dog food wet vs dry

[vanilla-yazoo]

Heya everyone!!

as my moving out is getting closer and closer, so is the time when I can get my puppy. I have always had dogs in the family home, but I have wanted my own since I was knee high.
I will be getting a male shetland sheepdog, most likely a sable, but if i see a blue merle it would be hard to say no!
I have chosen this breed because I love all the breeds of collies, its smaller and less hyper then a border collie, but still trainable in obedience and agility, I work short shifts so time alone will not be a full day, and lots of time for walks, dog school, and lots of fun out and about.



I have been looking around at the best options for food, cost inst too much of a problem, i dont mind paying a bit more to get quality.

what I am looking at is
Great Deals on Lukullus Dog Food at Zooplus!: 800 g Lukullus 20 + 4 Free! (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/wet_dog_food/lukullus/lukullus_saver_packs/323492)
if I use wet food

or

Lukullus Dog Food Chicken & Northern Wild Salmon. Free P&P on orders £19+ at zooplus! (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/wet_dog_food/lukullus/156066)
if I use dry

I like the sound of this make, alot of german animal food is better quality then over here, this has good quality meat and not filled with corn and other fillers, brown rice is ok, as its good quality.

The other I would use is
Arden Grange Adult Lamb and Rice Dog Food - Great deals at zooplus (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/arden_grange/190001)
arden grange, its pretty highly spoken of, and has great reviews and palatability, but it is filled with corn and beat pulp and other things I am not so happy about.

I do plan to feed a raw egg every week, to help fur quality, theres no chance of a dog getting salminela from it for those who would worry about that.

I am wondering what is your views on wet vs dry, and what make/s do you use, have you used these and what have you found using them.

Thank you in advance

[bulletr0k]

My stepmother raised shelties for dogshows! I never saw her use wet food, she swore up and down for dry food (she had 6, but had 9 at the peak). Never saw her crack an egg for a pup either, but I never watched her pre-game for shows.

She had two championship winning dogs, and a third who almost made it.

[Rhino&Co]

Is it suitable for a puppy - as they need higher amounts of protein and calcium than adult dogs. It looks like an adult food.

[souffle]

Take advice from the breeder as to what the pup has been raised on and stick with that till you have the pup settled and then you can wean it on to a food of your choice I'd say.
We feed a mix of wet and raw food. Dogs are meant to eat raw food and Tiber seems to thrive on it. It does involve some extra faffing around but he has the most settled stomach of any dog we have had. I use dry as treats - James Wellbeloved!

[capricorn30]

I have a 1.5 year old Rough Collie cross, and I feed Arden Grange Lamb and Rice as a complete food, with half a tray of Nature's Menu wet food to make him more eager to eat his breakfast meal. He does very well on it, and it's a nice balance between quality ingredients and a realistic price.

For more detailed reviews and opinions, may I suggest dogsey.com? It's a great dog forum, rather like the hamster central for dogs!

[vanilla-yazoo]

bulletr0k thats awesome!!! :D I know not all use egg, but its just full of protiens and is just good for them :D

Rhino: Ahh I forgot to put this is for 10-12 months onwards to be the adult food, I would use the breeders food untill then, or something suitable that I am able to get, possibly the arden grange puppy mix

Souffle: :D just what I was going to do! i forgot to put its for when an adult XD ahh thats good to know, a friend of mine, a former member, was insisting dry is the only way, and I want more opinions :D my parents dogs I am living with are on wet food, whatever is on offer or asda's tinned (not my choise) and a small cup of wagg mix (again, nothing to do with me!!) and always have been on wet, just good to know others think its good as well :D plus I know I can trust you :D
What raw do you add to it? how much of each?
the tins I have linked are a high amount of meat, good quality and not filled with uneeded stuff :D

Ahh good idea using a dry mix for treats, then you know its still balanced food and great for the dog and not like feeding it chocolate drops XD

capricorn: Awwww!!!! awesome!! :D thats great to know as its my 2nd choise on dry food :D OO I will definatly join up with them :D I have had dogs around me all my life, but of course as a kid i couldnt be in charge of the food and things, my parents are now old and set in their ways, and as the springers are their dogs, I cant really force them to change what they are on XD

[HollyHamster]

Hi Vanilla!!

