The food I use (PERO) has ingredients in it which prevent nasty smells and they are natural plant extracts. I presume other foods have these in.

I have just changed Hedley from pets at home to Pero (adding gradually) and his bowels have been a bit loose, but I discussed this with the vet and he said it was just whilst he gets used to the new food. He gave me some tablets to crush up to firm his stools.

http://www.pero-petfood.co.uk/images...DATA_SHEET.pdf

hi again done some research if you look on ingredients protien shld be 90percent
any less in the long term dogs will become poorly as they are carnivore and not omnivores, really dry dog food shld not hve a high cereal

your never going to find a food with 90% protien simply because all foods contain sugars, fats etc. It depends on the quality of the protien involved really - those from meat are good - those from other souurces dont really count

I thought the recommendation for a dried food was around 30 per cent protein. There is a theory that protein should come first in the list of ingredients, but there is a way of fiddling this by using different kinds of cereals, so that is no longer a good way of doing it.

The previous poster has a good point about the quality of the protein - the sort of meat that goes into it matters. But what is also a good point is ......... does your dog actually eat it. You have to find one that has a good balance of ingredients of good quality, but also your dog has to like it too. It also has to suit his digestion. There are so many variables arent there?

What I would like to hear from is someone whose dog has lived to a ripe old age without illness and then know what they were fed on. My mother in laws poodle was 17 when he died and she fed him on liver which she cooked herself, but I wouldnt go down this route as the dog had chronic bad breath and rotten teeth.

What I am saying is a 90% protien food doesnt exist. And its usually a meat product that you look for in the ingredients as coming first. Many foods contain protien so it being high on the list doesnt mean its a good food, it simply means that therse is an ingredient boosting it. If meat is listed high on the ingredients - its good protien the dog can use.

My last dog was almost twenty when she died. In twenty years she had one ear infection, that's all, only time she went the vet was check ups and boosters. I don't even remember her ever having fleas. Sadly she was diagnosed with cancer, still she bounced around like a six month old until the day before she died.

She was fed on anything and everything, because until I got my new dog I had no idea about the pitfalls of pet food. So she was generally fed whatever was on offer when I was buying. Mixture of wet and dry food. Chappie, butchers, pedigree, wagg, you name it, all the stuff that I now wouldn't dream of giving my dog.

Still, must have done something right.

Well, as what is saying at the other threads, we should not consult our dog foods to a vet. Maybe we can ask to a Nutritionists. What can you say about this?

30% is high for an adult food (dried) and perceived wisdom these days is that around 20% is perfectly adequate. The rest of the recipe should be of highly digestible ingredients (rice ideally, though maize and barley are also quite digestible)

hi

i will be never convinced as i believe you should feed dogs as natural as poss, the dry food industry was created for convenience and is now worth billions of pounds, also if peoples dogs have sensitive tums could that be because of previous product, have you seen how dry food when it becomes wet bulks out, this means that the body has to get rid of it which results in mountains of poo my dogs poos are 1 small mound, as the body is able to take as much goodness from natural feeding i had a afghan who lived to 16 years but she would only eat tripe and pasta, which wasnt very convenient as tripe is very smelly, but tried her on beef chicken etc and in the end gave her tripe, it has a high potassium level but she would eat scraps so i think she was getting a balanced diet

Im still seriously confused about dog foods.

My free samples arrived today from Burns but they werent Burns but Luath's and Robbies which looks very interesting, like meat and rice which you add hot water to. I am still changing Hedley over to Pero though and Im a bit concerned that his poos are greeny grey and slightly sloppy.