Has anyone used the Pets@Home complete food? If so waht are your views about it.

Thanks

I haven't used it, but was in Pets At Home last week and looked at the ingredients in it.  'Fraid I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

Can you explain a little more in depth please about the ingredients and why you wouldn't want to feed them.

Sure - if you can type up the ingredients, I'll explain more.  I just looked at their website and they don't list the ingredients there.

Hi... I looked into the ingredients in the past about three foods including the Pets at Home and also asked an expert for some ingredient interpretations.

Any other insight into the ingredients would be welcomed. Thanks.

1. James Wellbeloved
INGREDIENTS: Rice, turkey meat meal, oats, whole linseed, turkey gravy, turkey fat, sugar beet pulp, alfalfa, natural seaweed, sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, D,L-methionine, lysine hydrochloride, threonine, zinc methionate.

CONTAINS: Min. 26% turkey, min. 26% rice, min.19% oats.

TYPICAL ANALYSIS: Protein 21%, Oil 10%, Fibre 4%, Ash 7.5%.


2. Pets At Home
INGREDIENTS: Fresh chicken ( min 25% ), Poultry Meat Meal, Maize, Rice, Barley, Maize Gluten Meal, Animal Fat, Sugar Beet Pulp, Poultry Digest, Brewers Yeast, Egg Powder, Flaxsed, Potato Peotien, Sodium Cholride, Potassium, Chloride, Methionine, Marigold Extract, Yucca Extract, Rosemary Extract.
With Antioxidant EC Additives ( Vitamin E and Vitamin C ). Total Chicken min 37%

TYPICAL ANALYSIS: Moisture 8%, Protien 26%, Oils and Fats 14.5%, Fibre 3.3%, Ash 6%, Calcium 1.15%, Phosphorous 0.85%, etc...

3. Burns.

Analysis: Protein 18.5%, Oil 7.5%, Fibre 2.2%

contains Brown Rice, Chicken, Oats, Peas, Chicken Oil, Sunflower Oil, Seaweed, Minerals and Vitamins."



Assessment:
"Maize is the same as corn, and that second food has it listed not just once, but twice. It also has animal fat and poultry digest, as katmarie pointed out. The only good thing about it, as compared to the first food, is that the first two ingredients are meat.

The first food ( 1) is a much better quality food than the second ( 2 ) ; my only complaint about it is that rice is the first ingredient. It also only contains one meat ingredient, but it is specific (turkey meat meal as opposed to poultry meat meal).

( 3 ). The third food still has more grain than meat in it, but that's not all bad, because at least it's rice, which is more easily digested. Oats are also good for the skin and coat. If your dog has a weight problem, this food would probably be fine for him. I did just want to point out that it doesn't contain very much actual meat protein.

Here's another tidbit for you all: Whole meat is about 75% moisture. When a meat protein is listed as a whole meat, rather than meal (ie: Chicken as opposed to Chicken Meal), after it is processed, it ends up being approximately 1/4 of the weight it was before processing. This is why I say that meal is better than whole meats. Meal has had all the moisture removed before processing, so it weighs about the same (give or take a minute amount) after processing as it did before, whereas whole meat can lose 3/4 of its weight during processing. This means that even though you may see Chicken listed as the first ingredient, it may actually belong two or three ingredients down, because of its volume after processing. "

Now back to me.     At the moment I feed my two on Pets at Home Chicken because from what I can work out it is closer to the premium foods than to the trash doggie junk foods and the difference in quality in my mind between this food and the high status foods does not reflect a justificatuon for such a huge price difference and my dogs seem good on it. But I will be more than happy to change if there is a good enough reason to.   I like my dogs to be healthy, fit, good coat and skin etc... etc.... and am happy to pay for it if what I am paying so much extra for is  genuine.

Tenaj i was bravoing your post,until i got down to the part where you said you fed PAH.I\'m not sure if i mis-read your post,but didnt you pick this food out to be the worst out of the 3 options?
I would not want to feed that PAH food if my dogs had even a sniff of an itchy skin problem!

lol...yes! I'm Yorkshire and tight!  :D ;)  ( sorry.... I joke  ;)  ) 

The information there is I think good for people who want to see why the other brands are actually better foods... which they are. I am quite sure the information there is genuine and yes I do wish to highlight that the other brands are better products.    It is important people recognise that when they make their choices. :)

But our financial situation right now means we just have to lower our expenses where we can... but I would not feed poor quality food or food that lowered in any way the health of my dogs. You are very right... in choosing a food accept no flakey skin, no bad breath, no bad stools, or dull coats...  etc...  I like people to look at my dogs and say 'wow! They look so healthy what glossy coats' and so on. :)

JWB is a superb food. The Burnes can be not so good if your dog is underweight. I found it no good for my BC who ended up way too thin on it so we switched back to the JWB... but it is good for a less active prone to get a little overweight type of dog ( just my opinion ) .

