Is this a good dry food?

Hi all, Im currently feeding Bode Collins own brand puppy food.

Looking at the pics, does it seem like this is a suitable food for my pup?

If there is a genuinley better alternative from the place I get it, could you let me know, I'm due to get some more today, and was going to buy in bulk this time.

Thanks

Shop that I purchase from with some of the alternatives available
http://www.collinspetfoods.co.uk/Dog_Food_Dry-D010100

Here is a link of recommended dry foods from members of the forum

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dryfood.html

I'm afraid that's all I can advise since I'm not much of a dog nutritionist

I saw that link, didnt realise it was created by the members of the forum, thanks..


Ill see which of those I can get where I buy mine, hopefully somebody with better nutrition knowledge than myself will be able to advise if the food Im getting already is ok.

I always buy and recommend premium brands of food from the vets such as Hills Science Diet, Nutrience and Eukanuba. They are abit more costly up front than supermarket brand foods but work out cheaper in the long run as they are higher quality, more calorie dense and therefore you have to feed less and they last longer - not to mention they are better for your dog. Probably the best food out in my opinion is Orijen - it contains all free range human grade meats, fish, fruit and veges with no grain or crapy additives.. but unfortunately the price reflects this.

Going by the labels of this Bode Collins food it will do the job but is not very good quality. When looking at the ingredients list by law they have to list the ingredients from highest quantity to lowest quantity. Therefore in this food there is more wheat than anything else, followed by poultry meal.

When you look at the ingredients list take note of the wording they use too as it will give a good indicator on the quality of the ingredient used. Here they use 'poultry meal' (often also termed as chicken by-product meal) which is generally the left overs of the chicken that is not used for human consumption - necks, feet, intestines ect. A higher quality food would state chicken. When the term by-products is used it simply means the left over products from the production of human foods.

In regards to meats a 'meal' has been cooked, dried and processed into a powdery form. When looking at the label some brands will have for example 'poultry and poultry meal' which means it contains both the wet poultry meat that still contains its moisture as well as the dry poultry meal.

One thing to note however is that with grains a 'meal' just means it has been ground down to a powder like flour.

Essentially dogs are carnivores so run best on foods that are meat based rather than grain. Your meat sources give the protein and the cereal/grains mostly carbs. Unfortunately this packet doesnt give you the % of carbohydrate but I have worked it out to contain 52.25% carbohydrates. You can do this by adding all other percentages listed then subtracting it from 100, as pet food companies often deliberately leave the carb% out but list everything else.

The chicken fat in this food will be there to provide your dog with essential fatty acids, and the salmon meal will used as a source of omega-3. Look on the packet to check that it is '100% complete and balanced' or better yet if it is AAFCO approved which means it defintely contains everything needed and has reached a certain standard. Overall however this is not a top quality food.

Wow, great response thanks!

So this is a poor product really?

the price is pretty good, I'm not rich by any means, but I could stretch slightly more and would happily do so to ensure Bode gets the best diet I can afford

What would people suggest as a better diet for her?

This costs £15.85 for a 15kg bag, Im willing to pay a little more, but couldn't pay some of the prices I see at £40 etc!

Ive just stumbled across this article, seems to confirm what you have said and more...



http://en.allexperts.com/q/Dogs-701/Nutrition-Best-puppy-food.htm

Ok, Ive found another brand, its not listed on this site, but is sold where I buy mine.

Do these ingredients / protein content etc seem ok?

at £32 for 15kg, its not too much more, I may have to see if I can get multipack discounts..

Composition
Chicken meat meal (30%), whole maize, chicken fat, white rice (10%), oats, maize gluten meal, sunflower meal, whole linseed, beet pulp, whole dried egg,
vitamins, minerals and trace elements, yeast, BIO-MOS™, FOS, yucca.

Analytical Constituents
Crude Protein 27%
Crude Oils & Fats 18%
Crude Fibres 2.5%
Crude Ash 8%

Thanks for your time!!!

who the manufacture of that one

bigwazza wrote:who the manufacture of that one

"Skinners"

It seems a lot better than the cheaper one I got, what do you think?

£30.19 delivered is the cheapest I've found so far

If you are going to feed kibble make sure its grain free..

Bare with me here lol

Kibble? Is that another word for dry food?

There is no mention of grain in the skinners one?

Kibble just means small dry biscuits. In the Skinners food maize, rice and linseed are all grains - and too be honest most dog foods will have some grain in it. The cheaper the food then generally the more grain too.

At the end of the day cheaper foods are fine to feed your dog they just have their pro's and cons like anything. They arent going to be as calorie and nutrient dense as more expensive, premium foods plus they will have a higher grain content which just means your dog has to consume alot more to get what he needs. Grains are also not very digestable to dogs so they can make your dog prone to farting , as well as having more waste left over which means more poo! It wont matter so much for pet dogs but show dogs or agility dogs/competition dog will perform much better on good quality foods - shiner coats + more energy and endurance as they run better on meat.

