Can anyone tell me if this is a good quality food, what I have read seems good but I am no expert

Thanks
Lydia

I am using Gelert at the moment but not exclusively.  I feed a variety of foods including raw meat/bone, home cooked and kibble and I change brands regularly.  Not what manufacturers recommend I know but I like to give a variety and subscribe to the "balance over time" theory rather than per meal.  My dogs look better now on this regime than when I have fed raw only or kibble only.

I would prefer if Gelert didn't contain preservatives but I do find it a good food and my dogs love it.  One thing though, I've noticed lately a new ingredient "prairie meal."  Been meaning to find out what it is exactly, any ideas?

Julie

I've never heard of it. Do they have a website or can you post the ingredient list?

http://gelert-petnutrition.co.uk/faq.html

Lydia

I wouldnt say it's an excellent food but it's not a real bad one either ;) The fact that their site doesnt disclose the full ingredient list is a little offputting.

But if your happy with the ingredients and your dog thrives on it,small infrequent poops,healthy skin,shiny coat etc.

I don't think the ingredients are listed on the website, they rarely are!  So here it is from the bag.

Gelert chicken & rice

Ground supreme basmati rice(min 35%), chicken (min 25%), ground wholegrain yellow maize, sugar beet pulp, chicken oil, full fat linseed, ground whole green peas, prairie meal, fish, salt, vitamins and minerals, DL-methionine.  Contains EC approved antioxidants and preservatives.

Julie

IMHO this is not a food i would feed my dogs.

It has a grain as the first ingredient,never a good sign,then a little bit of chicken and then another grain,a high allergen one at that.

Prarie meal i have never heard of that one???

FWIW Pet food manufactures who have nothing to hide DO post all of the ingredients on their websites :)

But like i said if your happy with the ingredients then go ahed and feed it to your dogs :) I'm sorry if i said stuff you didnt want to hear,but you wanted honest opinions :)

25% meat (+ fish) isn't bad for a complete food.  It's the % that's important rather than the order of ingredients.  Although they are listed in order of individual %, you could have a meat as your 1st ingredient followed by a long line of cereals making the meat content very low.  But I don't think any kibbles have enough meat in anyway which is why I feed partly raw meat/bones  :-)

Maize, yes I know it has been named as unsuitable by some sources but I have always fed it (often home cooked as porridge with oats) with no apparent problems.  Juliette de Bairacli Levy, one of the very early writers on raw feeding, recommends it as an excellent food source.

But I'm still suspicious about the prarie meal :-O

Julie

http://www.gpfeeds.co.uk/analysis/prairie.htm

Prairie meal appears to be predominantly used for cattle/livestock

But I expect JBL did not know that maize was tryptophan deficient or the effect that some casomorphines can have on some dogs.

Have you not heard of Prairie Meal Frodo?

It is otherwise known as Maize Gluten Meal.  It is a by-product from the milling of maize.

Once the starch has been removed it goes through several processes to leave the manufacturer with a high protein meal used in a number of animal feeds.

Maize is around 20% protein, Prairie Meal is around 68%  protein.

Hope that helps.

No i havnt heard of it Tohme,should i have??? seeing as i dont feed commercial foods and have never seen this ingredient on any other foods that i've skimmed over. But i guess i could have looked it up on the internet too :)