What do you feed your dog and how many meals?

I've got a labrador who is ten months old.

Before we got him I spent alot of time reading and researching the breed, and alot of people seem to advice that a labrador puppy should be fed wheat gluten free food to prevent food intolerences (which labs are prone to).

I found some fantastic food for my dog called Autarky, and he's done really well with it but sudddenly he's gone off it, and there's a full 15kg sack of it in the garage!

Anyway does anyone else give there dog a special diet? What are all your dogs tucking in to?

Dalmatians are notorious for needing special diets!

I now feed Takara 'James Wellbeloved' which is a little lower in protein (dalmatians need less protein as they are stone formers) but it is also hypoallergenic.

Takara loves it and due to the special ingredients it's supposed to agree with most dogs and is advised for many dogs with food intolerances.

You may want to give it a go. I stand by it and Takara loves it. If you do give it a go, I'm not sure what they advise with labs but you can generally stay on puppy/junior until they are 12-18 months of age but Takara started on adult last month, aged 10 months.

Teddy eats Wagg at the moment because that's what he was on before he came to us but due to his age (and the state of his poos!) we will be slowly transferring him to James Wellbeloved Senior to see how he gets on.

Good luck!

Dogs are so versatile.

You can feed them a vegetarian diet if you want, unlike cats- and they do fine. There are some really good recipes that you can mix up for dogs yourself on the Internet. They are healthier than commercial food with all of its fillers :-)

give them what you want.. if he doesn't like it. leave it, he can eat it or starve. in the end he'll soon accept the 15kg bag.

give them what you want.. if he doesn't like it. leave it, he can eat it or starve. in the end he'll soon accept the 15kg bag.

Actually this is true. A lot of pups go through a stage where they want something better. If you find that Autarky is good, leave him on it.

Put his food down and make clear that he's allowed it, then leave him with it for 15 minutes, if after 15 minutes he hasn't eaten it, take it up again and put it in the bag. Then feed him again at his next meal time. He'll go hungry but eventually he'll realise that if he doesn't eat, he doesn't get and he won't starve himself. He's seeing how long you can hold out.

Don't let him think that by leaving it he'll get something better and take it away after 15 minutes, if you had another dog and he left it, the other dog would eat it, and this is what would happen in a wolf pack so never leave the food down for him otherwise he'll just pick at it throughout the day and make training sessions and meal times a nightmare as he'll never get hungry!

Dalmatians are notorious for needing special diets!

 

I now feed Takara 'James Wellbeloved' which is a little lower in protein (dalmatians need less protein as they are stone formers) but it is also hypoallergenic.

 

Takara loves it and due to the special ingredients it's supposed to agree with most dogs and is advised for many dogs with food intolerances.

 

You may want to give it a go. I stand by it and Takara loves it. If you do give it a go, I'm not sure what they advise with labs but you can generally stay on puppy/junior until they are 12-18 months of age but Takara started on adult last month, aged 10 months.

 

Teddy eats Wagg at the moment because that's what he was on before he came to us but due to his age (and the state of his poos!) we will be slowly transferring him to James Wellbeloved Senior to see how he gets on.

 

Good luck!

Our dog started on James Wellbeloved, but we found out that the company that produce it use animal testing, so we don't use it anymore.

I was all for the "thats all your getting so you might as well eat it" approach, but Mr Scoop felt very sorry for him saying that walks and mealtimes are the highlight of his life so ought to enjoy what he's eating!

Hmm,

I was under the impression that James Wellbeloved was one of the few companies that don't use animal testing but I'm probably wrong! Thing is, as bad as it sounds, it's so good for Takara that I wouldn't take her off it now. You're generally hard pushed to find dog foods that don't use animal testing!

I really do think you ought to persevere with Mr Scoop, as he will enjoy it when he knows he's getting nothing else but otherwise you will have a load more problems in the long run. He'll just keep getting you to swap what you're feeding him and it'll make life a lot harder for you!

He does enjoy the food, he's just seeing if he'll enjoy what he gets next more.

my dog boss has fresh chicken and chumm mixes and the odd treat of beef

James Wellbeloved is definatly on BUAV's boycott list:

http://www.buav.org/campaigns/petfood/facts.html

If you look around you can easily find very good quality hypoallergenic dog food that's produced ethically.

We initially changed our dog onto CSJ:

http://www.csjk9.com/command/index.html

he looked fantastic on it: glossy coat, shiny nose - a picture of doggy health - but we changed him to Autarky because it was slightly cheaper, but reputed to be just as good (it's said to be the equivelant of Burn's dog food but half the price).

Needless to say I think he's going back onto the CSJ

Check out Royal Canin food, they have specialised food for specific breeds of dogs, plus, it is not expensive.

Keep well away from Iams though.

Will see what other people think - it looks pretty good and the price is pretty decent too!

It's just that Takara's been moved on and off of different foods that much (trying to find the right one for her) that I'm not sure if I ought to leave her on this for a while!

Where can you buy CSJ? We would be able to pick it up from a shop because I'm not organised enough to order it in time!

I think the nearest stockists are in Chesterfirld or Penistone (it tells you on the website).

I just order two 15kg sacks at a time (delivery cost is the same for two sacks as one - £6).

It usually comes three days after I order it.

If you want to try some I think they will send samples out. If not you can try a bit of The Chocador's!