So yes... PAH is poorer quality but is not bad food but is just slightly lower quality food... not a massive lot lower... nor I think one of the poor quality junk brands ...  and it is  now over %50  cheaper..... so no way will it cost  over %50 more to produce JWB or other high profile brands....

Brands like Nutro Natural Choice are very cheap in the USA.  It is probably our best imported  food but there is no justification for it's price.   I did a like for like price comparison.

IN the USA what they would pay for 15kg of Nutro Natural Choice would buy them 15kg of Bakers complete..

Here you can but 45kg of Omega Tasty or 15kg of Nutro Natural Choice .

This is not the small price difference between brands that is seen in the USA... so why do we see this here in the UK?

We price low income people out of giving good food to their dogs in the same way we do this with peole food so their kids grow up on junk. This is wrong. There is no need for healthy food to cost so much more at all. This is why I support the slightlylower quality  brand...   I don't think it is going to be enough of a drop in qiality to show up in my dogs ... but if there is the slightet change to their condition  I will be very happy to report back on it because to most people no matter how tight the purse the health of the dogs I hope matters more than money.

I have ony changed to this recently  so it is an experiment to see if difference that slight reduction in quality will have... but I don't expect to see a problem or I'd not try out the food. One dog actually seems better on the PAH.   ( ....I hope it stays this way because it is on offer and I so I now have 3 x 15kg sacks to get through!    )

I can't understand your definition of "quality"  Providing all nutritional needs are met you cannot do more, the body just wastes it in terms in terms of vitamins for instance or stores it as fat in terms of calories The former pointless, the latter undesirable.  I can't see that any of the brands you mention are better than another as you, yourself, say each might suit an individual better but like all other complete diet they will all suit the majority of dogs.  The only thing that does make any sense is if you find a food that suits your dogs that is cheaper than another why pay for the more expensive one, just because expensive ingredients have been used does make it "better".  As I often say, the man eating brisket, peas and apples is just as healthy as the man eating sirloin, asparagus and mangoes and some may even prefer the latter :)

by 'quality' I mean the 'technical' concept of quality .. the use of this by the official dog feeding experts. I am just transfering information.... and respecting that information and the  understanding and acepted of 'quality' .....but at the same time  saying what I actually do is disregard that information because  think that you can but a Rolls Royce or a little Fiat ... but end of the day as long as it gets you from A to B... or you asparagus thing!  :)

I think sadly we do not actually see what goes into the foods. A walk around the dog food factories I think wold help us see which is best to buy... and that's probably be the make it yourself type.... providing we don't get to see how our people food is produced.

I think the wear and tear in the body functions in processing the foods is worth considering. However at the same time I have a feeling that dogs fed on poor diets digest and absorb less... so do not really suffer any more wear and tear... and may also possibly the poor digestion maybe can make them more resiliant to other toxions they may eat from time to time because these might be more inclined to pass straight through them...  I might well be totally wrong on that but I would be intersted in finding more our about that aspect of feeding and why dogs fed on trash and people junk foods and chocholate cake can actually live very long and healthy lives. Naturally dogs would just eat what they found or what was left over from very frugal tables.

Who are "the official dog feeding experts"?  If you mean qualified animal nutritionists then I believe all the manufacturers use them so all the foods will provide enough of everything a dog needs but I don't think the experts would regard one formula to be the only formula afterall individual companies produce more than one recipe.  I'm not sure that dogs do live long and healthy lives when fed trash etc.  In the past dogs were fed on anything the household had left over and certainly some individuals lived a long life but the overall population has done much better since the advent of commercial foods.
A walk round a dog food factory would probably be a pretty revolting experience for human sensibilities but I bet my dog would love it! :D

Oh the dogs would have a great time!  To be honest mine would eat anything. The yucklier the better.

'nutritionists'! That's it... I never knew how to even begin spelling that. ( not that that troubles me with the rest of the words I use!  ;) )

So do you think most brands are okay... ?  Is a lot of the food issue just a little snob value' or do you think thee is truth in these 'qualities' at any level...?


I guess the table let overs used to be more healthy than today... and more basic veg and mash. The dogs I meet who eat the real junk foods tend to have poor coats and dry flakey skin... but most people I know seem to use JWB. The fame of this food has really spread. Not long ago it was hard to find a shop who sold it. Even the vets promote it now.

