Hello all, I'd be very interested in your views on this ... We have an unopened 6kg bag of Burns puppy food (lamb and rice) that has a best before date of February 17th, so only a week left now. Our puppy is five-and-a-half months old. Would you feed him this beyond Feb 17th or will it not be nutritionally good enough after that? I never know whether to believe 'best before' dates or not. Many thanks.
Considering the quality of Burns, I would not serve it when it was new. https://www.doglistener.co.uk/dog-food-review-royal-canin-hills-and-burns
Oh dear. Dog food opinions are varied and can get a little heated...... What suits your dog, and the best you can afford, is the usual advice. Personally I am in the "does it look ok, smell ok, and taste ok?" camp. Obviously I'm not going to taste dog food (although I know those who would!) I think use your common sense a bit. I wouldn't be wasting 15kg of food unless I had too. Worth noting though that even some "in date" food can taste off to our dogs - even labrador dustbins.
I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to my little darlings I probably wouldn't use it. I have no sense of smell/ taste and have drunk off milk not even realising it was bad until I was told by my OH. So I wouldn't be able to tell if it was off.
Although I do use foods past their best before date it does depend upon what it is and how it looks, smells etc. so I nake a conscioys decision for myself. I wouldn't use food for my girl if it was out of date though. I tend to find I don't like the look of kibble if it's been open a while due to bag size as the digest added to make it more tasty seems to make the surface more greasy - yuk! It could be that the kibble though in an unopened bag would also feel more greasy.
I only noticed when I was tipping the last of the Skinners into the plastic bin (yes, I know many don't do this either) that it was a short use by date and we'd just exceeded it, but it's fine, it doesn't appear/feel/smell any different to usual, Coco eats it with as much gusto as normal and he's had no odd gut reaction. That's Amazon for you. Maybe I'm a bad dog mummy/cheapskate.
My pup is still with his bio-momma so take my opinion fwiw.....I would use it if it looked/smelled ok (I'm assuming we're talking dry food here). I figure if I'd feed my human kids cereal, crackers or some other shelf-stable food past it's 'best-buy' date I'd feed it to my dog as well. If it is refrigerated food then I wouldn't.
But how do we know what it smells like to a dog? Their sense of smell is so far superior to ours and what seem ok to us at not be so delectable to a dog - but then look how they like to eat poo and and other disgusting items
Considering what they would eat on their own, I would not be too concerned about going past the "Best By" date. If it was the food my dog had been eating I would not worry at all. Mine can eat pretty much anything, though Tilly seems to have a allergy to something in some of the cheaper ones. The one I get picky about is Coffee. If it does not have a "Roasted On" date that is in the past 10 days I won't buy it. It won't be "BAD", it just won't be GOOD either.
Ah, very true. I guess I just assumed they had used this food before and would notice if it smelled/looked different than the previous bag.
I would feed it, but I'm relaxed with Best Before dates. If it seems obviously funky then I wouldn't.
I won't wade into the "is it good kibble" discussion, but one idea would be to donate it to a local shelter or rescue where it could be used before the expiration date.
Thank you, I think a bit of common sense too and we'll play it by ear and see how he does on it. At least it's only 6kg which will go a bit quicker
I'm a bit of a worrier hence posting about it, but I think we'll give it a go and see how he does on it.
Thanks for replying. We'll take a good look at its condition and 'greasiness' - that's a good tip - and see what we think.
We use a plastic bin to store 12kg of food We've yet to open this particular bag but will certainly check feel/smell/appearance etc. I veer between thinking oh just get rid of it, and then thinking what a waste if it's still perfectly good.
It's definitely dry and as it's only 6kg it would be all be eaten in just under two weeks so I'm veering towards it being OK as long as it looks OK and he will eat it. Thanks
