KitKat

Augustus...if you are interested keep an eye out for both Royal Canin (perhaps easier to find) and Eagle Pack...both have a giant breed range Most of the others i think only do the small, medium and or large breed ranges...but the RC and EP have a range for the giant breeds as well ;)

Aahhh that we have discussed before but just to go over it again briefly... I tried Barf on my GSD pup for a while, went from kibble and barf to just barf...Bronx started losing condition (fur went dry etc), his nose went all dry and crusty, and i was having to feed HUGE amounts of barf to keep any weight on him. Did everything by the book, even bought it ready made...nothing worked... So I went back to kibble with barf on the side and his condition picked up nicely and fairly quickly, his nose went back to being healthy and he put on weight...i still have to work to keep the weight on him (I wish i had that problem!) but it's not as dramatic on the kibble with barf on the side. Gone Grey - Nice Post

Pricless Pets is just a supplier of the product. They stock it as they (vet clinic) consider it one of the better and value for money products on the market. And i also guess they are supporting Aussie owned and made etc when it comes down to it. Just syaing that it's not a "priclesspets product' they are just advocating it and stock it for those this side of the country interested in it. As to "hugely inferior product"...you consider ALL bar three kibble available in Aus in the same vein so... "The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on! Packaged or unpackaged!"

I know i meant to add one! I've had the Natural Balance advocated by a couple of people now...seems pretty good stuff

My dog is fed Royal Canin (just finishing Maxi Adult before going to the GSD specific RC) My pup will also be fed RC :p So far my older dog does very nicely on it and hopefully my pup will be the same. If not i'll try other foods till i find one that suits him. In general easy availability it kinda goes like this - Super Premium - ProPlan, Advance, EaglePack, Royal Canin, Hills Science Diet, Nutrience, Nutro, Innova, Eukaneuba (sp). Premium - Iams Very good food - SuperCoat, Bonnie, Optimum, Purina One. Ok food - Pal Meaty Bites, Chum, Lucky Dog. I'm sure there's more for each group but that's all i could think of off the top of my head. There has been a bundle of threads on this topic...many have gotten quite heated but they are all very very interesting ;) Also there is BARF/RAW if you decide kibble isn't for you and there is heaps of threads on that as well "The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on! Packaged or unpackaged!" ;)

Many human medications can be used on dogs and cats...but the vets should be able to tell you what is suitable and what isn't. Know another vet to call perhaps? one that isn't quite so 'unconcerned'? Mind you...warm salty water would probably do the trick for the dog anyway...

Kinda looks like a localised demodex thing to me...best bet it to take her to the vet and get a scraping done and go from there. Demodex mange is something that can appear at 'puberty' which your girl is hitting as the hormones leap about which can stress her immune system a little...causing the demodex to get overexcited and cause the spots etc. Demodex is something that naturally occurs on the dog (and us!) but can get out of control when the immune system is stressed etc. It's not as bad as it looks, lol and the vet should be able to give you a few options, whether it's demodex or something else (If you do a search on demodex in this forum you'll get a number of threads...so you'll see it's not that uncommon :D )

My older dog spent most of his life on Chum kibble and Pal meaty bites kibble...he always looked stunning, soft glossy coat, nice white teeth, well built, no farts, poo was no bigger then on Supercoat or Iams for that matter, clear bright eyes, nice enough breath...blah blah blah. Mind you my dogs aren't fed those types anymore, nor will with. But...some dogs can thrive on it... "The best food for your dog is the food it does best on" :D But i must admit i'd think it would be easier to feed both on Barf if one dog is already getting Barf?

Great stuff :D Another one that is nice is the Plushpuppy seabreeze oil...if you water it down and shake it up then spray...it's very very nice

Not sure if anyone else has said this...but check out with your petstore if they do a frequent buyer card...if you keep buying the big bag you get i think the 7th bag free...either that or the 11th..lol, either way it's a saving.

In regards to the whole cruelty/poisoning the dog...it is how you often come across...i mean telling people that feeding kibble other then what you recommend is along the line of a person eating maccas for each meal?...and then saying that unless you feed those foods you recommend a person will take their dogs to the vet more due to them being sick more often? that's not insinuating anything?? please! And in regards to being rude...well just an example...insinuating that a persons workplace, or choice of dog food will lead people to require a disclaimer? etc? i mean really...and not just in this thread but others...and not just on the same topic either. Hell...i work for a dog food company occasionally...but i recommend barf and a number of other dog foods...how does that lead me to be biased enough to require a disclaimer? ;) I just say...don't be the pot calling the kettle black... And just for those that missed it "The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on...packaged or unpackaged"

perhaps see if any breeders around your way could give you a hand...if you were up here i could get it cheaper for you if your bought the big bags at least. But if a breeder down your way was linked with RC, and had a breeder number eg RC184957393-2 (that's a fake one obviously..lol) then you'd be able to get breeder prices...which while perhaps not a huuuuge discount, it's better then nothing..lol