I've been fostering dogs for about 2 years now and also been a dog mommy for well over 6 years. I've learned a lot about canine nutrition, and how it relates to their overall health, through my experience.

I am not familiar with the brands of dog food sold in the UK, but I can offer advice in what to look for. Make sure to get holistic and natural, and most importantly, grain free dog foods. Make sure that high quality meat pruducts (aka: real pieces of beef, chicken or fish) is listed first in the ingredient list on the package.

The reason I am adamant about a grain free dog food is that they have absolutely no need for grains in their diet. A lot of dogs are even allergic to grains and often get rashes, hot spots, and fur loss over it. Its also used as a filler in lower quality dog foods. For instance, here in America we have Purina dog chow which lists corn as one of the first ingredients in their product. That is a sure sign of a low quality food that is not giving the optimum nutrition a dog could have.

[vanilla-yazoo]

hollyhamster: heya!!

ahh thank you! Thats what i have been looking into, trying to avoid all that sort of stuff, the ones i am looking at are german ones, they are high meat, and contain rice but no cerials or other grains, unfortunatly over here, most contain grains, especially corn and beat pulp and lots of cerial, hence im looking online for a better alternative :D

thank you for the info I will definatly be checking for grains :D

[Queen Of The High Teas]

I love Shetland sheepdogs! I got a BC instead and yes they are pretty hyper! A Sheltie is a better companion for a home if you want a collie. I don't feed my dogs wet food as it smells awful, especially tins. Would avoid tins if possible, so stinky both going in and coming out! And it's all sloppy and jelly like, just looks horrible. If you really want to feed a wet food, best one I e found is the Burns wet pouches, because they aren't slimy, jellyish or really wet, just moist, and firm enough to hold its shape. It's also got decent ingredients in it. Here's a tip for you, google CSJ dog foods, they make food for working dogs, but its actually suitable for any breed ( particularly the Champ mixes). No rubbish, and its made out of high quality ingredients like Wellbeloved or Burns etc, but instead of being £45 for a 15kg bag, it's only £10-12. My 2 are on it and they look fab!

[vanilla-yazoo]

hey wobbles :D I am glad you agree with me a sheltie will be better suited in a home then a collie (damn i love bc's!)
my parents dog I live with are on wet, any old random ones, I know its not the best thing for them, but its my parents choise.

I will definatly look them up :D I am looking into a raw diet right now, as its the most natural for a dog, for me would work out about £22 a month on shop brought meat, but i might get a friendly butcher who can chop the price down for me XD all the bits people dont want the dogs do XD

I am glad the mix you use is proving good with your dogs, I dont want to use something I dont know of or know if the dogs will even touch it, but if yours love it then I will definatly add it on the list of 'high possibility' :D

[SpiritHam]

I also feed my two on CSJ as was posted about above, as well as raw food a few times a week.
When I was looking in to getting my two I did a lot of research on food, and was shocked to find that one of the large brands over here use E numbers in their dog food that has been banned in other countries!
IF I could I'd feed my two raw all the time I would, as it stands I can't get hold of well priced whole prey, so they get bits and pieces.

They love CSJ and it's good for them, so for now I'm happy to say that I would never feed anything else.

[vanilla-yazoo]

awesome :D thank you spirit ham! I will definatly show it to my oh, who I drive mad by going on and on about my reaserch, I wont be getting my puppy till at least next spring, but I need to know this all in advance :D I know training and care, its just finding the best food :D
I am going to be using chicken pieces from work, but I have a local butcher, who might cut me a bargain, but working out 400g meals (same as a tin) for a standard size sheltie(more or less when i know what he needs indervidually) works out about £22.50 a month, all sainsburys human grade food that I would cook and eat myself, so i would be happy to give it to him raw.
What is its texture like? is it big pieces, or small pieces? i could always do a mix of both, and either give raw on top or seporate, or even mix in the dry pieces to the blender, so its all mixed in as a loaf like meal, it would make the raw mix cheeper (not that price bothers me, as long as its not £50 a day XD )
I am so glad its not got all that commercial rubbish in it :D

[SpiritHam]

The puppy food is crunchy but soft crunchy not hard, the adult food is larger and some pieces a fair ammount harder. My Daisy picks the food up, bites it gently and if it doesn't break she spits it on the floor xD She likes the softer ones only, where as the dog will eat any bits.

