food review

[clare]

Our standard eats Dr John's Platinum. She has only been part of our family for a couple of months and this is the food she came with. She seems to like it and we like the price (£11.99 for 15kg)! I've had a look on the internet to see what everyone else feeds their standards but soon became overwhelmed with conflicting information. I want to vary her diet so that she doesn't eat the same every day and would love any suggestions This thread was a really good idea x

[dannie_kl]

Hi clare, varying the diet with different kibbles could lead you down a picky eater path but maybe you could stick with the kibble and add some bits now and then?
Does your standard like veggies? maybe try some grated carot? or perhaps some cooked veg if you are doing some for yoiur dinner a little extra in the pan for the dog. as i often am cooking for one i normally cook extra veg or make up extra gravy or something as a treat for my dogs. any leftovers from dinners are in the dogs bowls but my dogs must eat the plain biscuit because some days i eat at my dads or whatever so there isnt always things to bring home(normally is thoughas both my nan and dad have taken to cooking extra for the dogs-you'd think they were starved lol)
you just have to be careful adding extras to dinner as a picky dog who refuses to eat isnt fun.
Have you tried something like a treat ball and perhaps putting some kibble from her dinner along with a few cubes of cheese or sausage or something so its like a jackpot what will come out of the ball when she rolls it? this will be much fun for her and mentally stimulate her as well!

[clare]

She doesn't like carrot - first raw veg we tried! Cheese gives her TERRIBLE wind - she loves it but we don't She has meaty Waggs treats which we use purely for training and biscuits from p@h in her treat ball.
I'm going to try adding more veggies like potato, sweet potato now and then but am scared of giving her something that makes her ill. I know that chocolate is toxic and apparently rye bread is good for standards but that is the extent of my knowledge when it comes to standard schnauzer diet.
Does anyone have any tried and tested ideas for varying kibble diet? Veggies or other additions that add interest every now and again?

[dannie_kl]

there is a sticky about poisonous plants and foods which may give you some help on what they can and cant eat. what about cooked carrots? sometimes i just use the bags of mixed veg

[Caramomo]

NO; raw potato (cooked and sweet potato is fine), lots of cabbage and broccoli (occassionally fine but not every day), grapes, onions, leeks, mushrooms.

[clare]

Thanks - putting schnauzer + some of these toxic foods into my search engine has brought up loads of info. Can't believe I couldn't find anything useful before!

[skeeterbird]

Hey all! I'm new to the wonderful world of Schnauzers (miniature) having only just got Lily on Sunday. But I have had dogs all my life and would like to impart my experience of Skinner's.

I have in addition to Lily, a Bernese MD/Rottweiler cross and a GSD cross. Skinner's for me (chicken and Rice and salmon and rice) is the best dog food available. I used to pay much more for Burns, But decided to try Skinner's as it was almost half the price. I'm so glad I did as they settled in their manic-ness and their coats are fantastic. Also their poos are firm and relatively inoffensive.

I get mine from yumpet whose service is good and it's very competitively priced. Tho if you know where its cheaper elsewhere let me know!

[curzon]

I came across this website http://crpf.org.uk/index.php?section=528" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; & have decided to try some products on Primrose & see how she does first up is this http://www.vetskitchen.co.uk/#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (salmon & potato ) only day2 on it but she definately likes it so far ..... will keep you posted

[pipb]

Just started Mack my standard on Applaws organic and he loves it. Will let you know how it goes. As Clare said cheese gives him extreme wind and the noises coming from his belly are unbelievable.

[dannie_kl]

i have seen the Applaws in P@H but think for me to feed my gang all that it would cost me an arm and a leg.
I have some friends who feed Gusto working dog food and thought i would give it a try as someone well known in mini's also uses skinners and she swears by it and it got me thinking. I tentatively tried the Gusto as my dogs generally hate cheap food (expensive taste) but actually they love it, they have gusto with a bit of raw mince daily, I give salmon oil once per week and they get a garlic tablet daily (for fleas) and i have to say my dogs look great so actually i think some of these old working dog foods arent half bad!

[Donald]

I came across this website http://crpf.org.uk/index.php?section=528" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; & have decided to try some products on Primrose & see how she does first up is this http://www.vetskitchen.co.uk/#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (salmon & potato ) only day2 on it but she definately likes it so far ..... will keep you posted

I think that is identical to this stuff. I seem to remember seeing a picture of the kibbles and they look identical to the quite large ones below.
http://www.discountpetsupplies.co.uk/macksmix.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Which is quite a bit cheaper and can be found cheaper than that. (As I discovered after buying 5 bags of the stuff )
It's what Dieta came from the breeder on. I've seen it under at least 4 different brands.

[Judi Ibbotson]

Nesta and Gem both love Orijin, both are prone to weight gain, at the moment Nesta is getting 75g of kibble with 15g of Naturediet mixed in, split into 2 meals a day, Gem gets 100g of kibble also split into 2 meals. I feel as though I am starving them, I keep about 20g from each back for a treat game, we play hide the kibble under cushions and toys etc around the living room for them to find, early evening, plus they get a few homemade treat when training.

How much Orijin do you feed?

[hula-hoop]

Nesta and Gem both love Orijin, both are prone to weight gain, at the moment Nesta is getting 75g of kibble with 15g of Naturediet mixed in, split into 2 meals a day, Gem gets 100g of kibble also split into 2 meals. I feel as though I am starving them, I keep about 20g from each back for a treat game, we play hide the kibble under cushions and toys etc around the living room for them to find, early evening, plus they get a few homemade treat when training.

How much Orijin do you feed?

Stanley gets 150g in total split equally between breakfast and dinner. Both times he has a teeny spoonful of wetfood on top (leftover from his puppy days when we struggled to get him to eat). I was concerned for a while that I was giving him too much, because hes on the top amount on their feeding guide, but I dont think hes fat - he's 9.1 kg but is over 16'' tall.

[Judi Ibbotson]

Last weighed Gem was 8.1kg she is approx 15" tall and long. I don't think she is fat but the vet said to cut her food down. I think at the time she was getting too many treat at class as well as training at home so I have cut a lot of those out.

[Claire Farrington]

I am going to have to cut Jilly's treats as she is rather porky and the vet always said my old boy could do with losing a bit but he was never fat, they have quite low weights for mini's on their charts ;)