"budget" Dry Dog Food.

[APBT]

ive just got home with a bag of bonnie working dog, it is ok to feed the workign dog instead of the puppy? she is aprox 6 months

[Aphra]

ive just got home with a bag of bonnie working dog, it is ok to feed the workign dog instead of the puppy? she is aprox 6 months

I fed my dogs the Bonnie working dog for a long time and they did well on it, but the formula seemed to change and it wasn't as good. At six months of age I wouldn't worry about feeding her the working dog; many large breed dogs are better off with the adult formulas even as small puppies.

Currently I'm feeding my dogs the Ecopet dry food which; $34 for 10 kilos, so probably more at the expensive end. I've also fed the Supercoat working dog, which is a decent food, but seems increasingly difficult to find at feed stores.

[arawnhaus]

i was under the impression it was more the olive oil, fish oil that was good for them, the oil used in tuna and sardiens is usally vegatable oil,

If you're feeding tuna, sardines etc they'll get Omega 3s from the fish. Vegetable oil is a good source of energy and fat which many dogs require more of during colder weather to maintain body weight.

And Woofbix is as good as any other of the cheaper dry foods, better than most in fact. Also good are the You'll Love Coles Dry Food (Chicken and Rice for preference) and the Woolworths Select Dry Food.

But I'm another sworn Great Barko/Uncle Albers devotee. Dogs do great on it (some of them TOO great) and very rarely do they turn their noses up. Coats are shiny and no great difference in stool production that I'm aware of.

Me too. I find one of mine gets a bit heavy on it so I change now and again to Bonnie working.Mine are also rmb's fed with other stuff.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Delkerabo

[arawnhaus]

ive just got home with a bag of bonnie working dog, it is ok to feed the workign dog instead of the puppy? she is aprox 6 months

I fed my dogs the Bonnie working dog for a long time and they did well on it, but the formula seemed to change and it wasn't as good. At six months of age I wouldn't worry about feeding her the working dog; many large breed dogs are better off with the adult formulas even as small puppies.

Currently I'm feeding my dogs the Ecopet dry food which; $34 for 10 kilos, so probably more at the expensive end. I've also fed the Supercoat working dog, which is a decent food, but seems increasingly difficult to find at feed stores.

I only found out the other day,they made a dry.Must try it some day.

[juice]

i feed 2 of mine supercoat adult, and 2 supercoat special care.

my dally has had stones, so needs a low purine diet, which is no red meat, my wei gets skin allergy's. they both do really well on special care, only problem is they have just stopped making it

i am amazed at the amount of food that says "rice and chicken" on the front, then you look at the ingredients, and it has meat by products including beef in them.

i am going to try optimum,its the only one at a reasonable price with no red meat. :rolleyes:

[tamnchad]

I am feeding my Maltese Purina Supercoat and she seems ok on it.

We have fed her lucky dog and did feed the springer this but they had real sloppy output

I used to use the supermarket "homebrand" varieties but was told that they probably werent good enough.

And I have stopped using wet food but since reading some threads on here i think i should go back to a wet/dry combo.

Our staffy cannot have Pal as it gives her bad gas odours!!

I am trying her on Nature's Gift wet food and will try the maltese on it too.

Coles have had 8kg Supercoat for $20 the last week (but it ends tonight).... savings of around $4 a bag!!

[Sheridan]

cheers, ive got there sardines before, il try the tuna next time

why spring water? The oils are really good for them. As long as there's not a lot of processed fats in their diet, I drain most of the oil, but leave a little when I feed sardines or tuna.

It's not natural oil, it's vegetable oil.

[RuralPug]

cheers, ive got there sardines before, il try the tuna next time

why spring water? The oils are really good for them. As long as there's not a lot of processed fats in their diet, I drain most of the oil, but leave a little when I feed sardines or tuna.

i was under the impression it was more the olive oil, fish oil that was good for them, the oil used in tuna and sardiens is usally vegatable oil,

(Sigh). The oil is actually very good for them. (In moderation, of course.) Sardines in oil are usually in soy oil - this produces a shock reaction from people who haven't actually read the studies done on feeding soy to dogs. They have read the media blurbs on the study and passionately believe that soy products are poisionous to dogs. In fact those studies were done on dogs owned by vegans and the ONLY protein these dogs were fed was sourced from soy products. Although none of them outright died from it, it is certainly true that the study found that their general health, especially skin and coat, was not as good as dogs fed on animal proteins. (Not surprising, eh? ).