I've got a website saved on my laptop that sells boxes of human grade meat at stupidly low prices. I sadly don't have a chest freezer to store it in and I've already filled one of the drawers in the normal freezer with mice. Don't think anyone would be impressed if I filled another with larger dead things.
You can usually buy huge bags of chicken wings for around £3-£4 which works out stupidly cheap too. May be worth having a peer in some petshop freezers xD

I'll dig out the meat link when I get on the laptop :) knew it would cone in handy at some point.

[vanilla-yazoo]

ahh that is good to know the size and firmness ( i suggest editing to 'lady dog or female :D some could see it as swearing, tho it isnt XD)
I will have to see what he eats, but i could definatly blend it if its too hard :D

Ahh exelent! thats great! i work in sainsburys, we sell baisics chicken portions £4 for 2.5kg of wings/thighs/drums that is still grade A human quality chicken, just not as smartly prepared as the rest, makes no difference to a dog, thats going to be a main part for my raw diet, it dose still contain bones so its all good :D

I will definatly see if i can get bargain wings tho, that would be ideal :D I will go spy in the big green too, as its around the corner from my new store(yay starting next weekend!)

Lol!! this is why its for when I love out, then I can even have a whole freezer of it and I wont care XD my oh wants some freezer room, but luckily I can do 1 weeks mix at a time even using sainsbo stuff, same price per month, so it dosnt need to take the whole freezer up! :D

awesome!!! thank you :D that would be amazing!

[vanilla-yazoo]

just checked out CSJ which is the one you feed? theres all sorts of ones 'that'l do' ect :D
I am happy to see less addatives in them, but still quite a few grains :( good quality grain mind:) so not as bad, definatly still a maybe :D if i dont feed whole raw :D

[SpiritHam]

I started out on puppy champ with the view to going on to adult champ, however Daisy is very helpfully wheat/gluten intolerant so they are now both on the lamb and rice wheat and gluten free one. Yeah there are still quite a few grains in there, but after all of the reviews and suggestions I got for it I decided to give it a try anyway. Daisy has always had a funny tummy right from when she was tiny, so was was very iffy about what to give her. She was way better on puppy champ than she had been, and as soon as I cut the wet food out it cleared up completely most of the time. Now we have no problems (unless I decide to be an idiot and leave something lying around that she shouldn't eat.)
If I could have I'd have stuck with the Champ range, it's a softer crunch biscuit.

Once I add the raw meat / veg in to the equation I don't really worry so much about grain levels in them. If you send them an email they are really helpful and are happy to send out samples to see what you get on with. I have now got my aunt to concert her cats over to CSJ and it's the only time they have ever pushed each other about for food, and they are so lovely and shiny <3

One thing that does puzzle me is that my pups came from a litter of 5. 1 had tiny legs, the other 4 were exactly the same. Mine have grown up to be long legged slender and muscular dogs, the other 3 were kept by my step sister and fed on Bakers.... They all stayed short and have become very stocky. I wonder what the odds are that we managed to end up with the only two well grown ones. I have a feeling it may be due to a good diet.
I'll grab the links to the BARF places now :) I have a fourth link somewhere that do boxes of all types as well as lucky dip boxes, however I can't currently seem to find it.

[SpiritHam]

Albion Meat Products | Quality Pet Food (http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/)
DAF Frozen Dog Foods - DAF Petfood (http://www.daf-petfood.co.uk/4-daf-frozen-dog-foods)
Frozen pet food: the raw dog food diet | Berriewood Pet Supplies (http://www.berriewoodwholesale.co.uk/sec/148/Frozen-Meats-for-Dogs/)

Are 3 highly rated ones. I THINK Albion is the best in terms of value for money. There was one that used to be rated well, but after re checking it out this morning there have been some bad reviews so I have left that out. It was cheaper, however people have had it brought on the wrong day and simply left outside their houses to defrost.

[vanilla-yazoo]

That is awesome!! Thank you so much!! I can defiantly use this and make it so much cheaper :D and comes pre set in portions (I was going to do smaller ones but can always do 3 meals from 1 bag, or do 2 days main meal and wings for the other meal)
All this dog talk is making me all excited!

