- This topic has 984 voices and 9 replies.
-
Posts
-
Just read Wivs post there now and have checked out this site. I have to say, Im absolutely horrified at what I’ve read. My babies are both on the Hills RD and our third is due to go onto another recipe in the Hills product once she’s been spayed. You think you’re doing the right thing in paying out for one of the most expensive brands, only to read that! I have emailed Hills and asked them for their comments and also am going to discuss with my vet at the earliest opportunity. Just wondering if anybody else has checked out this site and if so, what are your thoughts / comments? Wondering myself about the reliability of this info……….
Yes I checked out this site some time ago. I’m feeding my dog Arden Grange food – it has a 3 star rating similar to some of the Royal Canin products much not as expensive. But most important my dog loves it!
I was disgusted when I read the information on the site. My vet recommended Hill’s Dental diet and it only gets one star! I might as wll have been feeding my dogs bakers or any other brand you can buy cheaply in the supermarket. I couldn’t believe that they use chemical preservatives (BHA and BHT) banned in human foods for being carcinogenic!!!!
I immediately researched the 6 star brands and the only one I could find available in Ireland was Orijen (zooplus and Mollys.ie) It actually costs less than Hills!
I e-mailed Orijen asking advice on which type would be best for my boxer and mini-schnauzer and received a prompt reply.
I originally saw the link to the site on boxerworld.com. It seems that boxerworld/dogfoodanalysis.com are independent sites and do not endorse any one brand of dogfood.
The ratings given and comments made about the foods assessed on this site and ingredients listed are the opinion of the Editors, who are a small team of volunteers each with a long standing interest in dog nutrition
More info from the site:
How do we assess the foods?
Choosing a good dry pet food isn’t that easy. If you’ve ever read the ingredient label on a pet food, you’ll notice that there is one crucial bit of information missing: how much of each ingredient is in the food. That really is crucial information. As we’ve already noted, most dry pet foods are based on grains or other plant material. But the animals we’re feeding them to are carnivores and should be eating a diet that is mainly made up of meat…
You’ll see the crude fat and crude protein content of the food listed on the labelling, but that alone does not tell us very much. Grains contain protein too – but it’s far less bioavailable protein for a carnivore that lacks the digestive enzymes needed to digest plants. Protein derived from meat represents a far higher quality and species-appropriate diet for a carnivore than plant proteins ever can be. What’s the point of a protein if it cannot be properly digested?
Fortunately, it is possible to make an educated guess as to the quality of a pet food. Until or unless the percentages of the ingredients are required to be shown on the ingredient lists or manufacturers disclose that information voluntarily, it can only ever be an educated guess or assessment, based on the knowledge that we do have. But that is far better than relying on the advertising hype.
I too am going to raise this issue with my vet.
I had a look at the site this morning and was totally shocked! I then tootled off to the new MaxiZoo in Bray with my list of possible 6* and 5* options intending to stock up. Couldn’t find ANY of the top rated foods there……..the shelves were full of Hills and all the other usual brands.
If anybody knows where it’s possible to buy any of the better brands I would be grateful if they could post them here.
I also await the reply from Hills with interest……….
Hi der i tried to get onto this site but 4 some reason i cant !!!
anyway ive bn reading the posts and im really suprised as my vet reccomended hills and royal canin 4 ruby.I decided to go with the boxer 26 from rc what type of rating did this get on dat site can anybody tell me??Thanks in advance Well, Hills have not yet got back to me. I will be following up my written comments to them with a phonecall (to their UK office) as soon as I can. At the mo, have been up the walls with our poor baby Harry (beardie/terrier cross) – he’s got a very slight heart murmer (non symptomatic t.g. but needs to be monitored as his heart rate is quite slow). He’s only about 7yrs and very fit. He’s already had an ECG (mixed results), full bloods (thyroid, calcium etc, still awaiting results) and then tomorrow he goes in for another test. Please, all, keep all paws and fingers crossed for Harry! As soon as we get the results and no more, I intend to address the Hills issue, as I’ve said, I will be discussing with our Vet and phoning Hills as well. I have to say, I was quite mad when I read what Wiv had told us – would totally agree – we would all go without in order to look after our babies, and you think you’re doing the best possible thing for them by getting them a top drawer food like Hills (which, by the way, was recommended to us by our Vet, and is a huge seller for them), then to discover that……….. Interestingly enough, Hills reduced their food by almost a tenner per bag (for the RD anyways), wonder if its just coincidental in current climate, or is there a darker reason for this
(mind working overtime here!). Anyway, will keep you all posted on the Harry and Hills situation……….I have a dog with a very sensitive stomach and have tried all the brands including Royal Canin, and all upset his stomach, I was then recommended to try the Wagg brand, chicken and rice with anti oxidants and this is the only food his stomach can tolerate, we put our other dog on it as well and the shine off her coat is amazing and neither have had upset stomachs at all and the person that recommended me to try it feeds her champion show dogs on it, I think that people go for the expensive brands as they think they are the best and I really dont think that is the case, my dogs are healthy, shiny coats, teeth in great condition and have great muscle mass, on the review site it only gets 1 star which may put people off but you never know until you try, it may not suit other dogs but i would definitely recommend this for dogs with sensitive stomachs and there is very little odour when cleaning up as well
sassy chick, I checked that for you, it’s a 2 star food. It’s so difficult trying to decide what’s best to feed our furry friends!
I would be a bit wary of going soley by this rating system, for the simple reason that every dog is different and there is no one-size-fits-all food. Many dogs not only tolerate, but actually thrive on food that some might consider "low end", while others with special dietary restrictions or sensitive stomachs may need something more specialized and, unfortunately, more expensive.
For example, when we got our westie pup, the vet recommended RC as the "rolls royce" of dog foods. So, RC he got, even though it was nearly twice as expensive as all the other foods on the market. All was fine, until at 6 months he started chewing his paws nearly bloody. Turns out, RC isn’t hypoallergenic, and one of its primary ingredients is maize (and maize flour) and it contains the artificial preservative BHA. It is not a food that is conducive to breeds that may be genetically predisposed to food allergies. We switched to a hypoallergenic food and the paw chewing stopped. It took trying a few brands (our little man has a bit of a sensitive tummy), but we have now settled on a mid-priced, hypoallergenic food that agrees with him and he loves….and is nearly a tenner less than the non-hypoallergenic RC Westie food. Interestingly, when I checked against that website, the food we now use only came in at 3 stars, while RC had a much higher rating.
the moral of the story is, price doesn’t necessarily dictate suitability, and neither do web site ratings. What works for one dog might now work for another.
anyway ive bn reading the posts and im really suprised as my vet reccomended hills and royal canin 4 ruby.I decided to go with the boxer 26 from rc what type of rating did this get on dat site can anybody tell me??Thanks in advance 
(mind working overtime here!). Anyway, will keep you all posted on the Harry and Hills situation……….
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.