Feeding time!

What goes in the dinner bowl? Dry food, wet food or a mixture of both? What has been your experience with the food - do you buy it because it's a good price, or does your dog's diet/tastebuds force your hand? You can vote more than once and post your views below.

Nico's gluten intolerant, so his food choices were pretty limited. He started off on Wagg Chicken, then we found out about his diet issues, so we passed it on to my dad's friend's rescue dog (Charlie the Lurcher) and switched to Ardgen Grange Sensitive but that didn't help. He finished the sack however, and then we put him onto James Wellbeloved, which we'd held out on because of price, and it still didn't help. We thought something might be desparately wrong and were beginning to panic, and then we found ourselves down the dog food aisle and saw Butchers tinned food and it was GLUTEN FREE:cheers: . We put 100g in with his 200g James Wellbeloved, and within a few days, the diarrhea stopped and he was 'solid'.

The only downside with James Wellbeloved is price - we buy the 15kg bag and it lasts roughly a month. The cheapest place we've found is a little shop up the road from us.

We give Ben Harringtons Dry, but stir in a dessertspoon of tinned at the last minute.We also add a teaspoon of cod liver oil which he loves and it seems to stop his skin getting too dry.

We gave our last Ridgeback evening primrose capsules and her coat was so glossy. Luckily she'd eat anything. We were thinking of doing the same for Nico, but his tummy is so sensitive that even the slightest change gives him diarrhea.

Jesses Mum - dog food for sensitive tum's is so expensive especially for the larger breeds! It's not like we can choose a cheaper brand either because of digestion problems for our poor pups!

I discovered a product called Duck when I placed a foster dog with an adopter and she just raved about the food. It comes from Belgium and it's raw, made from the best meat. It's really handy because it's frozen and comes in 100g patties. The downside is the price and the limited distributors. Having said that, before I made the change I was only feeding Pedigree Chum because I found that it was the only food that didn't make Phoebe fart and stink to high heaven! Duck is cheaper than full price Pedigree (I used to buy it by the pallet load when it was on offer). Because it's meat, she has just 200g per day - I had her on 300g and she put weight on. A bit of jiggling and 200g is just right for her. It cost 20p per 100g, so that is cheaper than Pedigree.

It did get very expensive with the foster dogs, especially the big ones like Gino and Vik. However, every foster dog I've had has come to me with terrible diarrhoea and within 12 hours of feeding Duck it was gone.

About a month ago, I noticed frozen dog meat at our local supermarket, Bowketts. If you know the supermarket, you'll know how outstanding their butchery department is. I spoke to the butcher to ask what was in the dog food, and was impressed by the list of ingredients and the lack of additives and preservatives. You can feed it raw or boil in the bag or microwave. I actually think the dogs like it raw. I tried it for a few days with Tucker and weened him off the Duck. He now has 1lb of meat a day plus a 100g Duck pattie, plus his dry bone biscuits. The beauty of the Bowketts dog food is that if you buy a box of 15 packs (15 x 1lb), you get a massive discount and it only cost £3.50. So that's £7 a month for Tucker plus £6 for his Duck.

The beauty of a raw meat diet is that it is easily digestible, the dog drinks a lot less, the teeth stay much cleaner, and there is less gas. The poos are always very solid too. I also feed raw chicken wings (must be raw not cooked), but have put this on hold while we have Tucker because he is such a greedy guts, he downs it in one, whereas Phoebe will sit down and have a good old gnaw and chew.

We gave Nico chicken wings after you said they were great for their teeth, but he wasn't overly keen on them - he ate them, but wasn't fussed. My mum's friends feed their two Mastiff's raw food though and it's cleared up their digestive problems brilliantly.

We're trying to find something to keep Nico's teeth clean - dentastiks give him diarrhea

Baz has vitalin, made up with warm water, in the morning and Duck in the evening, plus a raw chicken wing after each meal. Consequently, he has lovely white teeth!

We do go off piste occasionally though with leftovers (this morning he had a potato/spanish omelette instead of vitalin) but we're careful not to let him have anything with additives as he's allergic.

Lucky Baz We're so strict with Nico's diet, but we do use a chopped up hotdog for training him.

interesting what food our pooches eat..my dogs have products from CSJ site and this seems to suit them and cost is reasonable too! they sell everything from sentitive tummies (gluten free) right the way from puppy to old dog foods and everythng in between...skin care,performance food,salmon oil, herbs for dogs,natural treats and supplements....www.csjk9.com..deffinatly going to give the chicken wings a try..and see if the brood likes um x

I'm very interested in the idea of chicken wings. I've always thought they were too brittle and not good for them. Glad I'm wrong, as I'm sure Ben would love one !

Daisy has CSJ CPX21 mixer with a good quality tinned meat called Rocco that comes from Germany (I buy it from Zooplus). It's 100% meat that isn't formed (apart from the variety I buy with some veggies in) and the best quality I can afford as a student (I buy bulk). I wanted to feed her a raw diet but she's not keen, when I gave her a chicken wing and a piece of mackerel she just sniffed it. She's not keen on the Prize Choice I gave her. She loves Rocco though and I occasionally get her the odd meaty bone when I can. I often add extras to her meal like some chopped up herbs, tomatoes, grated carrot, suede, courgette, parsnip, fish oil, bits of meat or fish, a bit of plain yoghurt etc etc.

For treats she gets pig auricles, cows ears, tripe sticks, fish skins and hide chews

Wow, there's some lucky doggies out there!

I gave Nico some carrot once - he looked at me like I was subjecting him to cruelty!

hahaha Baz will eat carrot peelings but not lumps of carrot

carrots are one of the very, very few things he doesn't eat (cow sh*t anyone? )

Our lovely old boy called Toby used to steal carrots from the vegetable rack!

Daisy will eat all the veg mentioned if grated but never chunks

I gave Nico some carrot shavings that were meant for the tortoises once, and he spat it out! He's eaten a slice of raw carrot, but it was like how a child would eat something they didn't like so that they could get the ice cream!

Just tried Ben with a chicken wing. He was not sure at first, but after wiping it round the floor for a bit, he wolfed it down.

I love how dogs are suspicious of food!