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Yaz

There are several CSJ foods to pick from. Mine eat both the Champ, Hi-Lost, and That'll do!. The That'll do one is the one my 2 really like, and the ingredients are really good. You can put gravy or water with it to make it softer if you want, but my little dog is a 11 yr old toy poodle, so smaller than a sheltie, and he can eat the pieces alright. The pieces themselves are roughly the same size as a Burns or JW kibble.

If you want food with no rubbish in it, check the ingredients. The first ingredient listed is always what the bulk of the food is, so you preferably want this to be meat. Preferably at least 20% ish of it meat. Then you have something like rice making up around another 30- 40%. After that, the rest should be something like chicken meat meal, grains, beet pulp ( this is the sugar and its much better than additives and flavors for sugar) vegetables, oils, vitamins and minerals.

This is the ingredients list of That'll Do:

Chicken Meal, Wheat, Maize, Chicken Fat, Chicken Liver, Rice, Unmolassed Beet Pulp, Wheatfeed, Prairie Meal, Alfalfa, Oats, Salmon Oil, Yeast, Yucca Schidigera.

This is a good quality food because the first ingredient is Chicken so that is what there will be most of in the food. It has beet pulp to provide the sugar not additives. Th fish oil is Salmon, so it's a good quality oil. It contains chicken liver and liver is excellent for dogs. So this is a good example of a dog food.

This is another dog food (not naming it just call it one you'd get in a supermarket):

Cereals, Meat and Animal Derivatives (min. 4% Fresh Meat in the Soft Moist Kernel), Vegetable Protein Extracts, Oils and Fats, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (0.5% Beet Pulp in the Natural and Brown Kernels), Various Sugars, Minerals, Vegetables (min. 4% Vegetables in the Green and Yellow Kernels). with Antioxidants, Coloured with and Preserved with EC Additives.

This isn't a good quality food. The first ingredient is cereal for starters, there is meat and animal derivatives which could be parts of anything with no nutritional value whatsoever, and its only 4%. That is seriously crap, ubecause it means fillers and cereal is making up 96 % of the whole food! It is not listing exactly what the ingredients are, just 'various sugars', and it has colors and additives in it.

The main points for buying good food is :

*The meat should be the first ingredient not the second, third or fourth. The further along the list it is, the less of it there'll be.
*Food that only has around 4% meat is not good, ask yourself what makes up the rest?
*Buy food that says exactly what is in it, especially the meat part, if it's meant to be chicken, you want chicken meat/meat meal in it not beaks, feathers, offal, etc. If the food is good, they will tell you exactly what's in it. A list of 'various' or 'derivatives of animal' could be anything. If it's vague it's cos they don't want you to know exactly what is in it, which almost certainly means there's things that shouldn't be.
*Avoid food designed to appeal to owners! Bright colors look nice to us compare to plain brown kibble, but those colors are artificial. Dog food kibble should not be bright green, red or yellow.

Learn to read dog food labels, and you'll be amazed at just what your feeding your dog. I spent an entire morning in P@H once going through all their dog food. Of all those they sell, only 2 had a decent ingredient label, the James Wellbeloved and Wainwrights. I was very suprised, they have about 20 different makes at least, so to only find 2 that were worthwhile was pretty shocking.

[vanilla-yazoo]

That's what I am doing :) I'm only questioning the maize bu if it's proven good for your dogs then I won't hold it against the mix, please look a the German one I linked in my first post, it has meat as first product, oil for the coat, apple, salmon and rice, it looks good by he ingredients, but it's because I don't know the make I want more advice, also if there is something a lot of people feed and have great results I would be happy to move it to one d the ones I want to try.
I am really keen on the idea of raw food, the links above make it work out very affordable :D

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Maize/corn (same thing) is like oats or rice, it's what makes up filler in dog food. Some dog's can't tolerate it, but if your's is ok with it, then there generally isn't a problem with it. If you were really unhappy about it, you could get the cereal free ones (JW, Wainwrights, Fish4Dogs).

Both the wet food and the dry food you linked on zooplus, look to have good quality ingredients. 63% meat in a tinned food is impressive, most are around 4% (70% being water!). If I fed my dogs wet food, I would be happy with them on that. Other good wet foods are Burns pouches, Nature diet wet food and Applaws. These are not like the slimy jelly chunks in tins, their more like pate, don't smell awful, and are easier on the stomach.

