[Great Dane Potty]

Hi all,

As many have pointed out, the subject of good/bad kibbles (complete foods) is a hot topic, and just as confusing as it is hot!

No 2 people seem to agree, and advice from books, vets, breeders and proud owners seems to differ as well. Especially concerning protien/fat levels etc ...

I would like to see the results of a survey/vote by the actual consumers and their dogs. So what do you say? Would the non-BARFers please write a few lines and tell us what brand they have used? Please try to include the age of your dog, and at what age you changed to a different brand, and why ...

Personally, I'm using a product that is salmon based. It's only found in Denmark (i think) and the breeder uses it for her dog. The stuff stinks, but Jack eats it OK, although if he gets too many treats, he looses interest in his regular food, and not because he's getting full.

When we went to the vet, we got a free sample of Royal Canin Giant puppy, and although we won't go over to it - because of the very high protien - jack loves the stuff, so we use it as a training treat.

-Nick

That is a V Good idea... i got a sample of Royal Cannin Puppy and did change to it and it was fantastic.. you could not fault the condition of the puppy inside and out.

we were told to feed skinners ruff and ready with tinned 5* tripe breeder pack one i think, i did not want to feed a puppy this way he stunk and had sloopy poo and his coat was terrible... after 3 week of royal cannin he was a different dog, and he went mad foir it..

[Julie&Ella]

Hi,

Ella eats Pedigree complete, which is pricy and I'm sure not the best but have stuck to it because it's stocked everywhere. Also we were advised to put her onto the adult version at around 4 mths cause it was the lowest protein. She won't eat it unless a little (<200g) fresh or tinned meat added though. I'm keen to see the response to this survey as she's recently started scratching with no obvious reason so I'm thinking it might be the pedigree??

[Hazel]

I too feed raw but in the past have fed Wafcol, Professional Choice Chicken and Rice and Kennel Maintenance, Nutro Lamb and Rice, Skinners Ruff N Ready/Field N Trial (both with very good results) and latterly Chudleys Working Crunch. There have probably been one or two others but I can't remember what they are - we have had Danes a fair old while.

I have seemingly switched foods a lot because what suits one does not necessarily suit another. Having said that, the results on raw for Harvey and Teko have been better than any kibble and I won't be reverting under any circumstances .

Hazel

[sharon]

Adult food wise I feed Burgess Supadog Sensitive. That has no artificial preservatives and is gluten egg wheat beef and poultry free. Fed my last two Danes on it and am now introducing it to my pup. I am also adding raw mince to his food and will continue to do so or if not add some tinned food as I did for Darwin.

Sharon

[Mand]

Shads has RC giant adult and veg scraps...I also gave her Butchers tripe for a while and she seemed to gain weight but became very itchy, could been a coincidense but since I stopped the tripe she isn't itchy now...once our building work is finished I hope to start giving her some raw meat content

[Sue & Paul]

We now feed Molly on Burns, the Fish & Brown Rice variety. She loves it and her health has improved considerably since the change.

We are very happy with the food. You can order it on the internet and it is delivered to your door in about 2 days.

[jilldane]

hi all,
buddy is on supadog working and tripe at the moment but i am swapping him to skinners ruff and ready once i have finished my last bag of supadog, this is only because the new pup is fed on skinners ruff and ready so it will be easier to have them on the same.

tess eats anything so she is on adsa`s hero plus veg for her waist line
jill

[sully]

At the moment my danes eat Pets at Home own brand for senior dogs, my danes aren't senior but we use it because the protein level is 21% and thats quite good for danes.
It also contains no Gluten or Wheat, and our dogs like it and it doesnt give them the runs.
Its about 25 pounds for a 15kg bag.

Otherwise you could try Burns food (Burns website ) Burns is very good for skin problems, they deliver to your door

or Jameswelbeloved completes are ok

i thought ruff and ready looked like rabbit food.


Paul

[Great Dane Potty]

At the moment my danes eat Pets at Home own brand for senior dogs,  my danes aren't senior but we use it because the protein level is 21% and thats quite good for danes.
It also contains no Gluten or Wheat, and our dogs like it and it doesnt give them the runs.
Its about 25 pounds for a 15kg bag.

Otherwise you could try Burns food (Burns website ) Burns is very good for skin problems, they deliver to your door

or Jameswelbeloved completes are ok

i thought ruff and ready looked like rabbit food.


Paul

Hi paul,

I agree it does look like rabbit food.

But is exactly the same as the extruded stuff, except it's not extruded, the skinners rep told me that the same stuff goes into the extruded brands of skinners products, they have it this way coz some dogs like the variety and colours.... alothugh i think every dog leaves the corn flake things... they manage to route them out no probs...

[Hazel]

Our two which were on it used to eat the lot, but the meat pieces always went first. Should have taken the hint then, I suppose.

Hazel

[Arndane Awesum Duco]

At the moment nitro is on large breed eukanuba puppy, with beef mince he gets that morning and night, plus bones, chicken necks and lamb flaps as a treat through the day.

Stripe gets Supercoat adult, and the rest is the same as nitro. So the only differance with my boys is the kibble at the moment, But you all have to remember were in Australia.

[Mand]

Well done Nick, this is excellent and very interesting. I hope you don't mind but I have copied your post and made the links clickable (I hope
Mand X

Hi All,

Glad to see we're getting some responses now. Here are the results so far. I've included links to home pages were possible. We need more people to answer though. At the moment, there's a lot of variety, but not enough entries to judge frequency. Those marked (*changed) are from owners that have used a particular product in the past, but have changed, either for a different product, for health reasons or they've gone over to raw feeding. Browse the entries for reasons ...

Here goes:

Royal Canin Giant Pupppy 1
Royal Canin Giant Adult 1
Royal Caninwww.royalcanin.com

Pedigree Complete 1
Pedigree Chumwww.pedigree.com

Arden Grange 1 (* changed)
Arden Grangewww.ardengrange.com

Nutro Lamb and Rice 1 (*changed)
Nutro Chiocewww.nutroproducts.com

Skinners Ruff n Ready (* changed)
Skinners Petfoodwww.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk

Burgess Supadog 2
Burgesswww.burgesssupafeeds.co.uk

Burns 1
Burns Petfoodwww.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk

Pets At Home own-brand?? 1
unknown??

Eukanuba Puppy 1
Eukanubawww.eukanuba.com

SuperCoat Adult 1
Supercoatwww.supercoat.com.au

-Nick
PS: keep them coming so we can start putting % figures on it. And DO tell us your experience, runny poo, scratching etc ...

[Mand]

I'm a vegetarian Nick tend to like fresh rather than kibbled
Shads is already in there on the RC giant adult i think

[Maggi]

We fed our last two dane on James wellbeloved quite happily for years. We started Mika on it when she joined us.

Just before we got Mitch we heard that a dane rescue would be given a free sack of kibble for every 10 sacks of Royal Canin you bought. So we changed Mika on to it. After a short time we changed Mitch to RC puppy.

A chance meeting with a german shepherd breeder brought to our attention that Mitch had very red eyes and he recommended a food with lower protien. When we looked into this we started changing them both over to Burns. After speaking to one of their nutritionists we put Mitch on a mix of adult and (I think) extra.

I'm very happy on burns but couldn't easily change Mitch as I have to watch the salt content of his food as it can affect the elimination of his medication which means it wouldn't be doing what it is meant to.

I have been interested in the raw diets that some are using but at the moment I'm not brave enough to think of changing. If Mitch continues the way he is going, I would be tempted to try.

[elaine n mick]

Hi

We feed our 2 James Wellbeloved large kibble, they both seem fine on it.