What is Autarky, I find that this is croping up a lot in the feeding questions, I have never seen it anywhere, can somebody tell me is it a completely natural food, at the moment I am feeding 4 dogs all on different foods, mainly for health reasons, but would like to try and find something that would suit all, 9 year old ESP has Myastinia Gravis a very rare disease, but has lived 6 years past the veterinary college sell by date, a 5year old lab prone to weight gain, a 3 year old lab with severe HD and arthritis, her weight needs to be watched and a 9week old lab puppy, so far the only 'normal' animal in household, also getting another lab puppy in a few weeks.
Kay

What is a completely natural food? :D

Hi Kay
I feed Autarky and have done for abut 2 years now.It works brilliantly for my boys and they love it which is a bonus because on of them is VERY fussy.
It is 100% natural and if you go to the visitors board and look at the thread on Beta food I have listed the ingredients.I also like the fact that it has 15 added herbs including kelp and Valeria root.
It is not and expensive food (but not cheap) partly due to being VAT free(working food)
Archer
p.s any more questions feel free to ask..PM if you prefer

What are the benefits of all these herbs?

They have info on each herb on their site http://www.autarky-foods.com

Hi Thank you, shame they do not have a complete breakdown of all the ingredients, however according to another poster it contains a minimum 28% chicken so therefore more than 70% of the diet is made up of other things (mainly maize and rice); in fact as maize is listed first the single largest ingredient is maize (corn). Also the chicken is meat meal which is not the same as chicken meat!  In general you will find a great many dog foods on the market have maize as their prime ingredient.

Lots of things are 100% "natural"; onions are but you would not feed them to a dog :D

Ingredients....maize,chicken meat meal,rice,chicken fat,carrot and green leaf veg (min 4%) whole linseed,beet pulp,prarie meal,mixed herbs and (min 2%) spices,yucca,yeast.Natural anti oxidants. Herbs include...aloe vera,carob,cayenne pepper,fennel,fenugreek,ginger,kelp,mint,oregano,rosemary,thyme,turmeric,valeriana root,yucca.

Linseed, beet pulp and yeast may be problematic to some dogs

out of interest what do you feed
Archer

I raw feed but that is not for everyone.

If I fed commercial dog food I would probably feed Naturediet as I believe that is the most "natural" dog food after raw. It contains only meat, rice, bone and veggies; however I would probably have a problem feeding that everyday to some dogs because carrots are very sugary.

I suppose my next choice would be Burns as again it contains the fewest ingredients, although I would stay away from SBP myself.

I think everyone must feed what they feel suits their pet and themselves; as long as they are AWARE of what commercial foods contain and which of the ingredients COULD pose possible problems in certain dogs as this means they are better informed and able to choose between diets because of the content rather than price, hype, vet recommendation etc.

regards

Its actually minimum 40 (or 45?)% human grade chicken :)

That must be one helluva food then I have never seen any dog food that contains a minimum of 40 - 45% chicken meat; shame it does not mention that on the website as I would have thought that was a fantastic marketing strategy and would corner a huge market if it DOES contain 40 - 45% chicken meat fit for human consumption.  Where can I verify this?

I do apologise, it must be the puppy (Springtime) variety that has 40%. I remember reading it on the bag when I used to feed it. Have just checked the adult variety and its 28% human grade chicken. Sorry! *blush*

As my good old mum used to say, the person that never made a mistake never made anything :D

That is why erasers and tippex were invented!

Thanks for letting me know, I almost got excited over a commercial dog food then :D :D

*lol* Hey for £15 a sack, that IS exciting :D Seriously though, if anyone can find better (not as good, better) than that for the same rpice or less, I'd be very very interested. Burns is about the same, and twice the price, and the only other dry food that tempts me is Eagle Pack and thats £40 a sack! *shocked face*  With a Bullmastiff pup, it cant be done *lol*. Tried raw, didnt suit, have had to change her back to NatureDiet and Autarky.

During the ban on meat on the bone when I first tried RAW feeding on a small scale I researched and found that Arden Grange had the best proportion of meat protein to any other generally available premium feed.

