# Help choosing a dry food for fussy greyhound please



## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Well the title says it all LOL.She loves all wet food and will eat it in 5 seconds flat(currently on the wainwrights trays-2 a day and she still isn't putting any weight on and she's 3 kilos underweight).I would like her to have 1 tray a day and the rest dry but she isn't keen on anything I've tried so far.(Lathams, pedigree,wainwrights,burns,ponderosa own brand,supadog,james wellbeloved,bakers,wagg).I think the problem is she likes tiny pieces-my ex visited today with his 12 week old german shepherd puppy, and milly was quite happily eating her food.Can anyone recommend a dry food with small chunks for her to try?Will it do her any harm having puppy food?


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

Fish4Dogs small bite is grain free, with good ingredients, and tiny pieces - Complete Food - Small Bite


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

SixStar said:


> Fish4Dogs small bite is grain free, with good ingredients, and tiny pieces - Complete Food - Small Bite


Hi I just clicked on that and it does look good but it's a bit out of my price range unfortunately. 60 pounds for 12 kilos


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

polishrose said:


> Hi I just clicked on that and it does look good but it's a bit out of my price range unfortunately. 60 pounds for 12 kilos


The working one is a bit cheaper - £55 for 15 kg, but not by much I understand. http://www.fish4dogs.com/Products/working-dog-fish-complete-small-bite.aspx

What is your budget? I'll try and find something within it


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

SixStar very kind of you  My budget is about 30 pounds for a big bag of food(lasting a month hopefully)-it's hard to say because Milly steals food...all the time-which has a nasty effect on her bowels and her skin is dreadful-flaky and dry.She loves all wet food but I'm not happy to just feed her wet all the time. She does like raw but it's not practical to feed raw all the time as I have no storage space in the freezer (it's full of people food-6 kids you see).I'd like to buy a smaller bag of food to try first and see if she likes it as I don't want to waste 30 pounds.

Is this one any good?http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=565&pf_id=52744


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2012)

polishrose said:


> SixStar very kind of you  My budget is about 30 pounds for a big bag of food(lasting a month hopefully)-it's hard to say because Milly steals food...all the time-which has a nasty effect on her bowels and her skin is dreadful-flaky and dry.She loves all wet food but I'm not happy to just feed her wet all the time. She does like raw but it's not practical to feed raw all the time as I have no storage space in the freezer (it's full of people food-6 kids you see).I'd like to buy a smaller bag of food to try first and see if she likes it as I don't want to waste 30 pounds.
> 
> Is this one any good?Applaws Complete Dry SmallMedium Breed Dog Food 125kg Applaws Dog Food for Sale


Sorry to butt in just wanted to say Applaws is an excellent food, but its normally much much more expensive its on sale at the minute, I`m thinking it won`t be good for her belly switching between foods


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

How much is it sold for normally?If she liked it and ate it I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for it,and I could stock up when it's on sale. How long would a 12 kilo bag last roughly?


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2012)

Not sure about petplanet in particular but from the pet express its £47.49 for both chicken and lamb flavour Search small bite - Applaws Dog and Puppy Food in Dry Dog Food - The Pet Express

And a few months probably I would say at least 2 months no more than about 5 but to be honest I`m not really sure


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Thanks-I'm budgeting 30 a month so if a bag lasted 2 months that would be brilliant.I've bookmarked it anyway and will see what everyone comes up with


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

polishrose said:


> SixStar very kind of you  My budget is about 30 pounds for a big bag of food(lasting a month hopefully)-it's hard to say because Milly steals food...all the time-which has a nasty effect on her bowels and her skin is dreadful-flaky and dry.She loves all wet food but I'm not happy to just feed her wet all the time. She does like raw but it's not practical to feed raw all the time as I have no storage space in the freezer (it's full of people food-6 kids you see).I'd like to buy a smaller bag of food to try first and see if she likes it as I don't want to waste 30 pounds.
> 
> Is this one any good?Applaws Complete Dry SmallMedium Breed Dog Food 125kg Applaws Dog Food for Sale


Ok small bite kibbles, with reasonable ingredients, around or under £30 a bag -

Vitalin lamb & rice Sensitive is a small bite kibble - Healthy, Natural & Wholesome | Sensitive on Vitalin Pet Food

£29.95 for 15 kg, with smaller bags available.Vitalin Sensitive Lamb And Rice Vitalin will send free samples if you email them.