Nevertheless, some people will remain determined (to the death!! ) that sardines in soy oil are poision to dogs. Pity, IMO the very best diets are those that regularly include protein from varied sources (red meat, white meat, fish AND vegetable proteins).

If you are frightened of soy oil, rather than purchasing sardines in spring water I would recommend more bang for your buck by buying mackerel canned in oil (it is mackerel oil, don't panic!! ). Woolworths/Safeway goes a very economical generic in this.

And (apologies APBT) olive oil is a vegetable oil too!! We know what you meant though!!

Unbranded "vegetable oil" is often a mix of sunflower, canola and peanut oils...

And ummmmm, Sheridan, you have me confused - if vegetable oils are not natural, then what is a natural oil??? The only oil I can think of that occurs naturally without any processing is the petroleum type stuff which does gush straight out of the ground...I doubt that that would make a good diet addititive though!

[ellz]

I am feeding my Maltese Purina Supercoat and she seems ok on it.

We have fed her lucky dog and did feed the springer this but they had real sloppy output

I used to use the supermarket "homebrand" varieties but was told that they probably werent good enough.

And I have stopped using wet food but since reading some threads on here i think i should go back to a wet/dry combo.

Our staffy cannot have Pal as it gives her bad gas odours!!

I am trying her on Nature's Gift wet food and will try the maltese on it too.

Coles have had 8kg Supercoat for $20 the last week (but it ends tonight).... savings of around $4 a bag!!

Why bother with wet food at all? Canned food is really essentially "junk food" for dogs. As a long-term dietary addition it truly has little nutritional value. And it is expensive. But if you're ok with paying for tinned water, then that's your choice.

As for the choice of dry food......You'll Love Coles dry food and Woolworths Select are, in my opinion anyway, FAR superior to Supercoat for many reasons.

Supercoat is NOT the food it once was and I used to be a diehard Supercoat feeder, come hell or high water. Something in the formulation has changed in the past few years and it is nowhere near the quality any more. And for the price, there are much better out there.

[kazrat]

Hear hear to that Ellz, we have been using Supercoat for a long time, and there is no denying it has changed. We are currently tossing up whether to change to a more 'premium' choice but the price is very off putting.We have big dogs, and it would get too expensive to feed them all on something that costs that much,but to hear that the no-name brands are just as good.....really? We have been giving one of our boys,who is a bit of an itchy guy, some of the Advance products we have won but reckon there is not much difference in output than normal, and we are happy with their output on Supercoat!

[Guest RosieFT]

Very interesting thread! Thanks for the input everyone!

My fox terrier started off on advance and cooked food (as per breeders instruction), but that has morphed into Royal Canin and raw chicken wings/necks and occasionally, fish. She also loves to lick clean the finished yoghurt containers... :-) I assumed it was best to feed her 'the best' whilst she was maturing but once she matured (she is now 14months) I was going to look into switching her to something a bit cheaper but felt so guilty. This thread has given me food for thought, so thanks.

Wish we got Great Barko over here in the West!

[MarieC]

The Coles Complete Balance dog food is apparently Coprice.

Interesting. Has this been confirmed?

I normally buy Optima but might give the Coles food a try if people think its good.

thanks

[Sheridan]

And ummmmm, Sheridan, you have me confused - if vegetable oils are not natural, then what is a natural oil??? The only oil I can think of that occurs naturally without any processing is the petroleum type stuff which does gush straight out of the ground...I doubt that that would make a good diet addititive though!

The sardines are not in a natural fish oil.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Sheridan

[Oscar (AmBull)]

We are currently feeding RC Maxi puppy. Oscar has it one meal a day. We were of the belief that we should feed him the absolute best while he was a puppy for growth. I am very keen to try Great Barko, I am worried however that this may affect his growth. Has anyone fed Great Barko to a pup? The price difference is amazing, however we are happy to spend the money if the RC is actually what is best for him. Just looking for experiences from people with puppies on Great Barko or people who have swapped from RC to Great Barko. I have thouroughly enjoyed this thread, and must admit once I started reading about an hour ago, I hadn't stopped until now, reading every post . Very enjoyable!!!!