Recommendations on food brands, insurance and Pets At Homes complete care...

Hi guys,
So our pup is coming home on the 22nd June and it can't come quick enough Just wondered about feeding and if anyone would recommend a particular food brand over another? We will be feeding a complete dry food and would like to use a local pet store rather then pets at home as they are a family run shop and much nicer to be honest
They stock quite a variety but are prepared to source any brand we like if they don't already. I'm also after insurance recommendations, gonna use confused.com and see what comes up but what are some of your experiences with companies, are some more user friendly then others?

Last question ....what are your thoughts on Pets At Homes Complete Care plan? Its basically a plan that you pay monthly for, they provide all routine treatments and discounted dental care and neutering. Is it something that may be worth it? Are any of you already on the plan? What do you think?

Thanks everyone look forward to hopfully hearing from you x

Please see links below for dry food recommendations and insurance info where the issue has been discussed before:

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

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f28-staffordshire-bull-terrier-pet-insurance



Sorry cannot comment on the Pets At Home Complete Care plan no experience of this. Hope this info helps.

sorry no experience of the pets at home plan

we give Tilly Wainwrights from PAH (so no help there)

but we do Insure through Direct Line at the moment and have had 1 small claim , settled straight away and direct with the vet , no issues. But saying that we may be changiung soon as they don't seem to offer good discounts for a 2nd dog and we are getting another pup next friday will call them first though as they don't always tell you on the internet but a phone call about leaving can work wonders

i too feed zeus wainwrights from pets at home (approximately 24% meat content) but will be switching to orijen puppy food shortly (80% meat content), so you can see the reason for change. orijen is much more expensive than wainwrights, but like me, if cost is not an issue and are willing to provide the best food you can, i would go for orijen.

hes insured with more than pet insurance which offers lifetime cover, so if zeus has a long term illness, they will cover for however long it lasts, however old he is, aslong as you renew with them every year. make sure when you get insurance, you get lifetime cover, if you go for the cheaper option (more than's is called "budget), they will only cover for one illness for that one year of cover, if you renew with them the next year, that same illness is not covered. the majority of insurance companies also do not insure after your pet is past a certain age (normally 8/9 years old), so IMHO lifetime cover is a must. i pay about £13 a month for this insurance which is pretty good compared to the other quotes i got at the time for lifetime cover.

Mia is on wainwrights from Pets at home, she's tried a couple and some of the foods with a really high meat content seemed to make her a bit constipated!! Could just be her though so don't let that put you off of trying it!

Not heard of the pets at home care plan, but I would be more inclined to go to a recommended vet practice, just my opinion however.

Some vets will let you pay monthly into a care fund, I think a few here do this, what most vets don't do though is let you pay after treatment or surgery.

We're insured with animal friends, most companies let you choose the level of cover you want, we went for the second highest option I think and it's about £16 a month!

The links for the dry food & insurance should be helpful, but if you need any further help just let us know.

I've never been tempted by the PAH Complete Care Plan because it includes neutering which would be a complete waste for me as I don't neuter my dogs! That aside, I think I'd prefer to get to know a good, recommended vet & build a relationship with them. But that's just me!

Sorry don't know about P@H care plan.

Food wise, I'd recommend something like Orijen, Acana, Applaws or Fish4Dogs.

You want to go for something with a high meat or fish content (20% at the very least), little or no grain, if there is grain in it then make sure it's rice or oats, not wheat or maize. Try to go for foods that tell you what's in it and don't just give you groups, for example 'chicken meal' rather than 'meat meal' or 'rice' not 'cereals' etc.

Galadriel wrote:Sorry don't know about P@H care plan.

Food wise, I'd recommend something like Orijen, Acana, Applaws or Fish4Dogs.

You want to go for something with a high meat or fish content (20% at the very least), little or no grain, if there is grain in it then make sure it's rice or oats, not wheat or maize. Try to go for foods that tell you what's in it and don't just give you groups, for example 'chicken meal' rather than 'meat meal' or 'rice' not 'cereals' etc.

thanks for the recommendations of dog food, galadriel. ive actually been looking up on orijen, acana and applaws and found out that there is a applaws stockist right near my house. so instead of going for the orijen, i'll be trying applaws as it contains 75% meat, 25% vegetables with no grains, so sounds pretty good! http://www.applaws.co.uk/dog_dry.php

Will let you all know how i get on, hopefully it solves Zeus's itching problem!

Just out of interest what do you pay for the Applaws dry food ? and what size bag does it come in ?

Many thanks

kathytake2 wrote:Just out of interest what do you pay for the Applaws dry food ? and what size bag does it come in ?

Many thanks

the petshop near me has actually got a half price offer on all applaws dry food, so its worked out pretty good for me. for a 2kg bag, they are selling it at £6.00, so you should be paying around £12 for that. ive had a look around on the internet and there are a few deals where they are selling 2kg bags for £10/11.

if all goes well, ill be buying in bulk - 13kg bags.

Mine do well on the Applaws; only thing I've found is I have to feed a bit more than the RDA.

They had a special offer going a month or two ago and I was paying about £36 for a 12.5 KG bag I think.

On their own website it's at £55 per 12.5 KG bag now but you can usually get it a good bit cheaper if you shop around

Thanks for all the advice guys. Was interested in the Pets At Home complete care plan but my local vets offers a similar plan for 9.99pcm. For that we get all jabs, boosters, worm and flea treatments plus 10% off other treatments and 20% off neutering. After working it all all out I think its a great idea so I'm going for it still undecided on insurance yet tho. Will do some homework on dry foods too

goldie87 wrote:

kathytake2 wrote:Just out of interest what do you pay for the Applaws dry food ? and what size bag does it come in ?

Many thanks

the petshop near me has actually got a half price offer on all applaws dry food, so its worked out pretty good for me. for a 2kg bag, they are selling it at £6.00, so you should be paying around £12 for that. ive had a look around on the internet and there are a few deals where they are selling 2kg bags for £10/11.

if all goes well, ill be buying in bulk - 13kg bags.

Thanks for replying, that's very useful.