Has anyone had any dealings with this food and is it a good quality one? the price would suggest that it is but what do you think?

As I have said on other posts and a lot of people agree, Hills is an over priced very average food that is pushed on people that do not know any better by vets who sell it because they make a lot of money out of it. Save a few quid and look at Burns,Quantum,etc I'm sure other members will also recommend other quality dry foods, but Hills from my point of view is a no no !.

The largest single ingredient in this food is maize, followed by chicken and turkey meal, maize gluten meal, ground rice and then dried beet pulp. It is an awful lot of money to be paying for food largely made up of poor quality grain that a dog cannot digest which can lead to dicky tums and huge poops hence why dried beet pulp is added as a source of "fibre" as it is not a nutrient; it also contains flaxseed which can be an allergen to a lot of dogs.

Less is more, if you wish to feed commercial dog food opt for one that contains perhaps only one grain, probably rice or even oats, and meat without all the other junk. Burns, Naturediet are the probably the best in this regard.

This is, however, only MPO :)

Hi,

Personally speaking as its what I feed the James well Beloved would be an excellent choice
for a complete food but its what suits you and your dog as I also feed Hills and I still think its excellent for younger puppies I've been delighted with it no problems.However don't buy it from a vet too expensive shop around.
Its down to personal choice.

Regards Briony :-)

Hi Tim
Gus my Staffy is on Hills Science Plan and has been since we brought him home.
He looks really good on it and that is why we havent changed to another . What is your pup on at present ?
There is such a lot of choice out there that it is difficult to choose .
Anyway I would recommend it personally.
lel

I feed Chudleys, it is reasonably priced good quality food and my dogs love it. They have a range of foods from lite to sensitive and i have had great sucess with it.
Hills, Burns and Eukanuba are rediculously over priced in my opinion.
Look at it this way:
I don't shop in Marks and Spencer because i can get the same stuff in a different package from Asda. I buy the cheaper, own brand basics as i refuse to pay nearly £1 for a tin of beans or tomatoes or a loaf of bread. Its the same with the dogs. I buy the cost effective food, add fresh meat and hey presto i have very healthy dogs with nice coats, clean teeth, fresh breath and they are satisfied after every single meal!
But thats just me Lol!
Heres what i feed, check it out...
www.chudleys.co.uk
Its worth a look.
Hope you find something you're happy with!
Caz xxx

I fail to see the logic in buying cheaper dog food only to add meat. For one it upsets the balance of what is after all a complete food and secondly how much is it actually costing you per meal! People look at expensive dog food and refuse to pay £30 per bag but they often fail to read the information.The brand I use costs £29.99 per bag and is worth every penny, one bag will last a cocker spaniel nearly 80 days the same can not be said for cheap dry foods, they are a false economy.

My dogs eat 15 kg of food a month (working on a short month i.e. 28 days). they don't care what brand it is so long as they get the same amount in their bowls twice a day every day.
Some complete foods work on the less is more objective. Its rubbish as my dogs are always still hungry, so i have to feed more anyway leaving me having to pay £120 a month rather than £60. This is false economy love :-)

Feeding Chudleys with a little meat leaves them satisfied, healthy and so long as they are happy i will feed them cheap and cheerful Chudleys.
Not everyone likes being ripped off by companies producing foods such as burns, nutro, arden grange or science plan. And i for one do not buy all of their 'evidence' that their particular brand is the best.

Hi,

Personally I like Hills yes its overpriced i'm lucky I can get hold of alot cheaper but in my opinion its an excellent quality food if I don't feed JWB,Hills is the only other food that my dogs enjoy and look stunning on.However it may not suit everyone but my personal opinion
now its alot better than the cheaper brands by far.:-)

Briony:-)

As far as I`m concerned quality will always win over quantity. The most important thing when feeding your dogs is the quality of the protein the dog can utilise to maximum benefit to maintain top notch health.

Christine, Spain.

Chudleys and cheap brands are cheap for one reason and one reason only, they are full of cheap ingredients used for the sole purpose to bulk up the food, they serve no benifit to your dogs health at all and can often lead to health problems.If you are happy feeding cheap dog food fine, but i would not feed any cheap brands and if i could not afford to feed them a quality brand i would not have so many dogs!.I would rather put quality food into my dogs than the extra money in my pocket.

I am not concerned about the price, if i had to pay top whack for the top brand of dog food i would without question. My dogs recieve the best care i can possibly give them and i feed Chudleys because they like it! Would you eat a bowl of oysters when you only really like tinned tuna??? Its the same with my girls!

Please don't make me out to be a cheapskate or unwilling to provide quality care for my dogs in terms of their deit, you don't know me or my dogs!!! They tell me when they are unhappy with something and right now they are enjoying their food, are healthy, look great and enjoy their lives. What more could a dog want?

