Dog food advice

[SaintHacker]

Gizzi our first Shih tzu was nearly 16 when he had to be put to sleep due to irreversible liver damage , IMO caused by his heart medication.
He was much better fed than me . Every day HID made him boiled chopped chicken breasts, rice, a mixer with various veg.
His replacement Millie is nearly 10 now and still looks like a pup. But she's very greedy and will eat anything that's available.
But sadly she's had a very sensitive stomach/ bowel from day one, with the odd bout of Pancreatitis , a true Shitzoo.

Are thet prone to stomach problems? We've got a shih tzu poodle cross and he's got quite a sensitive stomach, we found James Wellbeloved dry food is best for him, with the occasional pack of wet food from them thrown in for a treat

 

[Fish]

Chicken & Rice Sensitive Complete by Wagg for my Max, tried him on a few other things and he goes pink!

He loves it so I adopt the adage of, if it ain't broke.....

 

[rudebhoy]

Another vote for Skinners.
I have a 5yr old Patterdale/Cocker cross and she's been on Skinners for all her life.
She's on their Field & Trial Maintenance which, because it's for working dogs, is free of VAT apparently!
It costs around £18 for a 15kg bag.
We also give her a few veggies and a couple of cod liver oil tablets with her daily meal.
She's 5½ years old and still runs all day long at twice the speed of sound.
She'll be on Skinners for her whole life ....................... she loves it.

Ours are on the Maintenance Plus which has a Joint Aid supplement comprising of glucosamine and other good stuff. The older springer (10 in November) was getting very stiff, but since we switched him to this, he has been a lot better.

 

[bansheedrate]

Its been a debate with raw food diet, some say about safety.. Raw diets has been found to contain Salmonella. It scares us especially my dog is prone to stomach problems.

 

[Rooter]

We've got a shih tzu poodle cross

I'm sorry? a what? a ShitPoo?

 

[SaintHacker]

I'm sorry? a what? a ShitPoo?

Thats what we call him (among other things) but wasn't going to put it on here in case i get my knuckles rapped (again)

 

[williamalex1]

Are thet prone to stomach problems? We've got a shih tzu poodle cross and he's got quite a sensitive stomach, we found James Wellbeloved dry food is best for him, with the occasional pack of wet food from them thrown in for a treat

Gizzi didn't have any stomach problems, he only went deaf when he was about 13 and then developed heart problems..
But Millie is a hypochondriac , she's never away from the vets

 

[Pin-seeker]

Its been a debate with raw food diet, some say about safety.. Raw diets has been found to contain Salmonella. It scares us especially my dog is prone to stomach problems.

This is main thing that's putting me off.
Think I'm going to stick to dry food.

Thanks for the posts.

 

[Coffey]

We rescued a dog in March from the pound, Collie/Red Setter mix (we think) and we are having real trouble getting her to eat. She loves human food and will happily eat anything we are eating, yet when you put her food out, she literally needs to be starving to be interested. We have tried James Wellbeloved and Wainwrights and she isn't too keen on either. The Wainwrights is nearly finished and we arent 100% sure on what to do next.

 

[williamalex1]

We rescued a dog in March from the pound, Collie/Red Setter mix (we think) and we are having real trouble getting her to eat. She loves human food and will happily eat anything we are eating, yet when you put her food out, she literally needs to be starving to be interested. We have tried James Wellbeloved and Wainwrights and she isn't too keen on either. The Wainwrights is nearly finished and we arent 100% sure on what to do next.

Don't worry she won't starve, it's a battle of will powers.

 

[spongebob59]

Our JRT is a fussy bugger but recently we tried him on Denes and he scoffs it down !

 

[Maninblack4612]

We've had dogs for 40 years & have fed them on everything, wet, dry, cheap, not so cheap. All have been superbly healthy lived an average of 15 years. What is important, I think, is that they have been exercised regularly, running, not just walking & not overfed or fed lots of human food. Most have been crossbreeds, which are generally free of the kinds of afflictions suffered by inbred pedigree dogs.

 

[palindromicbob]

We rescued a dog in March from the pound, Collie/Red Setter mix (we think) and we are having real trouble getting her to eat. She loves human food and will happily eat anything we are eating, yet when you put her food out, she literally needs to be starving to be interested. We have tried James Wellbeloved and Wainwrights and she isn't too keen on either. The Wainwrights is nearly finished and we arent 100% sure on what to do next.

Had issues with a dog in the past and got them to eat by dishing out small portions with chicken stock (home made) poured on.

There's a funny video on YouTube of a dog that eats only when the owner sticks the bowl in the oven and gets the timer to beep.

 

[adasko]

We have 2 cats that are on BARF diet (biologically appropriate raw food). We will be getting a dog next year that will be on barf as well , this link explain a little bit about it : http://www.barf-diet.co.uk/. It's healthier for animals and definitely cheaper than dry food.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

We rescued a dog in March from the pound, Collie/Red Setter mix (we think) and we are having real trouble getting her to eat. She loves human food and will happily eat anything we are eating, yet when you put her food out, she literally needs to be starving to be interested. We have tried James Wellbeloved and Wainwrights and she isn't too keen on either. The Wainwrights is nearly finished and we arent 100% sure on what to do next.

Try putting a splash of hot water on the dry food. Not enough to soften the food, literally a splash. That brings out the smell and makes it more attractive. If our dog goes off a particular flavour we do that and she wolf's it straight away.

 

[rudebhoy]

Try putting a splash of hot water on the dry food. Not enough to soften the food, literally a splash. That brings out the smell and makes it more attractive. If our dog goes off a particular flavour we do that and she wolf's it straight away.

Teaspoonful of cod liver oil. They love it and it's very good for them.

 

[Coffey]

Had issues with a dog in the past and got them to eat by dishing out small portions with chicken stock (home made) poured on.

There's a funny video on YouTube of a dog that eats only when the owner sticks the bowl in the oven and gets the timer to beep.

Yep she loves it when we add some of our food too it. It also seems that she is really nervous and on edge when she is eating, like any noise in the background startles her. I do wonder if something happened to her in the past while she was eating.

 

[Coffey]

Try putting a splash of hot water on the dry food. Not enough to soften the food, literally a splash. That brings out the smell and makes it more attractive. If our dog goes off a particular flavour we do that and she wolf's it straight away.

We tried this before and it didn't really have an impact, this was with the James Wellbeloved so will try with the wainwrights. We spoke to the vet about it, and she said that the better quality food doesn't give off as much of a smell and is not as appetising for the dogs.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Teaspoonful of cod liver oil. They love it and it's very good for them.

Thanks for the tip. Our dog is 7 now so I suspect a bit of that will help her joints as well.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

We have fed our dog(s) on dried food for years, we use Science Plan and the dogs have all done well on it. We regulary look after our friends two golden retrievers who are fed on tinned food, their 'output' is extraordinary compared to our dogs.