My 6 month old Border Terrier is settled on a diet of tinned puppy meat (PChum) and small bite mixer 2 x a day. This was after many stressful meal times when she would turn her cute little nose up at all the nice posh complete foods I tried to get her to eat.

My question is 2 part, firstly tinned meat doesn't seem very popular, is there any nutritional reason for this? And secondly when should she be on an adult food, I'm guessing not for a while yet as she is still a little thing but just want to be prepared.

I am after your honest thoughts on what I am feeding my girl so please don't hold back!

thanks all....

hi there..

i think the reason tinned meat isnt so popular in here is because a. expense and b. you'll need ur dogs teeth scraping 2-3 times more often a year at the vets so even more expense...

as for adult food - smaller breed dogs can go onto adult food at 6 months as they have finished the majority of their growing whereas the bigger breeds can keep on growing for another year so need the extra protein... so the answer is you could start now really (I'm presuming borders are small, i have a picture of them in my head)

I'll go along with the expense part Emily but not the tooth scraping bit! I have only just started feeding complete after all these years of feeding tins and biscuit and in all those years only one of my dogs ever had to see the vet with a mouth problem and that was totally unconnected to decay or tarter! Even now, I still prefer not to use complete with my puppies.

Regards, John

Hmmm,
I dont like tinned meat because you are mostly paying for the tin, and then after that the greatest weight of contents is in fact water! You would maybe be better off (cost wise at least) feeding a good quality dry food, and adding your own water.
Nutritionally, hmmm, i am biased cos i feed raw food.
Complete food, for the most part, has all the nutrients cooked/heat treated out of it, and then added back to it with chemical replacements, It then has colouring and flavourings added so that it looks appealing to both the owner adn the dog, then it has preservatives added so that it has a longer shelf life.
If you dont want to feed raw, there are better complete foods, Yarrah is organic and my cat loves it, Nature Diet and Natures Menu are both very good, they are meaty, wet foods, and are more expensive than feeding raw, but i used them for my pup for a few weeks before i could find some minced products for him.
Em

It's very strange, and really surprised me, but when last Crufts I took my "best boy" around the stalls for a change of scene and we tried samples of all the dogfoods (it saved me giving him lunch!), Mr Appetite actually spat out the organic complete foods!!!!! I couldn't believe it! He's never refused food before or since!

Have you ever tried eating complete dog food? Seriously? I have! Afterall, as far as I'm concerned if it is not ok for me then it is not ok for my dogs. I walk around Crufts sampling the food available. You would be supprised at the differences in taste. Some not bad, others more like wood! Try it this year!

Regards, John

I am not the only one then <LOL :D

Done by all the best people Barbara ;)

Best wishes, John

The "ordinary" complete foods he loved! (Especially the one that looks like sticky muesli). I feed a mixed diet - some of everything - tinned food, dried food, fresh meat, veg and biscuit, table scraps.....you name it, they get it. Somewhere in there it must get balanced!

Hi all,

The ones that are not organic have more pig fat sprayed on them to make them far more tastier to the dog, nothing to do with ingredients.

I always say if you dog can eat it so should you :-)

Pam

thanks for all the advice, I think I may try a bit harder to get her to eat a complete food.

I'm not surprised he like the 'sticky muslei' ones - they are sprayed with molasses.......