I now feed half Natural and half Dry.  The dry is half Arden /grange and Half Autarky.

My 20kg dogs cost me roughly 30p a day each to feed.  That is what 200g of Arden Grange Adult worked out at on the Breeders/professional users scheme (in plain brown bags, VAT free), so I am happy feeding more natural food, and still within same costs.

Hi Archer, thanks for info. At the moment I feed ESP on human food, ie; chicken, rice pudding, eggs, and tripe, her food has to be high protein, have found this works with her, she gets no processed dog meal at all. if she does her muscles spasm and this affect her heart muscles, she overheats, get heatstrokes and convulses. I have to be very careful with her, Emma, the 5 year old lab has a very slow metabolism and although she could walk 5/10 miles daily her food intake has to be kept at a minimum and I feel so guilty when the others get treats and she doesnt, Penny, 3 year old lab has severe HD and arthritis, I feed her on Royal Canin and Eukanuba mixed, she also gets Condroitin and glucosamine supplements for her joints and is on Metacalm painkillers, her exercise is app. half a mile daily if that, some days only exercised is yard, I now have a nine week old puppy who is on the same human foods as the ESP incuding Lactol and chicken stock mixed in with Eukanuba puppy food, occasionally I make them all some porridge. The all have the most tremendous coats and clear eyes, its just the health issue. I dont want to feed them on processed food as they contain so many additives that are not required and in two of my cases quite harmfull. I dont mind the hassle I have to go to, to prepare the food I just want whats best for them,  I am also getting another lab pup in a few weeks, both puppies will be prepared for showing when older, I hope!  Any hints, advice or help would be most welcome
Many thanks
Kay

I feed Dharma NatureDiet and Autarky mixed together. Ruby only has NatureDiet, but thats because she has cancer (long story, but she cant process dry food).  Autarky is by far the best dry food I have ever used for mine. Considering that it is so cheap (£15-ish for 15kg - in some places as low as £10 per sack) it really doesnt lack in quality. I would rate it alongside Burns etc for quality. Superb stuff :)

I've tried Autarky but it didn't suit my dogs.  They both ate it ok but were not keeping as good condition as they do with the Arden Grange.  So i stuck with the Arden Grange, and yes its good value on the Professional users scheme too. (plus not tested on animals)

Do people agree that Autarky is a premium quality food ? How comes it is so reasonaly priced?(Don't get me wrong I am not trying to put the food down I am seriously considering switching mine.) Just wondered ??

The fact its VAT free helps..as its classed as a food for working dogs
Archer

If you can afford to buy 20 15k bags and have several dogs and are a breeder you can get the food for about £10-£11 a bag direct from The Working Dog Food Company.

Basically they swung the working dogs tax relief thing by saying that ALL dogs are working dogs, whether theyre herding sheep, or "working" at being our pets. Definitely a premium food :)

After reading all your posts I decided to change my neapolitain mastiff from Chudleys to Autarkey, wow after just two week's he is looking so much better. I can't see his spine or his pin bones any more and no more loose motion. It'g great.

I have had more success with Autarky (weight, waste, sensitive digestion problems, poos, etc) than I have had with any other dog food tried, premium or not.  I only pay £11.50 a 15kg bag from our local animal feed merchant.

If you contact the Working Dog Food Company you will find them knowledgable and helpful, all for a reasonably priced food.  I am not in a position at the moment to pay extortionate amounts on dog food and so this does me just great. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Mastinobaby
glad your boy likes it..my lot look excellent on it and can't complain at the price!!
Found a local supplier and can now buy it buy the sack...
Archer

Thanks everybody for all your thoughts, Have decided to go for it, I have located a stockist who is only about forty miles from me, Thanks for website Archer, PS> another baby girl coming tomorrow.

Kay

Brainless
Ihope you don't mind me asking but how do you get onto the Professional users scheme - and get you food in plain brown bags at such a low price? After all the dogs cant eat the fancy packaging so i'd rather spend the change on treats :-)

Kay, are you sure that's your nearest stockist?  Give them a call and ask if they can check for you.  They willingly persuaded my local place to stock it for me so now I only have to travel a mile or so.

