Dry Food Advice?

[chelynnah]

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It's hard to make a decision...at the minute I am looking into the Burns option, as we simply do not have enough freezer space at the minute.
In time (when we can get another freezer) I will have another look at the options.

Given that a complete BARF diet is not really an option at the minute, would Burns be the best choice? Or is there another option?

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I do a half and half diet. When I started this my girls were on Hills, but I wanted to change that anyway, so we researched. I wanted something with no corn, no wheat, no gluten, no extra nasties, and with good healthy stuff. We looked at Burns and James Wellbeloved. We settled for the JWB as it was the easiest to buy, but I think both are very good. We feed them that in the morning (with a little from Natures Menu pouch) and then raw meaty bones at night like chicken wings or carcasses, or other scrummy bits.

In the research that I did the only two brands I decided I liked were the JWB and the Burns.

You have to do what's best for you and the pup, so check out all your options before you decide (whether to stay with raw or to go with complete), but certainly if you go complete I'd recommend one of those two.

Wendy

 

[jezza]

Mixing up a BARF diet is not the problem...the problem is physically having the space at the minute for a freezer! We are due to move house (fingers crossed) in about 3 months time, then the space won't be an issue.
I am also hugely confused as to where you start with BARF, thats why I wanted to buy a pre-mixed variety, as I haven't done enough reading yet to ensure my puppy gets a balanced diet.

Given our circumstances I wanted to start my pup on a dry food, or tinned/biscuit mix...but I seem to have opened up a whole can of worms about BARF being best (which I can see is probably true).

This thread has been very informative, and I thank everyone for their input...but being a soon to be first time whippet parent, I have been left with even more questions than I started with...

It seems like Burns maybe the way to go for me now...it would be great to hear from other whippet puppy owners who are feeding dry complete mixes.

Thanks again for your comments/suggestions,

Matt

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If I were you I'd buy a good book about how to feed the correct quantities of each food type. Suggestions on books anyone???

I only found it expensive because I bought the stuff I got from pets @ home but I know a lot of people do it a lot cheaper by going to a butcher.

I also stopped feeding BARF as my dogs trainer told me I wasn't feeding it in the correct way (one thing I did wrong was I wasn't giving any raw bones), and it was affecting my dogs behaviour. I changed to Burns and nature diet and his problems, although they are not sorted, are a lot easier to handle

 

[hellybobs]

I've found when feeding barf that they don't to be having a balanced meal every time.

They get mushed/purreed fruit and veg with their meat at least once a day (I feed my girls 3 small meals a day, it suits them better this way).

They get chicken wings, green tripe, beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, organ meat (not all at once) and they love it.

Lets face it our meal are not all that balanced every meal time either and we don't suffer from it, so the dogs won't either.

 

[~elizabeth~]

It has a high protein content, and this can cause problems in some dogs, there is a tracker variety which is lower in protein and is advocated for use when the dog is resting from racing.

It was the 'tracker' that we tried (w00t) I guess by hyper I mean over excited and emotional, anticipating ordinary walks and runs as if they were race meetings with much wooing and whining, and taking a long time to come down from 'highs' after a run, compared with his normal mode of silent near-coma. I agree it's trial and error, it's the only way to find out. BTW the Burns working mix is VAT free, and is a good deal cheaper than the pet Burns. :thumbsup:

 

[~JO~]

Coat 'shinyness' isn't always a good indication of whether a food is good for them as so many of the completes are filled with loads of added oils and fats - their coats can look healthy but it isn't necessarily good for them

I use this as just one indicator, motions (poo) are normally a better indicator!! :x

By the way James Well Beloved is now owned by Pedigree Chum - so probably not quite the same as it used to be!

I would never choose to feed my dog a dried food that swells up inside its stomach. Just an awful thought - I would always go along the route of wet pouches as I said before Nature diet, Forthglade etc etc

 

[Whippets Rule]

Coat 'shinyness' isn't always a good indication of whether a food is good for them as so many of the completes are filled with loads of added oils and fats - their coats can look healthy but it isn't necessarily good for them    
I use this as just one indicator, motions (poo) are normally a better indicator!!  :x

By the way James Well Beloved is now owned by Pedigree Chum - so probably not quite the same as it used to be!

I would never choose to feed my dog a dried food that swells up inside its stomach.  Just an awful thought - I would always go along the route of wet pouches as I said before Nature diet, Forthglade etc etc

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The food doesn't swell up in their stomach if fed presoaked/even partially before feeding. James Wellbeloved still seems the same and ingredients haven't as yet changed under new ownership.

Also i feel that coat shinyness along with skin condition IS a good indicator and have to add that my dogs poo looks good and healthy (w00t) but the biggest thumbs up with JWB is the fact that since Bryn has been on it his colitis hasn't returned.

i tend to find what goes in sloppy tends to come out sloppier which is why we changed to dry food.