At the moment my adult dogs are being fed Dr Johns Silver and raw chicken wings 3-4 times a week, my pup is on BARF diet, shed has chicken wings chicken mince lamb mince white fish pasta rice and veg plus a few other bits. I have been reading about comercial pet food and it says i am basically making my dog live a shorter less healthy life, i have never been a fan of tinned food and am not keen on the branned names such as pedigree winalot etc. What is the best food for my dog they will happily eat anything and all look good on the outside but am i ruining them in the long run from their insides.

Hi
there is no *best* food as such- just what happens to suit your dogs and you
What suits one person and their canine family may not be so good for someone else

I originally fed dried complete but now feed raw

The people who feed raw will tell you raw is best and the people who feed complete will tell you that complete is best ;)

It is your decision :)

I think you should feed what you are convinced is best for your dogs and, more importantly what they look best on, after doing the appropriate research.

A poor or inappropriate raw diet is as bad as a poor or inappropriate commercial one.

Perhaps it is worth considering something along the lines of Naturediet, it is a complete food, looks and smells good and is made from good natural ingredients. It is not cheap though.

Your dogs diet is what you want it to be. I feed raw with a good wholemeal/holistic mixer as well as veggies.  Dr Johns is a very cheap complete I am told so it is not something I would consider feeding as I think the cheaper the meal/biscuit the less nutritional value it has but that my personal opinion.   If you think your dogs would enjoy a more natural diet then go for it and let them enjoy!

Feed what suits you and your dogs.   I tried raw and it didn't suit mine at all and she ended up in a sorry state, back on a good complete and she was with a little help from a vet we got her back on track.

I tried a raw diet with mine and bones made one of them ill :-(  They now have Burns and they have never been better. They also get fruit and veggies, some left over scraps. My 15 week old pup is my first dog to be raised on Burns and he is looking great on it :-)  Mine have the active VAT free one and although it looks expensive it works out fairly cheap to feed. You will always get people that feed a raw diet telling you how much better it is but if it doesn't suit your dog then it isn't better for you or them. I have found some people that feed raw can get a little carried away, some have even suggested to me that my dogs cannot be healthy as they have dry food and also that when (not If!!) they get ill then it will be my fault!! I hasten to add that no-one on this forum has ever made this kind of suggestion!

Do you think that your pup is doing better on her BARF diet than the others are on the dry/raw combination? Have you tried them on a raw diet? You may find that it is the best thing for them and for you, then again it may not suit them at all. I would not give my dogs Dr Johns because I know that one of them has a serious problem with additives but I know of a few people that do feed it and are happy with the results although I don't know which one they feed.

I am curious to know why you have a pup on BARF and adult dogs on dry food though?

At the end of the day it has to be what you feel happy with. There are a couple of things to bear in mind though. My research suggests that most dry dog food the indredients cost less than £5 for that 15kg sack that sells for £30+, so dont expect too much even at wholesale prices! Do mine eat dried - yes with a few suplements of chicken wings etc. There are dried foods out there that are holistic and have nothing artificial in them, I feed all in one, as one of my dogs is alergic to artificial vitimins. But at the end of the day you have to do what you believe is best and fits in with your lifestyle and budget.

Not all commercial dry food costs £30 per sack!  Autarky is a good quality food (for dry commercial) and I pay only £11.50 per 15kg.

I hear what youa re saying. My point was that only a very small % of what you pay covers the cost of the ingredients. Autarky is fine, except that one of mine is alergic to it and it does have a lot of grains and beet in it!