juice Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 My dally is 10, and i have been feeding Optimum or years, he had a stone blockage years ago ,so needs a low purin diet. I stupidly thought senior dog food was "lite" and as he is very fit, still runs for a few hours a day to catch bunnies, i didn't think he needed it, but after being given a bag of senior Pro plan this week and reading the ingredients, i realise what i was feeding is not great :p So atm i feel my head is exploding after looking at all the premium foods. So far barf looks great, but as its raw it doesn't contain all the additives in the senior mix foods he needs? My shortlist so far is, Barf, Nutro ,Proplan and Advance. He weighs 35kg, but i also have 2 others, who don't need senior food ( 5 and 3), but would like to get a good quality food for them all, senoir one for my dally, however i am not made of money too! HELP!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Both my greys are seniors, 8 and 10, and I don't feed them senior food. They get mostly raw with a little bit of Canidae grain free, and a few supplements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 You can add joint foods like glucosamine, fish oil & E, etc, to BARF/raw diet if you want. However, a BARF diet isn't going to be low purine, unless you make it up of low purine ingredients. I'm not sure that the kibbles you've listed are low purine either? We're told to feed purine-restricted, alkalinising, no-added-sodium food to Dallies that are purine stone formers. Hopefully some Dally owners can join the thread & suggest good foods that fit those guidelines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I had a Border Collie many years ago that had gout with very high uric acid levels and crystals forming in her joints. I know this is only supposed to happen in Dallies but my girl definitely had a uric acid problem. The only way I could work out a diet avoiding purines was to feed her canned salmon or tuna, vegetables, dairy and home made dog biscuits without any meat in them. She lived on that combination for a whole year and never looked better. How coat was amazing and the uric acid problem settled down. We monitored her levels with blood tests every few weeks and eventually weaned her off the diet as the uric acid levels returned to normal. From memory we had to avoid meat (especially organ meat), chicken, stock cubes or any concentrated stock and sardines. Most fish cat food contains sardines so that was ruled out and we resorted to pure canned salmon or tuna for humans. Milk, cheese and yoghurt all helped to add some variety and keep calcium levels up and the veges provided vitamins and fibre. The homemade dog biscuits, to give her something to chew on, were multi grain and flavoured with malt or molasses . At the time every dry dog food contained meat or chicken but these days, one of the newer fish varieties might be alright if they don't contain sardines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny_beagle Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) this article deals with diet to reduce urinary precipitates in dalmatians, feeding time was relevant une article eta - AAFCO does not specify any different nutrient profile for senior dogs, the products will have the same nutrient profiles as for adult dogs, though possibly lower fat as seniors tend to be less active and spend more time sleeping, but generally seniors require less energy and high quality protein. There is evidence that vitamin E supplements as antioxidants can benefit seniors. Edited April 23, 2011 by bonny_beagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 I have read the article, thanks. I do feed him around 5 ish anyway. I have been studying the ingredients in Proplan and Nutro, these 2 seem to be about right. Just feel like my head is exploding with all the different food reviews, on what is a good ingredient and what isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny_beagle Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I went to a lecture with the woman who did the dalmatian study. She didn't stress the importance of any particular ingredient, she seemed proud that the chum chrunchy got such good results as it's cheap so accessable to all dog owners. She basically said for dry kibble get one that is AFFCO certified, that you pay for what you get. You can also check crude protein against total protein to check if there is any non-protein nitrogen added. It also depends on what they like so maybe narrow down to a couple and let the dogs decide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Perhaps i should look at Chum crunchy, havn't heard of it. I have a list of high/meduim and low purine foods, so thats what i am going on, however, i am also looking at getting a better quality kibble for my other 2 aswell, they have no requirements, so doesn't have to be the same brand as my dally. I am reading that corn is bad, as its a filler, beet pulp is bad, by products are bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horus Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Does he weigh 35 kg or is that a typo? I haven't used Chum Crunchy yet, but will try it after reading the article on Dal nutrition, the only concern I have is that it may have food colouring in it (I think that is what someone said, recently). I feed my lot Woolworths Select Chicken and Rice along with meaty bones and veges and haven't had any problems. I have a 13 year old, 5 year old and a younger female (age unknown) and they all get fed the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 No, he is 35kgs! he's American bred, much bigger :D Just read the ingredients for Chum crunchy, and its all the stuff i read to be rubbish in it? So interesting. i have been feeding Optimum for a few years ( the chicken and rice one), with a wing for brekky and a couple of necks with kibble at night with no problems, its just after being given a bag of Proplan and reading the ingredients it guilted me into thinking i wasn't feedin a very good diet. optimum isn't that much cheaper anymore, i pay $86 for 15kg i think, proplan is $106. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny_beagle Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 (edited) sorry I didn't mean to suggest chem crunchy was a good quality food, just that it had the right % protein food dally's to prevent urinary precipitates. advance is a good quality food, AAFCO certified complete and made in australia, you dont have to add a thing to their diet. í've just had a quick look and can see you're problem, all the good quality ones have much higher protein levels then 15%, probably because dogs dog well on them eta - nutro natural choice lite is 17% protein, natural balance reduced calorie has 18% protein Edited April 24, 2011 by bonny_beagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 (edited) i know, its a conundrum, do i feed a better quality food ,now he is getting older, and risk the purine level being too high, or stick with the cheaper product that is lower. I have just been researching ingredients, and reviews, and "Artemis " looks really good, both the adult ones. The more i look at the Proplan reviews the worse it seems to get rated, with cheap fillers. Advance looks about second to that. Edited April 24, 2011 by juice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny_beagle Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 i've never seen that brand in this area, the weight management variety has 20% protein which is pretty good, lower than most of the other premium brands, the website says they send out samples as well, only thing missing is the website doesn't mention AAFCO certification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 I believe you can get it delivered, i think one of the banner ads on here does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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