Just be aware that in some dogs, especially pedigrees and in particular the 'dainty fancy little pedigrees' (like shelties), they can't stomach too much wet food, it's too strong, which will soon make itself apparent when they need the bathroom! This is one of the reasons mine don't get wet food, my BC is a farm dog and could handle it, my poodle couldn't and if they don't get fed the same thing they fight. Same with a raw food diet, my little poodle would go incredibly ill fed like that as he simply couldn't deal with it, not even only once or twice a week. He is however, ok on the Burns pouches or Nature diet, if I mix a bit in with the dry. Yours might be perfectly fine, but just be aware that raw doesn't always agree with the little pedigrees. If you really want to give wet food for variety, I would add a few scoops of one of the above makes to whatever dry food you choose.

The dry food on zooplus is also a good one, again I would have no quarrels feeding mine on it. It has 26% meat, equal to JW or Burns easily, so good protein. I'm not sure why the apple and pear is there tbh, dog's don't really eat fruit, infact the pips/seeds in fruit is actually toxic to them as it contains cyanide! I'm guessing they will of left them out though, not just added them whole. Other than that though, it is a high quality food.

Arden Grange is a very good dog food, I got a couple of bags once from Crufts on a show offer, and it is a really good quality food. Only reason I didn't continue with it is it was too expensive to keep buying!

[SpiritHam]

Glad that the links helped make things a bit cheaper ^_^ Just wish I could use them! Still trying to convince the house that we need a chest freezer to fill with yummy meat for the dogs. At the moment I just buy small packs of the stuff from my local pet shop, which works out stupidly expensive, and chicken wings/legs and meaty bones from the butcher. He usually let's me have a couple of large ones for a couple of quid, his wife on the other hand will do 3 biggish ones for 50p xD
I give one of the small packs between the two as an evening meal, and we free feed throughout the day with CSJ. They are supposed to eat 125-200g each a day, they hardly ever actually eat it. I put 400g in a shared bowl in the morning and they take it when they want it. Have free fed since we got them, supposed to stop gulping of food and getting twisted stomachs. So far so good!

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Glad that the links helped make things a bit cheaper ^_^ Just wish I could use them! Still trying to convince the house that we need a chest freezer to fill with yummy meat for the dogs. At the moment I just buy small packs of the stuff from my local pet shop, which works out stupidly expensive, and chicken wings/legs and meaty bones from the butcher. He usually let's me have a couple of large ones for a couple of quid, his wife on the other hand will do 3 biggish ones for 50p xD
I give one of the small packs between the two as an evening meal, and we free feed throughout the day with CSJ. They are supposed to eat 125-200g each a day, they hardly ever actually eat it. I put 400g in a shared bowl in the morning and they take it when they want it. Have free fed since we got them, supposed to stop gulping of food and getting twisted stomachs. So far so good!

The reason they are hardly eating it is because your free feeding them. Free feeding a dog teaches it that there's food down all the time so it doesn't matter whether it eats it or not, there'll be more in a bit. It actually encourages faddy/fussy eaters. If you feed your dogs at the same time every day and just leave the bowl down for 20 minutes and no more ( with nothing else inbetween), they will soon learn that if they leave it, they get nothing else at all until the next time. They soon catch on. If they tend to gulp their food down, put a rubber ball in the middle of the bowl so they have to pick around it, forcing them to slow down. You can also buy a bowl with 'bobbles' in the base which does the same thing.

A twisted stomach is usually the cause of exercising too soon before or after eating, which is why they should not be exercised within an hour of being fed. It generally affects big heavy dogs, but it is better to be safe than sorry as it can kill within a short space of time ( the stomach 'twists' closing the air off on both ends, it is very painful and potentially life threatening, needing veterinary treatment within 30 minutes to stand a chance of surviving.)

[SpiritHam]

There is one thing my dogs aren't and that is fussy. They with eat literally anything.
If we go over to anyone's house who has a dog/cat they have to pick up the food because our two will wolf it down no questions asked, it's only at home that they eat when hungry.
We spoke in length with our vet about the pros and cons of free feeding and started it as a tester over a couple of months with weigh ins at least once a month to check that they were growing at a healthy weight for their breed.
They grew within the normal range and put on the weight that he was expecting them to, and so we continued with it after the 'trial' period. We have had them just over a year now, they eat around 100g each a day although they do also get raw veg/meat most days which they have as a meal and eat straight away.It's only the biscuits that are free fed. They are being weighed once a month now to make sure their weights don't fluctuate, and so far they are nice and steady at 8.4 and 9.6 respectively. They occasionally go up or down a .number but nothing our practice seems to be bothered about.