Don't worry I can't always spell it either :D
Yes I do think every food available in the UK has everything a dog needs.  Of course some dogs are sensitive to things like colourings and other have specific allergies to just about any ingredient you can name, some seem to need more fibre and some more fats but the majority have no special requirements and will do well on any of them.  After all the vast majority of the dogs in the UK are now fed on the most popular completes, several of which are shunned by "food snobs" :) and the dog population has never known a healthier time.
I think you are right, household food waste in the old days was probably healthy.  Don't get me started on what human's habitually eat these days :) I sometimes think it would be a good idea if we could persuade them to eat a complete devised for them by nutritionists :D  I think it is improving though, if people must buy convenience stuff, I see Markies are selling a rather good looking new healthy eating range marketed in rather austere looking brown cardboard packaging

Don't have the ingredients to hand either because I feed Arden Grange, rather than Pets @ Home but I seem to recall that when I looked at the ingredients of their Puppy Complete, the ingredients didn't seem too bad in comparison to many other complete foods.

PAH complete food is much better then alot of dry food IMO :)  Although I don't like the new light version brought out this month!  Seems ok and seen many dogs fed on it and they look lovely (shiney coat, bring eyes etc etc)

I get to see afew dogs who are fed on it as I work in our local store :)

I have to say I have fed it to mine, it's agreed with them 100% (As does the new Tesco complete) and I would recommend buying it - sorry if the purists don't agree but as my dogs are eating it and not me, they are the best taste testers! :rolleyes:

Hi Rox
I have been feeding my labs on PAH food for a couple of months now.Have to say i think its great food.Dogs look great on it and really love it.
I have just put my girl on the light version and she seems to be losing a little weight and she is not hungry.Although i do feed twice a day.I was wondering why you dont like the light  food?.
We had been feeding them on Nutro,But the cost for four dogs made us change.And will say they look just as good if not better on PAH.
Best wishes Linda. 

I've heard that PAH own make dog food is actually made by Eukanuba (with some ingrediant modifications hence the price)   Have fed it before (but not to our current dog as it doesn't suit her) and they did well on it.  Its what people probably term a middle-of-the-range food (neither inexpensive nor expensive) but if it suits yours then go for it :)

It must have some ingredient modifications as mine don't do well on Eukanuba!

Mine have been bought up on PAH as one of my dogs has a wheat/gluten intolerance.  One is a small breed and the other a large breed.  They have both done extremely well on it and my little dogs intolerance has not shown up at all on this food.
I would highly reccomend it, although one thing I would say is that my little dog does like to eat his and my other dogs poo given the chance.  Whether this is just him or the food I am not sure but would like to hear from other people who feed it if they have had this happen on the food.

Bev

Our little girl tried to eat her own poo when on Burns so I think its just how different dogs react to different foods to be honest (prob makes it rather appealing to them *eurgh*)

I feed my cats on it, they were on JWB but that didnt agree so I changed them to Burns which they did well on but when the last sack ran out I changed them on to PAH as its easier to get hold of and comparing the ingredients I didnt think it was much different to JWB to be honest.  They still look just as well on this :)

I bought a bag of PAH dry chicken food yesterday, actually went in to get rat food but got side tracked :D Had a look at that and JWB and IMO the PAH is better and it was less than half the price!
Haven't tried it yet, well the dogs haven't, as we have open bag of Burns and Autarky to finish but I've heard good things from people on here about it so will have to see for myself.

One of my dog will only eat his own poo.   My other dog eats any poo (fox a special treat)  :-(

Nothing to do with food they're fed - they do it no matter what I feed them.

Ours will eat cat poo given half a chance :rolleyes: - again nothing to do with the food she's fed.  We only saw her try to eat her own poo when she was having a bit of Burns adult food mixed in with her normal food when trying to see what to change her too (she doesn't do fantastically well on her present food ya see)

Lucy is currently on JWB dry food, after switching her diet from meats such as ham, chicken, ox's heart etc.

We mix the biscuits in with the wet food and she usually leaves them, only eating them when she's REALLY hungry. I think once these JWB have run out we'll get some of this PAH complete if you all seem to think it isn't rubbish :D

And she only ate her poo when she was a pup, doesn't do it anymore as she was stopped everytime caught.

Was having another look at PAH food today. This weekend our store is promoting it so I thought I would look into it more as I was wearing a badge saying "ask me" LOL

In the end came home with some puppy samples for our new puppy who is not wanting to eat her arden grange and she thought the food was wonderful!  Will see how she copes with it.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to compare PAH to Wafcol salmon and potato as thinking about changing one of our dog's over with skin irritation.  Although this dog was fine on peigree untill they "improved" the food!

Wafcol Salmon and potatoe is a very good food as well but one of my dogs gets a very runny tummy on it.
So I have reared my pups on PAH and its stopeed one of my dogs itchy skin and the tummys are fine on it.

Bev

some body told me it taste like cheese dont know how they knew that haha