Hi,

I have a little Terrier. I have read about people making their own food for dogs, and im interested to know more about this. He is nearly one year old. At the moment he's fed on Bakers Complete and Winanlot. He gets treats sometimes of Lambs hearts or Liver, both are cooked for him.

What is the best food you can use, or what is the best food to buy for him?

I would be more interested in making my own food, if its better for him.

Thanks for reading.

Regards

Ben and Gonzo :D:)

Whatever suits him is the real answer.  In regards to complete foods, fo for the ones with the best ingredients, with the highest animal protein content (meat as first ingredient).  Avoid any food with artificial additives and colourants, as these are totally unecesary, and are there for the benefit of the human buying them.  Many of the poorer quality food will ahve a lot of salt and sugar added.  All the ones with moist chunks that look like plastic mear have high amounts of sugar which a dog most definately doesn't need.

Lots of peoplke try and feed a natural diet, and this should be done once you are afait with the nutritionaql principles involved.

There is absolutely no need to cook any meat that has been passed fit for human consumption.  Cooking actually destroys many nutrients.  conversely vegetables cannot be assimilated by the dog in their raw state, and require their cell walls to be broken down, by pulping, freezing or light steaming.

If you type BARF into any search engine lost will come up on this topic.

It really is up to you.  I would highly recommend looking into everything and considering advantages and disadvantges first.  What works for one dog might not work for another.  We were through about four foods before getting anywhere and are now happy.

THe best food is that which contains what the dog needs without the unecessary addition of unhealthy additives such as salt, sugar, colourings, preservatives etc all of which I believe you will find Bakers Complete contains!

Try looking at the labels and choose one that has the fewest ingredients and the least amount of "extras".  Burns, Naturediet, even JWB are considerably healthier than Bakers.

To be honest, I was reccomended Bakers by my Vet. He said anything Purina is good for dogs, so I never looked at the nutritional information.

So, Burns, is this better. Is it still appettising to dogs, as he can be a bit funny!

Dogs eat all sorts of cr*p, these are after all animals that lick their own bums, eat manure of various descriptions.

quite frankly in my household none of the inhabitants, canine or otherwise have the luxury of being "a bit funny"; they have two choice, eat it or go without!  If you don't pander to whims you won't get fussy dogs or humans!

Vets do not study nutrition during their training, any that is given is provided by the pet food companies .......................

I dont see my dog going without food as an option tbh. I would rather get him a food that would be appetising to him, aswell as healthy for all his needs.
I know that people will reccoment their own brands of food, so it will differ, but what do you think is good food for a dog?

The ones I mentioned, Naturediet, Burns, JWB.

If you look at some of the threads on Burns I think you will find that it has a lot of fans, human and canine :D

Hi,

I like JWB fed this many years it seems to agree with my Goldies super condition in and out of the showring.I also have now one goldie on Hills looking fantastic this seems to suit him well muscled plenty of energy and a fantastic coat to die for.
So I suppose its what your dogs and  you arehappy with.
This is where all dogs are different and no ideal perfect food to suit all.You try them and see what works.

Briony:-)

Hi Gonzo,

The best, complete commercial food in my opinion is Naturediet.   You can check their web site if you are interested.  It is all human grade ingredients.  It gets the majority of its protein content from meat or fish(depending on the variety), not grains.  It isn't bulked out with a lot of grains either.  And it isn't cooked and heated into dry pellets, it's a moist food.   Nothing artificial.  No derivatives.  The meats are just that chicken, lamb or tripe or fish .. no "meat meals."  It smells like food you would cook yourself (although I personally would not eat tripe, can't stand the smell!)

If I did want to feed a dry food, it would be Burns.  If my dog wouldn't eat it, next in line would be one of the premium brands, like Arden Grange.

Stacey