I have the breeders packs direct from AG as my fall-back position but have found that if you shop around others are usually cheaper.  My most recent cheap bags came from VetUK on special offer - 15kg of lamb & rice is now £24.59 and if you order 2 bags or more postage is free.  Berriewood is another that I think gets recommended quite frequently on CD for good prices too.

If your dogs like the AG Salmon, but the price puts you off, try Challenge instead

xxx

Thanks dogs a babe
I use AG lamb and rice and cant believe the price from vet uk...what a saving to what i normaly pay.
Thanks again.

my dog does great on AG she has tryed so many different foods but AG is just perfect for her i couldnt be any happier with it.i buy from berriewoods and i look on ebay, some bargins sometimes come up, few months ago i got 15kg for £21 inc delivery! the pet shop near me sells 15kg for £36 so quite a difference between the two prices! :-)
i also found that im feeding her alot less so it works out quite cheap to feed my big GSD on AG,it actually works out cheaper to feed her than it does my little chihuahua!!! ha ha! :-D

Hi dogs a babe

Just one thing
Do you work in Sales:):)