Anyone know these and if its any good? 
http://www.pascoes.co.uk/natural_dog.php

Thanks

organic maize (non GM), fish meal approved by OCL as a certified product, organic oats, organic barley, organic whole soya beans (non GM), organic peas (min 4%), organic chicken and chicken derivatives (including min 4% fresh chicken), organic sunflower seeds, minerals and vitamins, organic yeasts, organic sunflower oil, organic seaweed meal, organic herbs (rosemary and parsley). Contains no artificial colours, preservatives or antioxidants.

This food, although organic has maize (corn) as its main ingredient; this can be problematic for some dogs as it is tryptophan deficient; tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin which is a "calming" influence on the brain (a bit like the effect you get from a cup of hot milk) it can also be an allergen.  Added to this are the oats and barley so you are basically feeding nearly a whole grain diet which again dogs are not suited to.  Soya (a grain) is not recommended for dogs, they find it hard to digest, it can interfere with the absorption of other nutrients and it is a prime "gas" producer :D.  I would not deliberately feed my dog yeast as this could trigger yeast overgrowths in susceptible animals.  Dogs require "complete" protein which comes from animals (apart from soya) and therefore this must have the essential amino acids added for it be suitable for your dog, these should be mentioned on the packet. 

If the reason you wish to feed this food is because it is organic I believe Burns do an organic version of their food.

Otherwise I would look at feeding Naturediet.

JMHO FWIW :D

Hi Zoe,

Organic does not mean it's a good food, from the ingredient list it does not look any better than most supermarket pet foods and is decidely worse than readily available dry completes such as JWB or Royal Canin.

It looks to me like one of the early examples of the organic food industry getting rid of their waste material in the same way nonorganic producers do - chuck it into pet foods.

Stacey

Thanks for this peeps.

I feed my boy Pedigree complete atm but would like to change for a number of reasons:
1. I heard that pedigree amongst others test on animals? is this true?
2. My dog is extremely 'Hyper'  (not exaggerating sorry for spelling too) and heard that a change in his diet and food that is more 'natural' might help a bit?
3. Burns etc seem pretty expensive, and im not being a tight wod just want to see if there were any other options, I will obviously pay the price of the others if i cannot find anything a touch on the cheaper side. I buy 15kg bags and that lasts about 3 weeks-a month (approx), also i am a student and i live with my partner and normally he pays for everything including to do with the dog but I hate that so i decided to use my wages £25 a week from my saturday job to buy the dog as much as I can.

Any help would be great (im not talking send me money lol just any ideas) :)

Thanks

http://www.buav.org/f_home.html this will give you information on those foods which have received the BUAV seal of approval; they include Naturediet, Burns and Arden Grange.

The fact that you believe that your dog may be hyperactive (a term that I believe is bandied about a little too freely; true hyperactivity cannot be mistaken, it is fairly uncommon thank goodness and incredibly difficult to live with) would be the first indicator to steer clear of foods that contain additives, colourants and salt etc etc which to my knowledge Pedigree foods do (they can affect dogs just as they do children).  I would also steer clear of anything with maize in, not easy as most are maize based as maize is so cheap.

You cannot make a first class product out of third class materials no matter how hard you try.

Burns is probably the best dry food and Naturediet the best wet food.

I am afraid that cost is one of the considerations of having a dog and food, vaccinations, insurance, neutering, kennels etc must all be budgeted for.  However one way of minimising expensive vet bills is to ensure optimum nutrition.

I would also recommend that you feed 1000mg of Fish Body Oil (not Cod Liver Oil) to your dog daily along with 400 iu of Vitamin E (natural) or 200 iu if it is a small dog.  Both of which are available at health food stores and chemists etc.  Fish Body Oil has been proven to help animals and humans with hyperactivity issues amongst others.

HTH

I'm not disagreeing with Tohme, but I bought Pascoes Complete, when I couldn't get my dogs regular dog food (chappie), they love it and have no adverse affects. Also within 2 weeks the difference in their coat was noted by several people. Maybe it just agrees with my dogs :)
As for Nature Diet, It's not too expensive, (I add some to the Complete) espescialy if you can afford to buy it in larger amounts.

I hope you find a food that both you and your dog are happy with :)

liberty :)

Liberty,

In truth a dog's coat cannot change in two weeks, logically it takes a heck of a lot longer than that for it to grow.  In two weeks it can become oiler, or cleaner, or dirtier - but the coat itself cannot change.  If you increase the amount of fats in the dog's diet (don't know what's in Chappie) I suppose it could effect increase the amount of the oil in the skin every so slightly (although I doubt it would be much different in only 2 weeks) and make the coat appear a bit more glossy.   Even so, that does not equate to a dog being healthier.

Stacey

Chappie does have a low fat content, which makes it a good choice for overweight dogs and those with dodgy livers, so it's quite possible that increasing the fat level will improve the coat quite quickly.
:)

Hiya Zoe

Burns works out at 30p per cup full (100g) - this is the actual amount for one meal for a dog weighing between 20-30kgs - so, because of the volume consumed at each mealtime, it actually turns out to be far more cost effective than many others I've tried. [As with any of your choices, just thought it is something to bare in mind ;)]
HTH
Jo
x

Brilliant! thankyou everyone.... Dont get me wrong I will pay for anything that will benefit my dog but there is no harm in having a look to try and save the pennies. :D

Thanks again!