grovesy

Had me Akita at the vets for his first jab.

The vet has recommended royal canin food. Big surprise they selt. My questions are

Do they sell it because it's the best ?

Or do they recommend it because they sell it ?

I know you get what you pay for but 55 quid a bag seems very exspenive. We told the vet we had iams and beta dry food. She said iams was ok but not to use the beta stuff. We paid a lot for the dog and clearly wan the best for him, but I would hate to think I'm paying way over the odds for something I don't need.

So what do people recommend/ think on the subject ?

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

not sure , but dont google "whats in dry dog food" you wont want to feed it to it. My last dog had epilepsy and it had links to what you fed the dog (made it worse) and i looked into it a bit. My new dog just gets pedigree dry food , why pay more for the same crap.

Think the best way is to give it real food (meat i mean) but that will be expensive.

Spoon

Arden Grange if you want the best for your puppy/dog. Their ingredients are head and shoulders above most.

Meat needs to feature first in the ingredients list or I wouldn't feed it. Human grade meat is a further bonus.

grovesy

The dog has been raised on fresh meat. Th vet said it was no good as it lacks the calcium needed for bones to grow.

Spoon

Yes but I never mentioned fresh meat. I said human grade meat. That refers to the quality of meat used in the production of dried kibble.

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

everything you need to know (but wont want to hear)

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sou...klfv3virmYqmbQ

i know i said not to google it , sorry ! Its the bit about using put down animals thats nice , the drugs still make it into the food (the bit that made the epilepsy worse) Its a minefeild , dont know why it cant be simple.

JTaylor

That you should listen exclusively to Spoon and ignore all contrary advice.

ScoobyWon't

I've always fed my pups on what the breeder fed them on before I picked them up.

Don't buy the food from the vet, it's always cheaper online, sometimes up to £20 per bag. If you do decide to feed dry food, make a phone call to the manufacturer. All the decent ones have someone who will tell you which product is ideal and why.

Speak to the breeder again, they will be able to advise you more if they didn't include a feeding plan when you got the dog.

Don't forget, if you do change brands or toe, you should ween from one to the other.

grovesy

That's the problem the breeder was a farmer, so they fed the pups on fresh chicken. But the vet is against it. So we are going to use dry food just want to know what Is best.

JTaylor

You've been told in post 3.

stedee

iTrader: (4)

dry food can be dodgy for cats maybe the same for dogs, crystals in the urine cause probs because not enough water intake

Rex93

Orijen Puppy Large Breed.....then stay with Orijen through the stages......


Have a look at http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ and decide for yourself.

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

done. Im out.

Simon K

When my Akita was a puppy I used Royal Canin puppy stuff. If I remember it was little brown biscuit like stuff. Im sure nowadays there are other brands / types to choose. One thing to remember is that a little pups tummy is sensitive and moving from different foods sometimes is a pain. Once they get used to the food, best to stay with it. As they are young, if they have problems, if you are using different foods, makes it harder to see if its a food issue, or something more serious.

MY dog ate dry food most of his life, I also squirted in some ` logic teeth protection` gel into the food to protect his teeth. As he got older I used dentine sticks and other things to keep his teeth healthy.

Dont forget tins of pilchards / oily fish, as this is great for thier coats.

Another thing to remember when he gets older is to raise the bowl. As my dog was quite large, bending down was a pain for him, so I put his food on a mini stool. I tried to feed him healthy 80% of time, but chinese meals / roast chickens / pies / meat treats were other given to him.

Akita puppies, man they are so cute :-) Any pics ?? Their ears are all bent over and as they grow the ears flick up. For a while my dog had one floppy ear, and one sticking up ear, so cute.

SBK

IWatkins

Royal Canin is good stuff, but don't buy it from the vets. Much cheaper online.

Our two Pugs have it exclusively now and seem much better on it. We had a phase of trying different foods for a while due to stomach upsets/hair loss etc.

b road blaster

personly i will only feed BARF to any dog hey what did they eat before tesco's starting selling dog food. would you want to eat just dried food and water,all animals have lived very well in the wild on it.
http://www.barfworld.com/ loads of other site that was just the first one i found.

Devildog

The crystals are generally caused by the urine being too alkaline. And that's generally a result of the ingredients in the food and the way the animal processes them.

Animals will drink what they need as long as there is sufficient water avalable, its nothing to do with whether they are fed on dried food or not.

But as Spoon has said - Arden Grange

David Lock

My pal, the Sturgeon farmer, had a Collie and he used to feed him some top grade Koi food pellets. His dog adored them and they were super as training treats as well. The pellets had a lot of fish oil in and the Collie's coat was shiny and superb. These were just an extra to his main grub.

Now Mr Spoon has fish so he may comment??

dl

billythekid

RC is the best. My dogs have always been feed James Wellbeloved and I have always told people how good it is. However, one of my dogs had a very bad allergic reaction very recently and resulted in 2 nights at the vets and was in ICU for 12 hours. £££....

So, we are now on RC.

Also look at Bionic Biotic - 1 tea spoon a day. My GSD has this and its good stuff. King K9 also do a similar product and its cheaper - but it can make your dog a bit too active if its a standard house pet. For working dogs its great stuff.

Spoon

Hello, David. My dog loves the Koi pellets when I'm feeding the fish or dispensing it from the 15KG tubs. His favourite dog food is the Salmon kibble too.

grovesy

Simon i put a pick on the other day. Thread was called " got my Akita puppy".

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

I buy my dry food from Vio-Vet always a good price then mix it with oily fish.
She[my dog] suffers from cystitus so we are limited to what we can feed her.