Hi Jackychat, I live miles from anywhere, nearest town is 22 miles away, forty miles to me is round the corner. But thanks for suggestion,

Kay

sorry jackyjat, spelt your name wrong, forgive please!!!

Kay

we buy ours from the cash & carry! 9.99 a bag, so usually buy 5 or 6 at a time!! they stock all 3 variety's of autarky, my dogs think its great, and they all do really well on it, we have been feeding it for about 2 years now.
i have a pregnant bitch on it,she has started having soem naturdiet mixed in with it,

chel

Kay - don't worry!  I forgive you :-)  As long as you are happy travelling that distance and it is the nearest to you!

Chel that's an amazing price you pay!  I thought I did well paying £11.50 as I do know places that stock it for £14.99.  Do you get it for that price because you buy 5 or 6 bags? 

Chel, which cash & carry?

Thanks

'Bookers' in exeter is where we go, our local pet shop only ever has one or two bags at a time, so they get rather off with us when we clear them out!! so we get our 'emergency' bags only from them now! plus they charge £14.50 a bag now, its gradually creeping up, up there, hence finding out about the cash and carry!!

hope it helps, i presume bookers is a chain as there is one in taunton too, you could always ring autarky and ask?

chel

edit: sorry jackyjat, all the bags are 9.99 regardless how much you buy!

hi there people

I have to say I do feed Burns and both my Border Collies do wonderfully on it.  Something in my head just says stick to what you know.  Has anybody compared the ingredients etc with Burns.  Is the general consensus that this is just as good as Burns?  Also do they only the one flavour or are there several.  More details of this food would be appreciated.

Claire

they do 3 varieties for different life stages, spring -puppy, summer - adult, and autumn - light/older dogs version. all of which i believe are chicken rice and herb. we compared it with james wellbeloved when we changed over as we have 5 dogs on it, 2 of which are large dogs, goldens, and the other 3 are collies, all of them are perfectly healthy with nice clean teeth and clean shiny coats, so if they like it, so do i!!

the ingredients with the exception of herbs was pretty much the same, as jwb.

the only major thing i noticed was that their poo went white during change over!
strange?!?!?
i did see in our local paper the pet shop is now advertising autarly gusto, 15kg for 4.99! dunno what is in it tho, that makes it so cheap!
im happy with the summer food my lot are on!
chel

Hi Chel

We have a "Bookers" cash and carry here in Burnley Lancs, as I have over the past couple of months started to feed Autarky, and the Sharpei don't half love it and look great to :-) impressed.  So off I went to the Bookers cash n carry to find that they don't and have never stocked it at this branch :-( I was a tad gutted I can tell you :-(
Never mind back to maybe ordering it by the 20 bag rate from Autarky as a previous posted advised.

This may sound like a stupid question but how big are the pieces of kibble? I really like the sound of this food but my "fussy" boy up until now will only eat the small, puppy size biscuits. Quite happy to chomp on treats though ;-)

I'm trying a small bag with my boys at the moment, swopping a handful of their usual with a handful of Autarky. The pieces of kibble are quite small ... but this morning I came down to find loose poo on their floor ... :(

Eeeww! Yeuck :-( So how much have you given them today then? :-D

I'll give you three guesses! ;) :D

I buy my from costco for £9.99 a bag.

Is Autarky a kibble or flakes

Hi
Autarky is small kibble. I started feeding it to my lab and westie 3 days ago and no problems so far, fingers crossed.

hi again all, ive been told by a friend who also feeds autarky that she gets hers from tesco's i think some stock it others dont, i know my closest dont!!
she lives in plymouth, we did see some when we stayed in ipswich & colchester, in the tescos

hope it helps, i htink they do try to get what people request so maybe worth asking if they can get it for you!!

chel (and an extremley pregnant holly!!)

I can get small bags in local Tesco and Sainsburys but I get the 15kg bags if I can.  Small bags are useful for top up or if you run out, but are far more expensive.

If you email them, they will let you know where your local and cheapest supplier is.