Akita feeding

[Cash_Dolly]

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Question- a good quality dry kibble for a 1 year old akita? My boyfriend has been feeding her BETA large breed puppy food but the ingredients list seems pretty shifty to me with the main ingredients being "cereals" followed by meat "derivitives"

My two whippets eat mainly raw with a very small amount of kibble (usually wainwrights or james wellbeloved, As a general rule I tend to go with food with meat as the main ingredients, which I am trying to faze out)

I have started to include some of the raw in the akita's diet but I know my BF isn't keen to put her on an all raw diet and wants to keep some sort of kibble in her diet. Can anyone recommend? From what I can see online they only need to be on puppy food for 4 months but because the BETA bag says up to two years that was his plan....however he is interested in finding something better since I pointed out the ingredients?

Please don't tell me to put her on RAW as I already know the benefits etc I really need some advice on best dry food

Thanks

 

[JoanneF]

you are right in what you are saying about the cereal and animal derivatives. Dog food labelling is like human food labelling - the first ingredient listed is the biggest content. Cereals are used for bulk and animal derivatives are the non-meat by products from butchering (often what is discarded from meat for human consumption). You don't even know what type of meat it is.

One of the best brands is Orijen. If you look at the Large Puppy equivalent, it reads 'Fresh deboned chicken (20%), dehydrated chicken (15%), fresh chicken liver (6%), fresh whole herring (5%), fresh deboned turkey (4%), dehydrated turkey (4%), fresh turkey liver (3%), fresh whole eggs (3%), fresh deboned walleye (3%), fresh whole salmon (3%), fresh chicken heart (3%), chicken cartilage (3%), dehydrated herring (3%), dehydrated salmon (3%)' before going on to list vegetable content. But - and it's a big but - it is expensive. More affordable if you have a small dog, but for an Akita, it will be a lot. I think I read before in one of your posts that you are in Scotland. I am in Fife and buy a similar product with 26% dehydrated lamb, 18% fresh lamb, then sweet potato and other veg. But it is from a local pet shop and not brand labelled. That said, I am positive it is the same one described at www.blangolden.co.uk. if Fife is convenient to you I can tell you where I buy it, alternatively you can get it delivered from the website above.

If you prefer to try something else, try to keep grain free. There is a website called all about dog food (I think) that gives independent reviews, and Excuseme is an expert on nutrition, she / he (?) may be along soon!

 

[Cash_Dolly]

Many Thanks! I appreciate your help! yes excuseme is very knowledgeable has been great in my previous posts regarding the raw feeding!

I am just outside Edinburgh so Fife isn't very convenient to me, but I could look into delivery! Thanks a lot!

 

[JoanneF]

I had a look myself at the Blangolden page and their prices are a lot more than I am paying - twice as much or thereabouts. So I dug a bit deeper and the food isn't made by Blangolden, it seems to be made by another company who can brand the label to the retailer's name. Have a look at this http://pero-petfood.com/products/signature-range/The pet shop I use in Kirkcaldy doesn't seem to be included in their list of suppliers but if you were interested in this food you could contact them to find your nearest stockist as their map seems to need updating. The packaging is identical. And I don't think it can be the same product as the Pero food on the All About Dog Food website as their (pretty poor) reviews are not on wheat free products, which this one definitely is.

 

[JoanneF]

Did you ever get the Akita food changed cashdolly? And excuseme, I know nutrition is your area of expertise so I'd be really interested in your views on the food in the above link. It looks to me to be pretty good and while slightly behind orijen in meat content you could always add some meat. I haven't gone down the raw diet route as we sometimes travel abroad (for several weeks at a time) and I don't want to keep changing diet - I'm not confident of getting raw easily abroad. So as a dry food that we can take with us, this looks quite good.

 

[excuseme]

Hmm, convenient dry kibble food. It is very convenient and there are some very good products available.

Orijen is one of the best along with Acana, ZiwiPeak and our own home grown Millies Wolfheart.

Because of the fantastic quality of these feeds a lot less is needed to be fed therefore this brings down the feeding cost.

I understand that you are adding meat to the Akitas diet, if this is what keeps your boyfriend happy then any meat is better than none!

Try to get your "boyfriend" on to a good quality grain free (this includes RICE) and of course the first ingredient on any list should be meat.

As you know I am a raw feeder.

However;

I do keep a bag of kibble for "convenience", I like and so do the dogs "Millies Wolfheart". (online price includes delivery)

 

[Cash_Dolly]

Thanks Guys

As it so happens I have been adding meat (my whippets eat a lot of RAW though not 100% on it) to the akita's food. She isn't keen on most of it but will have some tripe and sardines. I have also been introducing Acana and are going to stick with this (and keep encouraging the meat)

We took her (the akita) to a local daycare place a couple of times for extra socialisation and they sell Acana there. Due to its good rep etc and the fact we can buy it local I think that is what we will stick to (plus meat)

Hope that makes sense! The beta was just horrendous. The ingredients list is worrying. As I say my little whipplets get mainly raw (plus scrambled egg, tinned sardines and a small amount of kibble at some meals) and the kibble I was using was wainwrights (still not wonderful but better than beta and tbh they done well on it) but we are going to put the akita on Acana and keep upping the meat and introduce the Acana to the whippets in place of the wainwrights!

 

[excuseme]

Acana: Fantastic!!