The price of dried dog food varies considerably. I've looked at some today and you can pay £50 for 15k or £11 for the same amount.

Anyone know anything about dried dog food and what's ok for a dog?

If cost is an issue, then look at foods such as Skinners, Harringtons, Lathams, JWB, CSJ (this one is only available online). These are decent foods that aren't much more expensive than brands such as Wagg etc which are basically just made up of cereals and cheap fillers.

Edited - didn't read the dog bit!

You need to consider what your dog will actually eat too! Mine was very picky when it came to dried food, and would look at me with a rather pitiful "Is that really all there is, mum?" expression!

The only one he would eat was Bakers. Not one of the most expensive by any means, but he seemed to like it.

RIP Henry Boot 1996-2011

Our dog has skinners, our previous one had James wellbeloved, I think these are both good or at least the dogs do well on them.

Thanks very much guys for the replies. My dog will eat anything, so that's not a problem.

I've been looking at all the labels on the dog food and they all seem to have the same basic nutrients. I just can't understand the huge differences in prices. Perhaps it's whether they put the equivalent of steak or sausages in.

We've cut down on food bills for us, so I don't see why the dog can't do the same.

Surely they wouldn't be allowed to sell a complete dried dog food that wasn't ok?

All the complete dog foods will be nutritionally fine but with the cheaper ones, you do have to feed more of it so it's a false economy. With the more expensive foods, the main content will generally be good quality meat or fish while the cheaper ones are cereals.

I'm not a food snob when it comes to me or my dogs (I see the kind of crap they pick up and eat in the street so they certainly won't be getting fed organic chicken or anything ) but I do like to feed them a food with decent ingredients. I use Skinners Duck & Rice for mine and its about £20 for a 15kg bag.

Thanks for that.

we swapped from wagg to harringtons (made in the same place though)
it's just under twice the price, of wagg

must be a better food though, wagg contains a lot of carrots so the boy was doing soft terracotta-coloured poos, a lot firmer and more normal coloured on harringtons though

Cheap food has a lot of filler. If the filler is potato, it is fairly benign. If hte the filler is grain (rice is the usual culprit) it can be a problem for some dogs. If the filler is uber cheap - corn products - it can be a problem.

If you can't feed BARF (Biologically appropriate raw food) )he absolute best dry dog food is Orijen. No filler at all. The best low cost middle ground I've found is P@H's own brand Wainrights Potato and Salmon.

Wagg is terrible - the terricota poops are down to colouring not carrots!!

we feed our rottie on burgess sensitive as its cereal free, cereal is apparently a flamitory for dogs and she has issues with her hips so wanted to avoid cereal. its a good price, although only the sensitive one has no cereal in it, its done her wonders in the past 4 weeks. firm poops, zero farts major plus, and her walking is so much better, though shes been on supplements too for the last month that we have had her. its not a bad price either, we get it p@h and its around £23-£27 a huge bag depending on what offers are on its lamb flavour and although she took a while to get used to it shes fine with it now. it does smell bad in the bag though, and we have to make sure the tops folded down real well or we can smell it only down side to this food i think

My dog gets James Wellbeloved mixed with sardines (in either tomato sauce or sunflower oil).

I love him.

Spoke to the pet food suppliers today and finally bought Burns Chicken and Rice. Dog wolfed it down.

Glad your dog did alright on it, but I think it is widely suggested that feeding your dog Bakers is like feeding your kids Skittles Seems to make some dogs hyper

My dogs used to be fed on Bakers. I used it because my mum did (silly reason really). I didn't know any different, but then I started reading up on foods and the effect that Bakers could have on dogs. Both dogs farted a lot and their poo's really smelt. They were also soft poos and very light in colour.

Anyway, my pocket wasn't huge, but i gradually changed them to Skinners Original. They love it and since we started the change (about 5 months ago) they never fart and their poos are dark brown, rock hard and have barely any odour.

Oh, and one other thing. One of my dogs had an anal gland problem. The vet said that most dogs natually squeeze their own glands when they do a hard poo. But when the poo is too soft, the gland can fill up. She had to go to the vet about 4 times a year to get them squeezed, but since being on Skinners she hasn't been licking her bum of wheeling across the carpet on her arse ... so I think the problem has been solved.