Good Morning All, As the time is drawing even nearer to getting Charlie I have been looking into things like Insurance, Puppy food, toys. Although i kinda know where I am going it does blow your mind. Can I ask what insurance you have taken out & with whom...has anyone had a bad experience with a particular company? With regards to food Charlie is being fed on Beta Puppy, which as long as he is happy I will continue him on this when he gets home! My question though is what do you guys use & what do you feed your adult dogs on?? Just the vast array of products has me confused. The days of a tin of chum & biscuits & a couple of bonios are def. a thing of the passed!! Got loads of other questions but i'll save them for another day ;D thanks in advance.
Re: Mind Blowing [quote author=Charlie_2013 link=topic=2220.msg20280#msg20280 date=1375944774] The days of a tin of chum & biscuits & a couple of bonios are def. a thing of the passed!! [/quote] LOL, I know. The array of options and views is head-spinning. My dog gets a very varied diet. It's based on the idea that an unprocessed, whole food diet is good. That's not based on any evidence at all (because there isn't much reliable, published evidence when it comes to dog nutrition). Obi gets a commercial pre-prepared raw food diet (basically mushed up raw meat, guts, bones, veg, herbs) for breakfast which is replaced with raw bones a couple of times a week (we give chicken backs or lamb ribs). He gets a tin of sardines for dinner every night. Plus he gets a bit of whatever we eat (e.g. the dregs of my breakfast cereal, and a lick of the pot we made risotto in, or left over mashed pumpkin, or the odd chip). Plus he gets treats for training like cut up sausage, cheese, dried liver. He gets a bit of kibble in the form of treats too. Having said all that about variety and all, there are plenty of good quality kibbles out there that your dog will do very well on. It's probably easiest to start out with kibble (as you plan to do) and see how things go If your pup is a good weight, is bright and happy, has a good coat and has energy then you are doing it right! There is general agreement that doing something to keep your dog's teeth clean is important. A lot of people feed raw, meaty bones to achieve this - bones that the dog has to slice through with his teeth. Chicken backs, lamb necks, half a rabbit, a raw fish - that kind of thing. If you don't want to go down that road then cleaning your dogs teeth with a doggie toothbrush and doggie toothpaste is very effective. As far as insurance goes, we use PetPlan. Make sure you take out your insurance before you get Charlie - the minute you go to the vet for something prior to taking out insurance you give the insurance company a perfect excuse to exclude the relevant body part from the insurance.
Re: Mind Blowing We're on petplan too, my in-laws dog has bad elbows and we were concerned about the costs if something like that happened to us. Food wise we use kibble, we went through a few brands and it does seem to be reasonably dog specific. You may need to do some trial and error but the local rescue centre was grateful for our leftovers We've ended up on Skinners duck and rice which seems to have reduced Riley's itchiness and occasionally he gets a sardine in with his food.
Re: Mind Blowing Old boy is fed on Purina Pro Plan, no complaints but it's ridiculously expensive. Harry is on Burgess active and Charlie is on Burgess puppy. She came to us on Beta Puppy, but she was a bit 'runny', no problems since the switch (took us about 10 days to change her over completely). We don't have insurance with a company, instead we put a set amount away by standing order every month into a seperate account. It works if you're strong enough to leave well alone! For those that decide to insure, the next question will be do you go for 12 month cover of an ailment, or life time cover? Loads to think about!! How long until you get your puppy?
