best food in the uk/??

scottyh · Apr 24, 2011

whats the best food for money in the uk when conditioning or trying to make my dog lose weight any opinions appprecciated thanks

6sN7s · Apr 24, 2011

check out orijen

DANUK47 · Apr 24, 2011

Landywoods for raw; chicken & tripe mix is best overall includubg value. You need freezer space and a disciplined regimine (for prep, hygene etc.).

Orijen is good, best dry available in UK but is also super-expensive; 13KG bag is well over £65.

Acana is 95%+ as good, but about £5-10 cheaper per 13KG bag; I tend to use Acana Pacifica mainly because I prefer the fish-base for such high protein food (rather than Orijen 6-Fish which is c.£75-80/bag) and Praire (I use viovet online).

Both are too high in protein as happens and are best suited to extremely active dogs but you will always find you get very soft & loose stools from such foods. Orijen & Acana are the best there is (in UK) amongst the dry foods and whilst high in protein, is the closest dry you'll get to a natural diet here. Is a very moist food compared to other dry foods which is good; but, I still soak it, esp for my larger dogs. I still feed raw periodically and some eggs, salmon oil and all the good stuff you'll see documented here and other good places.

As for losing weight; remember, most commercial foods overstate portions by around 25% to begin with. I have a 43KG bitch that more than suffices on 3 cups of Acana / day (split morning/evening). If the dog's working out hard, you really shouldn't need to cut food much and even on dry, if feeding the Orijen/Acana type kibbles without an additional carb/fat source, you're going to be using protein as the main energy source: the dog will stay lean, but, will need a lot of water to keep the internal organs working straight plus, if the dog has any sort of illnessinjury, it can put a big strain on the dog internally if the diet is too heavilly orientated toward protein. Best bet, take a similar approach to what many working greyhound breeders/trainiers do.

DANUK47 · Apr 24, 2011

Greyhound diets are more along normal performance diet
They also use a higher fat content, though around 15-20%.

Again, typically the base is a good high protein kibble (around 30%). This is usually fed with water.

Ground organ and muscle meat,

fat (suet or oil),

vegetables (cooked),

rice or porridge

Are also added and rotated depending on the keeper's preference and the dog's needs.

First meal of the day is usually kibble and water . Some supplement a complete vitamin at this time. There are tablets designed specifically for Greyhounds. Some people also add milk to this "breakfast."

Rest for 1 hour or so and then training. Usually endurance and walking are most of the work with sprints happening only a couple of time a week. Once a sighthound is conditioned, they are pretty easy to keep there.

Dinner is composed of a variance of the above listed in a stew. Water is always added to the diets to ensure adequate hydration.

Regardless of component, the breakdown is roughly

30% protein,

15-20% fat,

2-5% fiber, and

50% carb.

Again, the harder a dog works, the more important vitamin and mineral supplementation is regardless of kcaloric intake.

This is flexible (listed here are generalities) as sighthound conditioning (as any dog) is unique for each dog. Good trainers know this and know each dog and how to get the best out of them. Sighthounds also have that fun Myostatin mutation that will alter how easily they condition (heterzygote examples desired for performance).

Electrolyte formulas make sense for performing animals, especially if you only feed once a day. It would be very similar to the principle the mushers use, snacks and slurries. Not only are you encouraging good hydration, which can save a dogs life if he gets hurt (shock), but you are offering salts and sugars back into the body (isotonic solution). Muscles do have a small glucose store, but it gets depleted fast.

6sN7s · Apr 24, 2011

nice explanation DANU

i feed orijen regional red to my 2,5 year old male and my 5 months old pup. but even if i only walk them like 50/60 minutes a day, there shit is still perfect.

j1985 · Apr 24, 2011

Nice one DanUK Landywoods is great value and delivered straight to your door, I use a mix of redmills racer greyhound food and raw chicken and a few boiled eggs, some days I feed tinned fish.

