I want to know what everyone feeds their Labrador now and when they were a puppy and if you changed it when they became adult? Thankyou, just struggling to decide. X
Ah you will get a raft of different answers on food brands. It's really down to what suits your individual dog and your pocket. Personally, I feed my adult dog on Skinners Duck & Rice. It is reasonably priced, my dog seems to enjoy it and it agrees with his tummy. It was the first I tried, so I have no reason to switch. Our old Lab was a different kettle of fish, he seemed to have very sensitive bowels, but again - when I eventually landed on a food that suited him, I didn't change it.
We use Royal cannin, its fairly expensive though so Im just toying with the idea of switching not to something really cheap but still a good food but with a more reasonable price tag
We used to use James Welbeloved but Stanley didn't seem to agree with it. We're on canagan now and he's been much better
Libby's had a sensitive tummy but has been fine on Specifics puppy medium breed which I get from the vets. She's decided not to eat it in the last few days though (I think she's after proper food so I'm going to look into raw feeding now). It is a complete minefield for conscientious dog owners knowing what to feed our pups!
I tried a few in Molly's first year (series of stomach upsets) and settled on James Wellbeloved Duck and Rice. It suits her - kickable poos and not too many! Pick one in your price bracket and see how you get on.
We've kept Winnie on what the breeder gave her, Masters Eclipse. It's marketed as a working dog food. Her breeder who trains gun dogs feeds all of them on this. Never had any trouble with it and Winnie's coat is super shiny!
My pup is 14 weeks and I'm feeding her on what she left the breeder on, 'More' puppy kibble. It's pretty dear IMO but she seems happy with it so don't plan to change it in the immediate future. Someone recommended James Wellbeloved to me but when I compared the composition of ingredients they were very similar, as was the price tag. Yesterday I considered a raw food diet but that's not going to happen, not least coz I don't eat meat myself! When I grew up my mum fed our labs on tripe and vitalin and they LOVED it, but it stank to high heaven!
Mollie is on Royal Canin Maxi Junior. Tatze is on Skinners salmon and rice. Both are shiny and healthy.
My boy is on a Rx food due to a health condition, Lymphangiectasia, and so far it has kept him healthy. When younger I kept him on the breeder's food, which was an adult maintenance food that he was weaned onto, for about two years. Then I began reading up on the value of rotating foods so added two new foods, new brands, new main protein, new main filler but kept fat, protein and kcal/cup about the same as the breeders food, since it worked just fine. ONe of the new foods was grain free. I saw no difference between the foods as regards stool size, frequency, colour or coat condition or energy level. I did need to feed a wee bit more of grain free as it was a bit too low in kcal/cup.
Bailey is on Taste of the Wild (salmon at the moment) - he is a picky eater but this one he will quite happily eat. We have tried a few, he came from the breeder with Beta which although cheap was not very good - now he's on a better food we have smaller amounts of poo and he looks lovely with a beautiful coat
I cannot remember what I fed them as puppies, sorry, it would have been a kibble. I did do raw for the older dog, ready prepared frozen, but he went off it (he is a fussy Lab and not typical of the breed) when he was 10 years old. After lots of changes, I have finally arrived at Arden Grange Lamb and Rice and they have perfect poos!
Don't know where you live....I am in USA. I fed Cooper Fromm Gold Duck/Lamb when he was a puppy. Now he has Orijen 6 Fish, Blue Buffalo Salmon and Blue Buffalo Duck. He gets one week of each......I found that he was getting tired of Fromm Gold Adult so tried these and he loves them all. Cooper is almost three years old.
As edzbird says, lots of different answers to that one! As a puppy Lilly had a mix of ProPlan and a supermarket brand after trying loads of other stuff - that's a long story which I think wouldn't have happened if i had been on the forum and new what I was doing back then. I joined a small group of dog owners a few years ago to get a good price on Orijen, then we switched to Eden holistic grain free as a group. We then switched to Simpsons 80:20. We all liked the Orijen but not the price. Both Eden and Simpson's are UK based which appealed - carbon footprint wise. I have been very happy with all three for Lilly. Her poops were smallest on the Orijen. I iidn't like the more lamb-y smell of the Eden so have continued with the Simpsons and order via Zooplus. All these three are near the top end on price. All grain free. I know there isn't any quality evidence on this but after researching for ages I just decided grain free with good quality and levels of Omega 3 fish oils was what I was aiming at. Although I would really like to feed raw. Takes a lot of research and commitment and a family that are on board, so until that happens I will probably stick with Simpsons. You probably didn't want to hear all that.....
Hattie came to us as a puppy on a raw BARF diet which I stuck to for about 18 months but couldn't stand it 4 children, work etc. it was too much so we switched to something else, can't remember what it was but now Hattie & Charlie are on Skinners Salmon & Rice which they love and look great on. Like Jac we like the fish oils. I also get mine on Amazon who automatically deliver so we never run out, free P&P too I do also add a tin of sardines each with the olive oil 3 times a week to their food and they do get meaty bones occasionally.
In addition to his Skinners kibble, Coco also has a tin of Winalot chunks in jelly! NOT quality, I know, but he likes it & OH thinks dogs HAVE to have wet food - it's to keep him happy really Coco's poo is just fine and his coat is lovely.
Just to add, for a while I did feed Oban raw, BARF, with our Vet's whole hearted support and encouragement but it was hard for me to control the fat level and after another round of diarrhoea from the Lymphangiectasia we went to the Rx food, kibble. But he looked SO GOOD on the BARF diet and the Vet would like us to slowly go back to it. But I'm scared to.
Blue wilderness large puppy brand. I switched to another brand a few months back because it was cheaper and Stryker acted as if he was starving all the time. Made a slow switch back to his blue wilderness and he no longer acts that way. I mix the duck with rabbit and he really enjoys it.
Millies wolf heart tracker mix for Rory at the moment and Arden grange sensitive Moo. I'm changing her over to the tracker mix soon too. Rory has colitis and ive yet to find a kibble that suits him .
We tried several kibbles when Harley was younger due to a very sensitive tummy - Royal Canin, Orjen, Arden Grange, Bob and Lush (pretty expensive as also used wet from them). We ended up putting her on a BARF diet - she's has Natures Menu frozen blocks - fish, tripe, chicken, beef and lamb. She is fine on all of them. Because we like to go away in the camper we needed to find a kibble that was ok for her tummy - we eventually settled on Wainwrights grain free and she really enjoys it and does well on it. She has BARF in the morning and kibble in the evening, and occasionally a raw bone or some fish with the kibble. It really depends on your dog, so really difficult to comment what would/wouldn't work.