Re: Mind Blowing The wait is almost over Sam is insured with Tesco, pretty cheap and cheerful , good reports of them paying up quickly too . Re adult food , I switched Sams food a couple of months ago to Skinners Salmon and Rice kibble , seems to suit his tummy . I do add to it so reduce the guided ammount accordingly , sometimes he has pilchards or fresh fish , sometimes leftovers such as potato , veggies like carrots, cauli , brocolli, rice etc. I also buy heart , he loves that and every day, both dogs get a dollop of biological low fat yoghurt to counteract whatever disgusting thing they have found to eat
Re: Mind Blowing Thanks Guys, I'm so glad i joined this forum questions that get answered, superb. It's nice to read about everyones varying approaches to feeding. I will see how it goes but i do have a good butcher who is a personal friend, so i will be knocking on his door. I even like the idea off fish it just so happens i have a good fish monger that visits the next village once a week ;D All in all I will play it by ear...but is this dog going to be spoilt or what?? ;D I've checked around with regards insurance & with a little more research & help from you guys I should have it sorted....only 3 weeks now..ONLY what am i talking about , that's to long to wait
Re: Mind Blowing How many sleeps now? 22? I stuck with the kibble food the breeder used, which is Royal Canin Labrador Junior. Whether this is any better or worse than anything else, I don't know. I think the breeders have incentives from food companies to send their pups home with a certain type of food. Mine did, I know. But no complaints, I got a good puppy pack with lots of information, a 5kg bag of food etc. I would change if I knew something else was better, but I don't, and Charlie looks good and so I've stuck with it. One thing that bothers me about kibble is that it is supposed to be a complete food and you are not supposed to feed anything else with it (and there is an article on this site saying the same). But I've had to cut down the kibble so much to keep Charlie's weight down, that he is now actually getting most of his food in training treats and kongs - which I don't think is a bad thing in itself, but it means I've got to look very hard at his training treats (I try to use kibble frozen in water for kongs where I can). For training, I stick to pressed cod biscuits (95% cod, 5% rice), high quality low salt roast chicken breast from the supermarket deli (usually no skin, skin on for special jackpot treats only) - if I have time I buy chicken breasts and cook them myself so I know there isn't rubbish in them - and tinned sardines in water, sometimes fresh sardines and mackerel fillets. So really, this is Charlie's diet, not the complete kibble food! Insurance - Charlie came with 4 weeks free insurance from the kennel club, and I wanted to continue that so he had been covered from day one. But I had a problem when the payment didn't go through because of a mistake in the card number (annoying!) so ended up shopping around. I have lifetime cover from petplan with max vet bills cover and max excess (as my point is to cover really serious things that otherwise I might not be able to afford) - which I'm not 100% convinced is worth the hefty premiums, and I might be brave one of these days and start a saving pot instead. I should think you'll get as many versions of what people do as options you face! But hope helpful to you.
Re: Mind Blowing I know what you`re saying re not adding to kibble Julie but I always have done and my dogs have always been fit and in good shape too . I think the dangers re adding to kibble is that people might not reduce the ammount of kibble to compensate for what they are adding Being cynical , I also think that the manufacturers say not to add to it because they want you to buy more
Re: Mind Blowing Thanks Kate - I do worry about it though, can't help it. Charlie is on less than 50% of what the packet says for his meals, and has now started to eat sticks when we are out on walks (then sicking them up - lovely). So I think he is generally really hungry. He is looking thiner and really very good though. Sigh...off to your vet's next week for a general check up and ear inspection, so hopefully can talk it through with them and stop worrying so much!
Re: Mind Blowing I used to feed my first dog a premium kibble as his primary diet and I reckon if I had fed him the recommended quantity he would have been the size of a Blue Whale Even with the pre-prepared raw food diet that Obi eats now - he gets a quarter of what is recommended on the box (the recommendation is 1kg of food (!!!) and he gets 227grams which is the size of one pre-prepared pattie). He does get some other food too, as mentioned above, but it adds up to no-where near the 'recommended' quantity of food. Some Labs can live on the smell of an oily rag. They may always be hungry but if their weight is good then they just don't need what they (or food companies) think they need
Re: Mind Blowing Obi, mate - it's me, Charlie. She left her keyboard open when she went to get a cuppa. I'm seriously starving here - I've got to bust out, or at least into the fridge. I see you are being starved too - can we make a run for it together? I've got her credit card, and know my way to Heathrow... they have MacDonald's at Heathrow...so I could at least get a decent burger and fries, instead of this tasteless boiled chicken she feeds me, while I wait for my flight. Wait..she's coming...gotta go...