So many people ask me why they don't get fat, and say that their dogs would if free fed. I guess it's because they have been free fed since day 1. They know exactly how much food they get a day. If they eat the 400g of biscuits then that is that, no more till tomorrow. Last week we had two days where they ate it all, but that was after 3 longer than normal walks.

I personally don't see an issue with the amount of biscuits they eat. 400g goes down, almost all of it gets eaten. 100g is usually the ammount of raw meat they get each, although my dog once ate the whole 500g still mostly frozen straight off of the work counter where it was sat defrosting for the next 2 meals.
As long as they stay at a healthy weight we will continue with their feeding. They won't eat the daily amount needed over two meals, they just eat even less, my grans dog won't either. The difference is that she used to have her food taken away, she still didn't eat it. At 14 years old she has just started having her food left down (unless my two are there as they would eat it) and she eats a little bit more now. She also helps herself to the biscuits when she is here.

[vanilla-yazoo]

wobbles: I am glad you think the zoo plus ones are good, i have been looking on a food review site, and they down mark anything with corn in heavily, because they cant digest it as easy as rice, and even rice isnt natural for them, I am pretty sure the seeds would have been removed, i think its where a small amount of vegatable fiber is seen as good, as the prey would have grasses and veg in their diet, so it could effect the dog that way.

I will see if the CSJ is on there :D the top rated ones are ones i havent heard of or are on zoo plus (i trust them im a bit finicky about other sites)

I will defiantly keep a close eye on my sheltie dont worry, but if he shows any sign of disagreeing he will go back to his breeders puppy mix (i have 2 breeders down by some of my family who I am intrested in, lots of show champs and they do judging, as much as i am happy for one locally, if i can get one that i know has good blood lines, it should be stronger, i would find out what they feed when i know the puppy is on the way, so i have a good amount here :D
If wet or raw dosnt work out for him I am happy to give dry as long as it is healthy for him and he dose well on it.

spiritham: they are brill thank you :D It works out great for that if its full raw I go, i dont think i could do the food down all day as raw wouldnt be safe, wet would attract flies, and dry could be touched by my rabbits who will be given free roam time in the front room at times when I can supervise them (they have the right size of space, just like to let them have a hop about for 30 mins or so) so constant food wont be right for me. I will make sure that he is inroduced to them safely, they have met the springers so they are not going to be scared of him. will be supervised with both of us with them.

my oh had a dog when young who had the twisted stomach and killed her :( so we are very careful of that

[Ilovehamsters]

We got a puppy a couple of weeks ago her name is Kia and we feed her asda hero puppy wet and dry food.It's best to get them the less 'rich' foods and asda puppy food has got that and it's quite cheap :D Also I know this sounds rude but less 'richer' foods keep their poo in good shape Lol :D

[SpiritHam]

I hope you find the pefect puppy :)
It's not like I even free feed for ease, my mother is ill so can't work so she is home all day and could happily feed them their meals. We just chose to.
A friend of mine free fed until she got her cat xD The cat decided free food was yummy. If we still had the rabbits we couldn't have either, Rufus ate anything not nailed down, including my mothers wiccer stool. Oops!

[vanilla-yazoo]

ilovehamsters: the asda hero is what my parents springers are on, with wagg, its not doing them any harm, they are fit as a fiddle on it :D im just fussy when it comes to my pets so i go mad reaserching, i can understand what you mean about rich food, you have to introduce it over a much longer time, a teeny amount like a teaspoon in their normal mix, to slowly get them used to it, if they go too fast it upsets the tummy :D

spirit ham : thank you :D
I can understand XD it also would dipend on kiddys as at some point me and my oh will be considering it, so its best to teach how we will always feed right from the start (well, you know, 1/4 a day per meal, then 1/3 then 1/2 XD as the puppy grows :D
haha my rabbits destroy anything they get their teeth onto, i had a plastic bin style washing basket their litter was in, when let out they jumped in, hid and chewed the handles off XD


