About a year and a half ago, I spent an entire day researching dog food. I knew I wanted to change the boys food, but I didn't know what to go for.
Now, I would love to say that price is no object when it comes to my boys, but that simply isn’t the case. For years they lived happily on Wagg, but I have always wanted to feed them something better. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. Archie is a ‘good-doer’ and will happily eat absolutely anything but Barney never really liked Wagg. He is incredibly fussy and he won’t eat biscuits that are too hard for him to bite through. I used to buy him boxes of Bakers Meaty Meals for his breakfast because it was the only thing he would eat. Oh, and they had to be the ‘small dog’ ones, not the larger ones. Then we would soak a portion of Wagg in water all day ready for his tea, which then got blitzed in the food processor and mixed with a sachet of wet food so that it was soft enough for him to eat without complaint. Even then, he would never eat all of his food in one go, preferring to graze throughout the day (not ideal in a two-dog household). Trying to get Barney to eat like a normal dog has been a challenge for six long years.
I know what you’re thinking. If I hadn’t given in to him and spoilt him, then he would have eventually given in and eaten the Wagg, but you’re wrong. At first I was strong and I didn’t give in, but Barney would not eat and he was wasting away before my eyes! With all his walks and agility he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him and you could see his ribs and spine – not a good look. Anyway – the point of this digression is: Barney is very fussy and won’t eat biscuits that are too hard or too big. Remember that.
In January 2018, I started a ‘dog fund’ (a standing order of £50 a month that I don’t miss if I don’t see it) and I use it to fund new food, treats, toys, collars etc. Our first venture into new food started with us trying Fish4Dogs after having it recommended to us by more than one person and having seen how lovely and shiny their dogs coats were. Archie became super shiny and had more energy, even Barney enjoyed it and the small bite version has teeny tiny biscuits which he could manage easily, but he still wouldn’t eat a whole portion in one sitting and a 6kg bag didn’t last us a month. So I started looking around again.
I knew I wanted a senior food, because Archie had just turned nine and with Barney doing a lot of agility, he could benefit from a food that offers a higher level of joint support; all that jumping and climbing must be taking a toll. Because of this, I wanted a food with high levels of Glucosamine and Chondroitin (good for joints) and based my search on this. I used the PetsCorner website (www.petscorner.co.uk) because its so user friendly and you can easily compare the composition of each food. I filtered by ‘dry food’ and ‘senior’ and had 15 options to choose from. I wasn’t kidding when I said I spent a whole day on this..!
A theme quickly arose as I was reading the compositions of the foods. The levels of Glucosamine and Chondroitin sulphate were either around 740mg/kg and 520mg/kg respectively for some foods or much higher for others, around 1700 mg/kg and 1200mg/kg respectively. I ruled out the foods with lower levels and had a short list of: Canagan, Symply, Piccolo and Tribal.
At this stage I’m going to factor in cost. We used to buy a big 17kg bag of Wagg for £12, that’s around 70 pence a kilo. If we bought the largest (and most cost effective) bags of these new foods we would be looking at £5.49 per kilo for Canagan, £4.67 per kilo for Symply, a whopping £8.66 per kilo for Piccolo and £5.49 per kilo for Tribal. Quite a bit more expensive than Wagg! And cost isn’t the only factor here, I also wanted to know how long a bag would last us – what size portions would I be feeding?
This is where Tribal started to take the lead. Because it is a cold-pressed food, it’s more nutritionally dense, meaning you can feed less of it. When I was feeding Fish4Dogs, Archie had 100g a day and Barney had 120g. On Tribal, Archie has just 80g a day and Barney has 100g. I didn’t believe this could be right at first but the very friendly and helpful people at Tribal put my mind at ease (and pointed out that if I thought the boys were losing weight, I could always increase their portion sizes).
Compared to the others, Tribal has the highest levels of Glucosamine (2000mg/kg) and Chondroitin sulphate (1250mg/kg), but I was concerned that the biscuits would be too big for Barney. It seems that plenty of brands make senior food and food for small dogs, but only Piccolo have had the sense to combine the two! Small dogs get old too! None of my shortlist offered samples so my next step was to go to PetsCorner and have a feel of the biscuits through the bags. Yep, I took it that seriously...
I felt the Canagan and Symply first and from what I could gather through the packaging, they would be too big and too hard for Barney to manage. I knew Piccolo would be fine as it’s designed for small breeds but I was pleasantly surprised by the Tribal. Although the biscuits are large, I was able to snap them in half through the packaging. This is again, due to them being cold-pressed - it makes them softer than your usual kibble.
I decided to risk it for a biscuit (sorry, I couldn’t resist) and bought a 12kg bag for £65.99. Not too much of a risk because Tribal offer a no questions asked, money back guarantee if you’re not happy with it. However, as it turns out, I am extremely happy with it!
Firstly, Barney and Archie were extremely interested in the bag when I brought it home, always a good sign. Secondly, it smells amazing. Dog food doesn’t typically smell very appealing, but this stuff smells incredible – really meaty! And despite the size of the pellet-like kibble, it’s soft enough that even Barney can munch his way through a bowl full in one go – something he has never done before. This morning he actually woke me up by barking so that he could have his breakfast – unheard of! Not something I want to encourage but I’m pleased that he’s enjoying it so much!
Eighteen months down the line, I’m still thrilled with my choice and Barney is still eating all his breakfast and dinner in one go. No more leaving his breakfast on the window sill next to the desk where Archie wasn't brave enough to steal it. Yes. That was a thing.
Comments