Hey LP, glad to hear you've found something that Kaeleigh can eat and do well on

In regards to horse meat being used...well...i know a few people who due to where they live have access to horse meat/bones which they give to their dogs, i believe hooves were a fav. But anyway...i'd be wary of food that say "Meat/meat by products" as their description of the meat content. But most don't (i think only the el cheapo do due to labeling requirements or some such)...most of what we/i consider super premium are chicken based, with others being beef based, turkey based, lamb based or salmon based. In France horse i believe is considered one of the other red meats, but it's still not used in their Royal Canin, unless it comes under the animal fats perhaps? poultry and beef are listed, but that's only because i read if off a bag i got last time it was on special and have stashed away. We are slowly getting more and more foods available here as they make the trip across the water. But the pet food industry is still growing here, for all that it has basically exploded in the last few years. I don't think we'll ever have as big a range of pet stuff as the US has but that's to be expected. But i consider the range we have to be damn good and if we get better foods becoming readily available...then people will have more to choose from in regards to finding what their dogs do best on I've personally never known Supercoat to be considered a 'premium' dog food, it's always been a 'good' food. And as to Iams...i've always considered it as a 'premium' with Euk as the super premium version of it. But perhaps my memory isn't going back far enough..thinking roughly 10 years. I know several dogs fed exclusively on Nutrience...and they look stunning, they've not had a problem at all...and i believe it's all organic ingredients. Hell...i don't even eat organic foods. My older dog grew up on Pal meaty bites and chum kibble...he always looked stunning, lovely soft shiney coat, healthy teeth, no stinky breath, no visits to the vets except for vaccinations and complications in old age. And if you want to tell me his lesions on the brain and extreme anxiety/panic attacks at 9 1/2 yrs old were due to what he was fed then...go ahead. He did get hotspots but they were due to occasional flea bites or when he scratched himself etc escaping, digging etc etc. I upgraded him to a higher level kibble and it didn't make any difference at all so i put him onto Supercoat on which he did nicely on until his last days. Like i said and will continue saying...the best food for your dog is what they do best on...no matter the packaging or lack of it. As to availablility...Eagle Pack isn't overly available, it isn't readily stocked in QLD and i only know three places that have it on the shelf...in general i believe it has to be ordered in. Mind you...i don't know every pet store, produce store, supplier in QLD either And before you leap to the conclusion...i don't support horses being culled and made into dog food. But i can't agree with your comment of "it's not really suited to the canine's needs" That's like saying beef or roo isn't "really suited to the canine's needs" ? Or have i misunderstood what you meant?

I've not actually seen Nutro in Brissie yet...is it a matter of ordering it in? or is it an 'on the shelf' item? (bigger petstores etc i'm assuming)

Why should the company that employs me for a handful of hours each month have anything to do with my opinion? especially since i son't go around saying "Only feed this as the rest is crap" which is something along the lines of what you post. I am employed by one company...yet i advocate at least 8 other foods including Barf? Why should that require me to have a disclaimer for each of my posts? I stand by the comment of "The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on" I don't care which type of food a person uses...as long as it's the best for the said dog. But at least i don't go around saying this is crap you should only use this instead. The foods i recommend (all what..eight or nine of them?) are in general all readily available. Gee shold i also list where i work full time and do obedience training as well? just in case it should influence my posts? I agree, which is one of the reasons why i support what is recognised in Aus as super premium kibbles or barf/raw. I have fed my dogs supercoat in the past and the difference between the output from that and my current dogs output now is very noticible...doing the poo patrol is much less of a chore, not to mention over and done with quicker. Which is why i stand by the comment "The best food you can feed your dog is what your dog does best on" Be that Barf, kibble or cardboard

Most labs will happily eat until they exploded but yeah...cut back to food to start with, the tripe is a good additive for the reasons as given

Thought i'd better reply to the thread in general In regards to kibble, i've heard good things about Nutro but i haven't seen it up my way so can't say much other then to say i've heard it's really good. Others i'd suggest are Royal Canin, Eagle Pack, ProPlan, Advance (oops forgot to add that to my previous post, i knew i forgot one!), Euk, Nutrience and Hills. If you can get the WA made Natural Balance it's well worth looking at as well. Get samples etc see which ones your dog takes to and go from there, depending on what you are using you will soon see a difference. If you think the dog can look 'better' after a few weeks then try a different brand until you find the one your dog does best on. Different dogs can take to different foods differently...lol, some might look stunning on Kates Kibble where as others will do better on Dougs Dry for example *Brand names changed to protect the innocent

Aaahh i do do a little bit of work for one of the brands. But even when working i will offer to help with all or any of the foods available. But i will refer people to Eagle Pack, Royal Canin, Euk, Proplan, Nutrience and to be fair i add Hills Science Diet to the list. (I personally don't like Hills, not sure why, but i know many dogs that do great on it so ) Along with this i will add BARF to the mix but i tell them to google that one and check it out. Most places i promo at don't sell/have BARF info. But my general spiel being "Hi, can i be of help? I promise not to just push my brand, i can help with any of those we have here" And i must be doing something right as i have had two other dog food companies ask me to work for them along with another dog product company asking as well. Not that it has anything to do with this thread as i haven't pushed any particular kibble...and all i've done is just at your 'use this else your feeding your dog crap' approach "The best food for your dog is what your dog does best on" ;)

;) ;) OR the best food in general is the food your dog does best on...be that packaged, unpackaged, raw or dry I'd happily go back to BARF...if my dog did well on it, but since he doesn't we have kibble with raw on the side instead

Talon...this info comes up every so often, Iams was pulled up on their animal testing and it was made public a long while ago. They have since revised their practises and 'behave' as such with regards to their testing etc.

In regards to what age to swap....i think a lot depends on the size/breed of dog...eg maturaity/growth rates. I swapped Bronx (GSD) over at about 13-14 months old.

How long has it been going on for? I'd recommend going to visit your vet...the rubbing her face could be anything from her enjoying it to an eye lash growing the wrong way or something else in her eye/jaw/nose/ear/etc.

I know how you feel...i was able to collect my Harm yesterday and i feel 'more comfortable' now that i have him back with me. No one can say how you are feeling/doing is 'wrong', 'silly' or any such thing...each person is different and each person grieves differently..do what you feel you need to do. If carrying her with you makes your soul feel easier then do it. My thoughts are with you, and know your darling girl is still with you and will stay in your heart forever. Pets in Peace also looked after my sweet boy.