I do raw at night and kibble in the morning, I was told to do it the other way round..what do you think ?

scottyh · Apr 24, 2011

that is a good write up there thanks mate and i can order this food online yeah i never thought of buying food off the net stupid i know my gurls 5n a half now just wanna trim her up a bit so if i feedthe greyhound diet or simular and i feed morning and night how many cups should it add to 1/half i know i should give a bit more after a hard workout shes 33kg i remember when she was a year and a half and was in great condition she was 28 if i can get her to 29 30kg id be very happy also do u know any greyhound supplements and where to get em thanks again

scottyh · Apr 24, 2011

also have you heard of burns food ???

scottyh · Apr 24, 2011

and sa37 its a powder to go in the food used to b able to get that and cant find it in any pet places now

DANUK47 · Apr 24, 2011

"Landywoods is great value and delivered straight to your door" - That it is

"I use a mix of redmills racer greyhound food and raw chicken and a few boiled eggs, some days I feed tinned fish" - sounds good

"I do raw at night and kibble in the morning, I was told to do it the other way round..what do you think?" - Is how I've done it for convenience. Depends on the digestive rate of the food I guess is why people say 'other way around' ...if you're working the dog, say a police dog in this instance in the early AM, then raw would be best if you're giving 'flesh' as you can encompass into training; either OB or tracking etc. If you are doing hard physical exercise (e.g. endurance), may also be good to have 'fleshy' raw, but not so much carcass, though some people say dogs fed on raw gas quicker. A good kibble can provide the nutrients required and a solid carb source, which can improve overall performance ...but either way, I wouldn't personally be feeding a dog much before working it ...indeed, often I leave them nigh-on 'empty' for 1/2 day prior to working ...maybe some small amount of tinned-fish, whole egg, that's it. So to me, it makes little difference which way round. Maybe people like the idea of a dog 'sleeping on a kibble meal' because of the longer digestion period; pretty-much all I can think of as reason for it. If you soak your kibble and make a broth/soup type feed, you can combine both types of food (though personally if I am using a 'soup' I use only minced meat (bone in it minced) and cook it all up) ...but for years people always told me not to mix kibble and meat ...then a PHD canine nutritionist told me it was baloney and how many performance folk do pretty-much that. Some old Pit guys I know on Eastern Seaboard USA also have done that for many years, so I changed my mindset and found it really doesn't make a big difference.

"i never thought of buying food off the net" - not just the net. Esp' if you have more than one dog, plenty of freezer space, always worth finding a good local butcher and striking up a relationship with them. Many times they have loads of surplass that often times today, costs them to 'dispose of' ...not fit for human consumption, but fine for dogs; we aren't talking rancid, we're talking chicken backs, necks, stuff like that. If you can save them having to dispose of it regularly, you can find food really cheap ...I know some guys get it free! Plus, the butchers often hold back their best stuff for you too!

Maintenance dose for me, is 2.5-3.5% of bodyweight, but for me, that's still over a KG of meat per day in case of some of my dogs. Been a long time since I kept Staff's etc. so I'd experiment and see, or take advice from somebody more useful than I.

The whole supplements thing's debatable and often they really are only useful if the dog's working hard. If you do too much, all you're doing's making expensive p*ss more often than not.

The Vertex or Happy dog equivalent is a decent supplement I've found, I buy it when abroad as I've found its cheaper than in UK. In UK, Happy Dog's version is c.£55/tub. For joints and such like, many folks rave over Synflex, which comes in human, equine and canine forms. I found Chudley's herbal remedy to have some value also in older animals before but to me, keys are good diet, not over-feeding and exercise. With females, if you breed them back to back, or don't give them a good long break between breedings, they often don't regain their full condition. However, when you do give them a break and get them into shape, they can be bigger, heavier and more muscular than before.

'Burns food.' I have heard great reviews on it from firsthand feedback; Boxer people I've known in particular have raved over it because it suits the breed's generally weak stomachs and seems to avoid many of the allergies the breed is subject to. I knew one friend fed a Boxer on it that was nigh-on bald previously, and it looked phenomenal, full coat etc. after a fairly short period on the food. That said, the scientific reviews of the product state it has a woefully inadequate meat content (like many dry foods) so, I'm not sure where I stand on it, never having used it personally. Need to find someone who has used it and can show you the results in person, or experiment with it. I also found this food was more readily available online than in many stores here.

scottyh · Apr 25, 2011

thanks for all the good advice mate it realy helps

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