Can't understand when you say your dogs don't care what brand of food they eat, well of course they don't, given half the chance all dogs will eat from dust bins but it does not mean it's good for them does it love!

The only food that is 100% good for a dog is faw meat, veg matter and bones. Anything prepared in a factory is second best regardless of the brand. In my opinion they are much and such the same, the 'best' only marginally better than the cheapest.
So I supose then that we should only be feeding a raw balanced diet.
And for the record, my two turn their noses up at Burns, Hills and JWB. I don't see the point in even trying with any of the others. I feed them what they will eat.

Yes meat is very important in a dogs diet and there is very little of it in cheap dog foods.You could save even more money and feed them cornflakes!

Why has it come back to money? Money is not a problem for someone with no mortgage, children or loans with £30000 + my wage coming in each year now is it?
Its a question of what the dog likes best, mine don't like the 'big' brands so i don't force it upon them every day.
And there is very little meat content in any dried dog food.

Hi,

I aacept different foods suit different dogs and if I was going to recommend a complete food it would be JWB or Hills I'm happy with the ingredients of both thse products they suit my dogs.If Chudleys suits your dogs and your happy thats all that matters i've seen other peoples dogs on thse products they all look super.
You guys should try feeding Koi.TRY UP £80 BAG 15Kg :-O.
But here you definately get what you pay for top quality koi food contains less Ash so fish poo less better water quality better fish cheap koi food is high in ash completely useless.
Believe me Koi are greedy eaters and yes you don't fat koi for showing :-D

Briony:-)

Thanks! Finally someone sees my point!
I only feed what they like, as you said.. its all that matters. Mine hate hills science plan and JWB. Hills gives them the runs anyway!

I feed the same way you do. My boys eat each meal & loook good.

Finding something they would eat regularly was hard, but finally we ended up with Jollyes own ?+Rice. 4 varieties, fewer additives than other foods. Jollyes tell me it is JWB rebranded for them.

1 prefers pilchards added & doesn't like naturediet, 1 prefers naturediet & doesn't much like pilchards, 1 eats anything. They all like fresh tripe.

If they are happy, I'm happy

It is no different to dog food you get what you pay for period.

Hi lel,
I have a 9 nearly 10 week old bordeaux pup and he is currently on the hills science plan giant puppy stuff. I don't know whether he is ill or not but he is starting to have some quite loose stools. Sorry if you've just had your tea! He has always been fed this although one of the other posts said it would make him go to the toilet more than other brands.I'm just after some advice.

Gus is fine with regards this - regular as clockwork :rolleyes:
Have you been adding anything to his food ( chicken , treats etc) as this can sometimes affect their stools when they are so young
Lel

The only thing that we give him along with the dry food is about 1/4 tin of dog food just to moisten it up. He was fine the first week he was here but his last few motions have been loose and he has really bad wind! A big smell from a small fella! May be he is a bit under the weather. He has been out in the garden alot and he likes to chew slugs. This can't be good for him.

Most complete dry dog foods recomend that you do not mix it with other foods it upsets the balance.If you want to make it moist why not add a bit of hot water and let it stand for a while.

Tinned dog foods are complete foods, it will not upset the balance to add a complete canned food to a complete dry food.

Stacey

Hi ,be careful about mixing complete canned food with complete dry food,REMEMBER the ingrdients for both have not been calculated to mix with each other ,not saying don't do it
just bare it in mind epecially with growing puppies they don't end up for eg too much protein.

Regards Briony :-)

Hi briony!
I mix fresh meat with the complete. The girls like it and if anything looks wrong i'll cut it out immediately.
Thanks
caz x

Not all tinned dog foods are complete, Stacey - most are 'complementary' foods, and need to be balanced with a good mixer.
:)

Complete balanced dog foods shouldn`t need anything added to them. Also, each food is balanced according to each manufacturer/brand & then balanced again according to type/breed/puppy/adult/junior etc. I`m pretty sure some of them also specifically tell you not to feed anything else with them.
I can`t see the point of feeding complete & having to add other foods with it, if it`s complete & balanced nothing else should be needed & will only upset the balance.

Christine, Spain.

You're right, of course. Gotta read the labels on the in tins to be sure

Stacey

I would love to feed chicken soup for dogs, that looks to really good. They don't offer it here at all :(

of course by adding meat to already high protein complete foods upsets the balance!that is why there are so many problems with dogs 'fronts' legs turning out OCD,ETC

I only add it to grown dog's food. If i feed it to a pup its fed alone or with a mixer.
Kindie likes it and i give it three times a week as a treat, cutting down the amount of complete accordingly. My dogs are okay with it, i have consulted a vertarinary expert, which you are not, who says it is fine so long as the complete is reduced accordingly!

