bacismumma Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Hi all, Just need some advice from other K9 owners. I have a 5 year old Lab and a 13 week old Lab. My 5 year old i have only recently adopted and before i had her she was used for breeding purposes and fed a diet of rice and cheap & nasty dry dog food. She was never exercised. Now i have her we are on her way to being healthy We have her walking a minimum of an hour a day 7 days a week Under vet instructions she is on 3 cups of dry food only per day,his advice was basically feed her the best i can afford.I do not know what this is though. I started her on supercoat,changed to her beneful(heard the bad stories)then switched her back to supercoat only to hear this is full of peanut husks. My pup is on supercoat puppy but the main ingredient for the pup formula is the meat so she is ok for now. After this brief history my question is.......what brand of dry food do you all recommend? Yes i know about Eukanuba and Royal Canin but they are a little pricy for me. Can i use these with a mix of something else?What do you suggest? Granted i have not tried the eukanuba or the royal canin to see how much it would actually cost me per day to feed them,but just wanted other opinions thanks to all who reply in advance for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akitaowner Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 i would highly recommend you spend a little time finding a butcher/chicken shop that will sell you the carcasses - they are great for all dogs providing they chew them! i feed mine a little premium kibble with some tinned fish for brekkie and a couple of carcasses for dinner. Its a very cheap diet! check out the BARF thread in this section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akitaowner Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 also to add you will find if your older dog isnt in such great condition it will greatly improve coat and immune system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katdogs Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Our Stevie has only ever been on Royal Canin, large breed puppy food then we introduced Lab/Retriever when she was about 15 months. She's just over 18 months now. Everyone comments on her beautiful shiny coat and healthy weight. I'd love to do the raw food thing because it sounds so much healthier and cheaper, but I'm a bit worried I wouldn't get the balance/ratios right and would rather spend my time walking with the dogs than in the kitchen (though they do get carrot, apple, eggs, sardines now, just for fun). According to the RC/Iams/Eukanuba advertising, because you don't need as much it works out about the same as buying the cheaper foods, but I haven't done the maths to work this out for myself. One thing's for sure, with a lab you don't have any worries that they won't eat what's put in front of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMonaro Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I feel my older labs on Bonnie. Its around the same price as Supercoat. I was feeding them the lite version, but have switched to Adult. The teenager gets Supercoat Junior and a white meat mix, which includes veges, fish, etc with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niki schaef Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 my lab gets bonnie lite. she also gets some form of bone to munch on nearly every day, similar to Akitaowner. we've had a lot of weight trouble with her, so she only gets about a cup of food a day, sometimes mixed with veg, of fish etc, but not always. we've also tried the more expensive brands but PERSONALLY have not found much difference in maddies condition. i think if you read enough then you will always find something bad and good about all foods. i say if you find something that works, is in your price range and you are happy with the product then stick with it! just my opinion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycow Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 My lab is on Nutrience kibble and doing very well on it, but after the US food scare I've decided to slowly switch her to home cook fresh diet. Nutrience cost slightly less than other Super Premium dog foods and is not affected by the US recalls at all be it wet or dry, but as it is imported from US, a place I don't trust anymore, it's safer if I know what goes into my dog's stomach. I'm changing my older Maltese into fresh as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caff Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 hey guys I am a newcomer to this site and a first time Lab owner of Asha 10 months, and I wonder if you can fill me in on the 'US health scare' and tell me if you think that feeding Asha on Supercoat Puppy as well as bits of cheaper foods and fresh stuff is OK. I've just had a quick flick through some of your messages and I'm a bit worried Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niki schaef Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 hey guys I am a newcomer to this site and a first time Lab owner of Asha 10 months, and I wonder if you can fill me in on the 'US health scare' and tell me if you think that feeding Asha on Supercoat Puppy as well as bits of cheaper foods and fresh stuff is OK.I've just had a quick flick through some of your messages and I'm a bit worried Thanks welcome as far as i know there was plastic 'i think' found in some dogs foods in America. if you search 'recall' or something similar on this forum lots of info can be found. i think supercoat is fine and wasn't affected as its made in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvmylabs Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Hi all,Just need some advice from other K9 owners. I have a 5 year old Lab and a 13 week old Lab. My 5 year old i have only recently adopted and before i had her she was used for breeding purposes and fed a diet of rice and cheap & nasty dry dog food. She was never exercised. Now i have her we are on her way to being healthy We have her walking a minimum of an hour a day 7 days a week Under vet instructions she is on 3 cups of dry food only per day,his advice was basically feed her the best i can afford.I do not know what this is though. I started her on supercoat,changed to her beneful(heard the bad stories)then switched her back to supercoat only to hear this is full of peanut husks. My pup is on supercoat puppy but the main ingredient for the pup formula is the meat so she is ok for now. After this brief history my question is.......what brand of dry food do you all recommend? Yes i know about Eukanuba and Royal Canin but they are a little pricy for me. Can i use these with a mix of something else?What do you suggest? Granted i have not tried the eukanuba or the royal canin to see how much it would actually cost me per day to feed them,but just wanted other opinions thanks to all who reply in advance for your help I wouldn't recommend Supercoat, have fed it to my older dogs and had problems with coat and lack of energy. My older dogs now get Pedigree Performance (same price bracket as Bonnie) and are back in excellent