Dog Food Reviews - CSJ Natural Champ Adult - Powered by ReviewPost (http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1930&cat=all)
this is the food site i was talking about, it looks at the ingredients, and if it deems it worth feeding it gets reviews (some have a few reviews on them allready)
it picked up on the corn and wheat like i thought it would and beat pulp, i know these are not always bad, i dont expect you to drop the food you feed because of a site if the food is right for you and your dog, as long as its healthy on it :D
I still am considering this food knowing its doing well with at least 3 dogs on here, but I will still keep reaserching, I still like the look of the zoo plus food, it just seems less junk food XD

[Bekki2308]

We feed wet food only, cereal and grain free diet. Dry food makes them thirstier and is a lot less natural. We also feed ours plenty of real meat as even wet foods are rubbish, they get veg on occasion too purely because they like it and they do eat grass sometimes.

we also have a cat who gets fed plenty of raw meat, high quality tinned food and sometimes a bit of dry for variety

[Queen Of The High Teas]

That is a really good site, very helpful and useful. They key thing to remember is there is no one food that will suit every dog, just like not everything suits all people. There is good and bad dog food like everything else, CSJ and Skinners are some of the good ones, but not as good as say Orijen, but then not many could afford to pay £62 for 13kg of dog food:shock:! I would have my dogs on this, but no way could I afford it, so I give them something that isn't quite as good, but decent enough and I can reasonably manage to buy. The trick is to find a balance, something that is good for your dog and good for your bank balance!

[vanilla-yazoo]

bekki: ahh awesome :D thats sort of what im thinking, either meat or wet and meat, im glad it works out for you :D i might be using the tins i linked at the first post, that only have rice and no other cerials or grains, so is high quality :)
im glad the cat likes it too!!! :D

wobbles: It is, i do run through things on there, tho it dont have makes from other countrys, but from what infomation it tells me, the german food on zoo plus, that works out £20-25 a month (dry) and the wet (£13-20 a month) seems pretty decent value and decent ingredients, as long as the dog eats it! some turn their nose up at some food, but if they dont eat it, take it away and they will learn :)

if money grew on trees ild buy that XD i totally agree, i wont bankrupt myself to feed my dog the finest, and eat scraps myself, but we will both eat well :D
my uncle is bankrupting himself for his dogs, unfortunatly work changed, but he adores his woofs, unfortunatly 2 newfounlands take a lot more feeding (bathing, slobber removing, poo picking and walking xD) so feeding a sheltie shouldnt be a problem!

[vanilla-yazoo]

great news, I have found a good breeder, that if all goes well I will happily get my pup from, they feed royal cannin puppy mix, so i will get 2 months worth of that for when the puppy is here. then put him to what i want after :D

i have the price range for the pup and all the info, there for advice at all the life of the dog, really friendly person :D so sounds all good :D

I am thinking through the raw, or at least feeding a raw meaty bone once a week or so, or feed one meal raw a day, or full raw, and either the zoo plus or the CSJ mix for the other meal, dry or wet :)

thank you all for all your advice on the foods you use, its been very helpful and its great to hear other people's experiences, I cant wait to get my wee lil lad :D

[Queen Of The High Teas]

No problem, I bet your really really exited now aren't you? I know I wouldn't be able to sit still:lol:. Shelties are wonderful little dogs, friendly, equally happy to walk 10 miles or 2, very smart, and are a nice size dog for a pet in the house. They learn quick and are very good at agility etc, which is one of the reasons they make a good suitable alternative to a BC. They tend to have all the sharp wit and brain of the BC without the hyperness and obsessive need to be doing something. Shelties are totally capable of herding, but it's not excessively bred into them, so they have a much lower herding drive making them far more pet/house suitable than BC's. I researched into a sheltie when I wanted a collie, for the same reasons you have, so I can see completely where your coming from with one, only reason I didn't go with one was because my heart was set well and truly on a BC so there really was no point getting anything else. Had I not been so set on one though, a sheltie would of been a perfect choice, and I would love one someday. Good luck with getting yours, and remember to post pics!:)

[Lougarry]

Just wanted to thank Wobbles for recommending CSJ. I bought a bag of Command Performance CP18 (less active) from a nearby stockist for my GSD Prentiss and, in combination with wild salmon oil, it's done wonders for her coat, which is much softer, and skin (no more scurf). She smells much less too. And over 20% cheaper than my previous brand!!