[greencode]

Wow, this is actually harder figuring out what to feed Freddie than it is cooking a meal every night for myself!

We changed him over to Skinners Ruff and Ready because it claims it's good for dogs with difficulties holding sufficient weight and is also for working dogs. I've since found out that per 100g there's only 330 calories which sounds fairly low to me. His previous food was 415 calories per 100g.

Freddie is now coming up to 15 months old and weighs 25.6kg. He goes for a walk and run in the morning and then a mile long walk in the late afternoon. I'm not too concerned about his weight as such but I would like him to be a little bit heavier than what he currently is as you can see his ribs and feel his spine when you stroke him. The vet is also not concerned as he sees him as more of an athletic build rather than underweight.

Any ideas about his new food or anything else - am I simply worrying too much!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Zhanna]

I cannot get the link to open, so I don't know about the food.
If you are wanting to add calories, cottage cheese is a good additive.
Sorry, I don't really know what else to tell you.

 

[Barbs2Ks]

Looks like it has a lot of grain corn (causes allergies in a lot of boxers) and wheat, but not sure what Terrier meal is though.  It also looks a bit low in protein.  I am not an expert though, just based on what I have read and heard on the forum.

 

[g00dgirl]

Have you checked out www.dogfoodanalysis.com yet? there is lots of info on ingredients and even reviews for many foods already, although I didn't see a review for Skinners. I too think the ingredients in Skinners aren't great-

Protein pellets containing beef meat meal, terrier meal, cooked flaked maize, extruded wholewheat biscuits, wheat glucose syrup, dried meat greaves, cooked flaked peas, cooked wheatflakes, soya oil, vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients are listed by weight and what they are doing is called "splitting" they are splitting up the wheat into different names. so it looks like it is further down the list... if you put all the wheat together it would most likely be the first ingredient listed, and not the beef meal- not good.
Maize is just corn, and what the heck is terrier meal?? lol.
Good luck!

 

[HannaBanana]

These are the top UK dog kibbles and they are ranked best to last -

http://www.ardengrange.com/

http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/

http://www.oscars.co.uk/

http://www.frommfamily.com/products_canine_gold.asp

http://www.wellbeloved.co.uk/

http://www.wafcol.co.uk/frames/wafcol.html (Salmon and potato for alternative protien and carb source)

 

[greencode]

Thanks for the input. I think we'll get through this bag of food and then re-think what we feed Freddie. I have had a look at the dogfoodanalysis website and it seems a bit American tbh. There's not a great deal of food on there that's available in the UK.

It's very tricky with food because different owners recommend different foods. Again, this was recommended by another boxerforums user.

Arghhhhh it's very tricky indeed!

 

[greencode]

These are the top UK dog kibbles and they are ranked best to last -
http://www.ardengrange.com/
http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/
http://www.oscars.co.uk/
http://www.frommfamily.com/products_canine_gold.asp
http://www.wellbeloved.co.uk/
http://www.wafcol.co.uk/frames/wafcol.html (Salmon and potato for alternative protien and carb source)

Thanks for this. We were on the Arden Grange Lamb and Rice and didn't feel his overall condition and coat was all that great as well as him not gaining much weight. It could be worth trying one of the other Arden Grange varieties though as this seems the best value for money along with quality of food.

 

[Drayken]

One big thing I have found on almost all the forums and talking to people, is that corn is not good. A coworker has a dog that has been losing hair, not shedding, but going bald in places! He simply switched to a food with no corn, and the hair is growing back already, and the itching has stopped.

 

[Mizorie]

Thanks for this. We were on the Arden Grange Lamb and Rice and didn't feel his overall condition and coat was all that great as well as him not gaining much weight. It could be worth trying one of the other Arden Grange varieties though as this seems the best value for money along with quality of food.

Yes and you can also add s few things to help out with those as well. As mentioned before adding Cottage cheese to his food will help with the weight and as for the coat, there is fish oils and also jsut give him an egg occassionally or a mayonaisse shampoo

 

[greencode]

With regards to giving him cottage cheese, how much would you recommend giving him a day?

 

[Zhanna]

Probably just 1 tablespoon, that's about 9 grams.  You can give it as a special treat in the middle of the day or mix it with one of his meals!

 

[greencode]

[quote="Zhanna\";p=\"120250":1m2fxia8]Probably just 1 tablespoon, that's about 9 grams.