Re: Mind Blowing Thanks goodness Dexter can't type.......the prize for most depressing gastro existence definitely goes to him... ??? Dave,he came to me on Eukanuba puppy,I swapped him to Royal Canin maxi Junior on the advice of a friend....runny poo all the way through on both foods and the transition stage.after clearing up a concurrent case of Giardia the added effect of 2 courses of antibiotics was bowels that were spectacularly loose so the vet advised Royal Canin Gastron intestinal junior and NO other treats or food whatsoever....... .This settled him after the transition stage ( and a couple of controversial doses of arrow root powder ) These dietary challenges have had implications in our training,Dex is easy to train in the house with kibble but once we go outside it is nigh on impossible to keep his attention and obedience classes with kibble were a waste of time.Steamed chicken is no longer contraband for training and doing Total recall I use hot roast chicken with skin removed( skin upsets him again and ....don't even ask me what sardines did to him.....) Rachael said its the grease that is obviously too much for my boys sensitive tummy. I clean his teeth every day : with tooth brush and dog tooth paste. I would love to be brave enough to give him bones but I'm terrified ( so silly I know) and I would love to have the confidence to feed him raw as that sits better with our lifestyle as we give a fair bit of consideration and care to how we eat so i feel a opening a packet for Dexter is a bit of a cheat.....but him being our first dog we think kibble is the best way to make sure he gets the nutrients he needs....... I do trust myself though to feed him on how he looks like Heidrun mentioned ....if he looks a bit tubby,his allowance is reduced and coming away on holiday and knowing he won't get as much off lead excercise as I give him I have reduced him so I'm not going home to a little yellow barrel! Rachael freaks me out with her line about they may always be hungry aaaaggggh...I can't bear the thought I can't eat in front of Dexter if its getting a while away from his last meal......but I will say it before you all do,I am daft!
Re: Mind Blowing Hi there! Thought I would add my comments. Foodwise we have recently changed from feeding Lilly a mixture of two different dry kibble brands PLUS some tinned food at teatime. It was driving me bats all that mixing. For better or worse after huge amount of research and deliberation she is now on the pricey Orijen and getting smaller quantities so not quite as expensive as it like looks. Sbe is looking really good on it. Also gets bones and raw fish from time to time and other treats for training such as sausage or cheese or liver. Insurance wise we are with Argos Platinum and gives us £7000 per year cover and lifetime cover for around £300 per year. They paid out our ortho consult bills no problem and with no increase in premiums for the previous 2 new renewals so Can't fault them so far. Hope that helps. If it was just me on my own and no other family I would prefer to feed raw/BARF. Jac
Re: Mind Blowing hiya, we are new to dog ownership too and the food issue definately had me in a spin, oh and insurance! Jacks on kibble skinners field and trial duck and rice. We were treating him quite a bit too and this resulted in a runny bum. We couldnt pin the cause down with possibilities being - the transition from old owners to us, the weather, the different flavour of food, treats, but it could simply have been the water hard v soft. Hes settled down now and poops are back to normal! : Insurance had me pouring the net for hours/weeks/ more hours ive finally settled with john lewis after using compare the market, we have £7,500 cover per yr for £21.70 a month. Toys are my next area of mind bogglingness! we have a kong wobbler which he loves but i feel he "needs" lol a normal kong i can stuff and a safe stix, although the best buy must be the bone filled with yucky stuff thats kept him busy for weeks!
Re: Mind Blowing Good morning all, Thanks again for all the comments...excuse the pun but it has given me food for thought McDonalds sounds like a great idea but i prefer Burger King, so more issues there ;D ;D I will see how Charlie gets on then i will see whats what. Nice to read everyones variations, it amazes me, as i have said before gone are the days of a tin of chum!!! Insurance I have got my head around, I've got it down to 4 so i'm getting there Life made easier by all you guys thanks ;D