Not sure whether the above post is aimed at me or not but I`ll answer anyway. No I`m not an expert but I don`t have to be to read & understand instructions on dog food packets. If, as you say, you`ve consulted a veterinary expert & he says it`s fine to mix complete with raw meat for you dogs then thats fine. But, as the complete dog foods are made under the guidlines of canine expert veterinary nutritionalists & some, if not all of them recommend not to add anything to them as it would unbalance them, I would say stick to what the manufactures advice is, unless of course you can consult a canine nutritionalist vet & not just a vet, as a lot of vets don`t go on to become experts in anything, similar to our own GPs, good all rounders but send you to a specialist when needs be.

Christine, Spain.

At the veterinary practice i use they have specialists in most areas. They have a dermatologist, psychologist/behaviourist, nutritionalist etc etc who are all rounders but specialise in their choice subject. I have had consultations with each of them for various reasons over the years, i.e. a wheat gluten allergy (both the dermatologist and nutritionalist) the behaviourist (for Kuma) and believe they know what they are doing and trust them over any breeder.
My dogs are very very healthy and happy, every decision i make is double checked with a veterinary expert before anything is changed in their diet or otherwise.

Very pleased to hear that, lets hope that more people make use of the canine nutritionalist vets & take their advice rather than just adding different foods to an already complete food & maybe ending up with problems:)

Christine, Spain.

The girlies come first, the extra consultations are well worth it and the girls are very very healthy. I only pass on the advice given to me by pro's, wouldn't dear otherwise!!!!
I take dog's problems very seriously, they don't have anyone else and i aim to help as many as possible! Their diets are very very improtant, a hungry dog is a miserable dog IMP!
I am planning to study dog psychology and do a little behaviour training so that i can have an active role in the help of our furry friend when problems arise, but when it comes to nutrition i will always go to the vet (can't be doing with a veterinary degree!!!)

Hi,

Have to say found puppies firm up well on Hills or JWB do not poo so much like some other brands so thumbs up here.

Briony:-)

I feed Nutro and my crew are doing very good on it. I prefer to feed a food that starts with a meat meal then just meat and no corn, this way I no that the food Iam buying is more meat then anything else. I found with corn meal my dogs were fine for a bit then they ended up with the runs, so I stay away from any corn. I have 4 boston's which are on Nutro natural choice lamb n'rice and a bag lasts them a month and I free feed. My hybrid 158 pounds is on Nutro weight control large breed and a bag lasts him just over a month. I also have less back yard clean up. I use to feed Alpo (yucky food), Purina (yucky food) then I went to Eukanuba/Iams they did great on that, but I found the Nutro had better ingredients for a cheaper price so I switched. I did feed alot of cheap brands till I really looked more into the ingredients and did a search on what is good in dog food and what isn't.

Some dogs will do well on a certain food where others will not, you just have to find what your dog does well on. I do find foods with corn in it just causes the poo's.

Good luck with the food you chose :)

Actually you will find that when you add up all the cereals in Nutro that they outweigh the meat; therefore the content is not more meat than anything else. Meat may be the largest SINGLE ingredient but rice, rice bran, rice gluten and rice flour will add up to more than the 26% of meat!

Hi

What do you do, when you can't buy Burns, Naturediet or Arden Grange in Denmark.

I don't really have that many choices. Where I live, I can buy Eukanuba, Hills, Pro Plan and Royal Canin, or go to the supermarket and buy very cheap brands.
My vet has told me, that my lab bitch's dry pads and nose, is because there isn't enough oil in her food, and recommended that I changed brand. I use eukanuba puppy/jr large breed now, and she has the most soft and shiny coat. But I don't really have that many choices to pick from.

My friend is buying ANF advantage Formula from her breeder, and her dogs pads are fine. Its a German Shepherd. I could change to that, but I can't find anyone who seem to know this brand. Its american and from Texas.

Jeanette

I have fed James Wellbeloved for 12 years now, all varieties and think it is brilliant. They also do a long coat variety with extra linseed. If you join the breeder service you can have five bags delivered free and the price per bag drops considerably compared to pet shop prices. sometimes add an egg or veg or table scraps but all four of mine will eat it dry and empty the dish within a minute.

I agree that JWB suits my lot also but Nature Diet for my oldie with colltis.

I really think it is horses for course when it comes to food.

There are bad ones but when it comes to good ones it depends which suits your dog and your budget !:)

Lucy

I agree!
Not everyone is able to afford the rubbish at £40 a bag or there abouts! I am fortunately able to afford the best, but, i find cheaper brands just as acceptable.
Financial circumstances do dictate to people how their dogs are fed, this does not mean to say that these people are bad dog owners or unable to care for their dogs properly.
I honstly think that some 'top' foods are no better than the bottom of the market!!!!!!!

my puppy has pedigree puppy for main meals and a few hills given as nacks he absolutely loves hills