Although premium foods are more expensive they often work out cheaper as you can feed less and they last longer. I tend to work out how much I need to feed my dog, then work out how many days that bag is going to last, then I work out how much it is going to cost to feed that food per day.

I am currently looking at getting Eukanuba's Staffordshire Bull Terrier diet for my boy next - it is expensive to buy straight up but will work out to costing me $1.87 per day to feed compared to $2.74 per day if I fed him cheap dog roll from the supermarket.

To be honest I'm on a tight budget and can't afford to pay too much for food, so I put aside money every week and then buy it in bulk. I only buy high quality premium foods if I can help it, but I watch out for specials like buy one get one free or 50% off. I usually get a 18kg bag of Nutrience Active from a Farmlands store here (has mainly farm supplies including foods for working dogs). They are a good $140+ a bag at the vets, or $136 at farmlands - but they often have a buy one get one free deal when they do stocktaking! Watch out for when large-chain pet stores move out old stock too or run big promotions or specials. I also buy bags of fresh pet mince and occasionally dog roll to mix in a little with the food to make it go even further n keep it interesting.

All I can suggest is shop around and good luck! I hope I have been of some help.

Everyones been helpful, appreciate it!

Im going to get the skinners food, its within my budget, and the ingredients seem far better than the budget brand, ill mix the two until the old stuff runs out, and see how she is on the newver stuff.

thanks a lot everyone!

just looked up that food looks fine and wheat free the most important thing in my opinion is premium protein not cheap bulker like some i also know sneyds wonderfeed puppy is rather good as my friend is feeding his american bull dog pup on it and is doing really good and works out slightly cheaper at 18 pounds for 10kg bags

Well I just picked it up, got the puppy one for working and trial puppy's, slightly bigger chucks (the other one was tiny for miniature dogs too) it has the same ingredients and is VAT free so cheaper

How does a dog manage to empty its bowl of the new food, leaving all the old one in there? Lol

cause there rather clever!!

starling89 wrote:I always buy and recommend premium brands of food from the vets such as Hills Science Diet, Nutrience and Eukanuba. They are abit more costly up front than supermarket brand foods but work out cheaper in the long run as they are higher quality, more calorie dense and therefore you have to feed less and they last longer - not to mention they are better for your dog. Probably the best food out in my opinion is Orijen - it contains all free range human grade meats, fish, fruit and veges with no grain or crapy additives.. but unfortunately the price reflects this.

Going by the labels of this Bode Collins food it will do the job but is not very good quality. When looking at the ingredients list by law they have to list the ingredients from highest quantity to lowest quantity. Therefore in this food there is more wheat than anything else, followed by poultry meal.

When you look at the ingredients list take note of the wording they use too as it will give a good indicator on the quality of the ingredient used. Here they use 'poultry meal' (often also termed as chicken by-product meal) which is generally the left overs of the chicken that is not used for human consumption - necks, feet, intestines ect. A higher quality food would state chicken. When the term by-products is used it simply means the left over products from the production of human foods.

In regards to meats a 'meal' has been cooked, dried and processed into a powdery form. When looking at the label some brands will have for example 'poultry and poultry meal' which means it contains both the wet poultry meat that still contains its moisture as well as the dry poultry meal.

One thing to note however is that with grains a 'meal' just means it has been ground down to a powder like flour.

Essentially dogs are carnivores so run best on foods that are meat based rather than grain. Your meat sources give the protein and the cereal/grains mostly carbs. Unfortunately this packet doesnt give you the % of carbohydrate but I have worked it out to contain 52.25% carbohydrates. You can do this by adding all other percentages listed then subtracting it from 100, as pet food companies often deliberately leave the carb% out but list everything else.

The chicken fat in this food will be there to provide your dog with essential fatty acids, and the salmon meal will used as a source of omega-3. Look on the packet to check that it is '100% complete and balanced' or better yet if it is AAFCO approved which means it defintely contains everything needed and has reached a certain standard. Overall however this is not a top quality food.

Excellent advice and alot of uselful info

Rob wrote:Hi all, Im currently feeding Bode Collins own brand puppy food.

Looking at the pics, does it seem like this is a suitable food for my pup?

If there is a genuinley better alternative from the place I get it, could you let me know, I'm due to get some more today, and was going to buy in bulk this time.

Thanks

Shop that I purchase from with some of the alternatives available
http://www.collinspetfoods.co.uk/Dog_Food_Dry-D010100

too much wheat tbh ,also poor quality protein.
that poultry meal probably as bad as the meat and animal derivatives you see on so many dog foods and it covers a whole load of nasties as its basically all the yukk bits left over at the end of the process not nice at all