condition and full of energy. My show dogs are fed Optimum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny123 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I feed my two lab x pups on Nutro Large Beeed Puppy kibble (about $98 for a 15 kilo bag) and also supplement their diet with sardines, raw eggs, tuna in oil, turkey necks, lamb necks, pets chicken mince, chicken frames and brisket bones, reducing the recommended amount of kibble depending on what else I feed on any given day. They're 8 months old and look fantastic, have heaps of puppy energy and their coats are so shiny I could use them as mirrors to apply my lipstick. While some Nutro wet food (which is unavailable in Australia) was affected by the recall in the US, Nutro dry food (kibble) is unaffected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycow Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 hey guys I am a newcomer to this site and a first time Lab owner of Asha 10 months, and I wonder if you can fill me in on the 'US health scare' and tell me if you think that feeding Asha on Supercoat Puppy as well as bits of cheaper foods and fresh stuff is OK.I've just had a quick flick through some of your messages and I'm a bit worried Thanks Just do a quick google. There are lots of information there. Here's some. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01590.html http://www.menufoods.com/recall/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I got some excellent ideas about dog food on a budget here: http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?...c=95984&hl= Many superpremium dry foods are imported which must contribute to higher prices. Nutro, Royal Canin, Nutrience, Eagle Pack, Eukanuba, Hills Science etc. are in the $80-110 per 15 kg bag price range. They'll usually refund if your dog doesn't like it. My dogs are doing well with raw foods (chicken necks/ wings/ backs, pet mince, raw meaty bones) and kibble mix about 50:50. I think fresh foods have much more benefit to dogs. Fresh, human grade chicken wings are only about $2.50/ kilo in supermarkets. For dry food, I've started pup on Coprice Puppy (Australian made) but it's first ingredient is rice, which means I give fresh meats in addition. So far, so good. They have an adult version, also. Supercoat didn't agree with pup, but was good for my older dog. Purina have a promotion where you can try a 1.5kg (puppy) or 3kg (adult) bag of their dry food and they'll reimburse you if you do the "30 day challenge" (answer questions by email). A 3kg bag is about $13 in major supermarkets. Haven't tried it, yet. They also sell a 7kg size bag in adult, but only 1.5kg for puppy. When you find a food or mix of foods that agrees with your dog, stick to it. Might take a bit of trial and error, though. Good luck . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanne76 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 About 6 weeks ago I started feeding Lola ROyal Canin Labrador Retriever. WIthin about 2 weeks the change in her coat was amazing. SHe looks as shiny as silk and her body condition has also improved, she's dropped a bit of weight. I would highly recomend it. SInce it is expensive I feed Lola 2 cups of Biscuits with some raw chicken necks or wings. She looks great for it. Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katdogs Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 About 6 weeks ago I started feeding Lola ROyal Canin Labrador Retriever. WIthin about 2 weeks the change in her coat was amazing. SHe looks as shiny as silk and her body condition has also improved, she's dropped a bit of weight. Stevie lost about 3kg in the first few weeks of using the RC Lab stuff, we've been able to increase the volume she can eat, otherwise people were starting to comment on her being too skinny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 (edited) Jo, If you like the results with Royal Canin, you would be amazed at the results of you feed a super-premium food - In my opinion, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Science Diet are not in the same category as super premium foods - they are full of chemicals and additives and sometimes questionable ingredients. If you want a really good food for your doggies, try the Eagle Pack, Nutro, Nutrience or Natural Balance - all natural ingredients and better quality control. The vet's recommendation of "3 cups of food" is not necessarily the best, it depends on the food - with the super-premiums, for example, you will be feeding less because the nutrients are densely packed and there are way less fillers - so you will pay a bit more, but the bag will last longer. The fillers that are used in cheap brands can cause all sorts of skin and digestion problems. A good link for researching dry dogfood is here: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts Edited May 23, 2007 by Gomez the Norfolk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycow Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Natural balance as in Dick Van Patterns Natural Balance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Dick Van Patten, yes, as in "Eight is Enough"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellbyville Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I have labs, and I feed them Eukenuba. I have tried Bonnie, Supercoat, Advance and a few others as well as Science Diet, but have come back to Eukenuba. I am very happy with it. It is more expensive than Supercoat etc, but I find I don't have to feed them as much. I feed my dogs mainly raw meaty bones, raw mince, sardines in Vege oil, occasionally some veges and an egg twice a week. Then I add about 1 cup of Eukenuba to that for the adult labs. For the puppies I feed large breed puppy Eukenuba, and give them about 1 cup plus the raw foods fed twice a day (so they have approx. 2 cups of Eukenuba). I don't feed them as much as is recommended on the bag (up to 5 cups a day), because of all the other raw food, it doesn't cost me a fortune. My dogs are healthy, have shiny coats, clean teeth and breath, and heaps of energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katdogs Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 try the Eagle Pack, Nutro, Nutrience or Natural Balance Our local pet supply place doesn't have these products, and the guy I spoke to doesn't seem to have heard much about them. Where can I get them? Are they available over the internet for home delivery? Can I get smaller samples, rather than spending the big amount from the outset? I wouldn't mind giving them a try, but they just don't seem to be easy to get hold of near me. Couple of other questions: Are any of these products made in Australia? Is there a 'Lab' type version like RC, with the big chunks she has to slow down and chew? Stevie just vacuums up most food without chewing. Also, Urban Animal magazine has been doing an analysis of foods, I haven't had a chance to pick up the latest issue yet but it's available on the net - http://www.urbananimal.net/pdf/issue11/3feed.pdf I'm off to do some more research! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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