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Arden Grange Mini, small breed food - Nutritional Premium Dog and Cat Food - Arden Grange Would be fine for a greyhound, only real difference between that and standard product is kibble size.

Tiny bit over budget at £33 for 15kg - Arden Grange Dog Adult Mini Lamb & Rice Working Dog 15Kg (Breeder Bag) - Berriewood Pet Supplies

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Burgess salmon & rice Sensitive, states it is a small size kibble - Burgess Supadog Sensitive - Scottish Salmon and Rice | Quality Dog food | Burgess Pet Care

£26.52 for 12.5 kg - Burgess Supadog Sensitive Salmon & Rice 12.5kg - £26.52

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The Applaws kibble you have linked to is brilliant but on sale there at the moment - full price is £47 for 12.5 kg


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2012)

Hope you find something that suits her, applaws is an excellent food IMO one that I would recommend any day


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Thanks Sixstar-I like the look of the Arden Grange and worked out it would last for around 6 weeks if I was feeding just the dry food.Do you know how much Applaws is recommended for a 26 kilo dog?


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

polishrose said:


> Thanks Sixstar-I like the look of the Arden Grange and worked out it would last for around 6 weeks if I was feeding just the dry food.Do you know how much Applaws is recommended for a 26 kilo dog?


Dogs 20kg-30kg approx. 245g daily. According to here - Applaws Adult Small & Medium rated 4.6 out of 5! Which Dog Food


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## lola57 (Jul 23, 2012)

i had rescue greyhounds and one thing i picked up on is they are used to 'sloppy' food,when i got them i was told to feed them brown bread(soaked) i changed them to burns which initially i soaked & added nature diet to it,i just gradually fed it a little drier still adding meat sardines etc,they didnt take long to adapt also gave bones to help with thier teeth !!burns has become mega expensive £47 so have been using skinners duck&rice app £22 they are fine on this but poo's not as firm.hope this helps )


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

CSJ - no grainer - has tripe in it which is good for weight gain - SPR feed centre do the same food under their feed label "SPR Premium Sensitive" for £22.95 for 15kg - not sure where you are but I'm sure they deliver if you order over the phone ? If not the CSJ one is a lot more at £35 for 15 kg - my greyhound is an extremely fussy eater (refused raw!! Yes, really!!) but eats this with no problem - if she is having a particularly fussy day I either add warm water or a sardine  x


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> Thanks Sixstar-I like the look of the Arden Grange and worked out it would last for around 6 weeks if I was feeding just the dry food.Do you know how much Applaws is recommended for a 26 kilo dog?


Don't forget to feed her according to her target adult weight (the weight she should be at) and not the weight she is currently at - for example if she is 26kg but should be 30kg feed her as if she is 30kg


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Born2BWild said:


> CSJ - no grainer - has tripe in it which is good for weight gain - SPR feed centre do the same food under their feed label "SPR Premium Sensitive" for £22.95 for 15kg - not sure where you are but I'm sure they deliver if you order over the phone ? If not the CSJ one is a lot more at £35 for 15 kg - my greyhound is an extremely fussy eater (refused raw!! Yes, really!!) but eats this with no problem - if she is having a particularly fussy day I either add warm water or a sardine  x


Sorry to be dumb but what's CSJ?


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

CSJ dog food is a dog food company - type CSJ dog food in to google and their site will come up  x


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Born2BWild said:


> Don't forget to feed her according to her target adult weight (the weight she should be at) and not the weight she is currently at - for example if she is 26kg but should be 30kg feed her as if she is 30kg


Oh I didn't realise that! How dumb am I?
It's so difficult at the moment as she just steals so much food-we try not to leave it lying around but the kids don't always remember.She doesn't seem to gain any weight though. She just loves the wainwrights trays though so I will keep buying those.I've ordered the Applaws-I found a site where the regular price is 41 so not too bad as it'll last longer than a month  Hope she likes it.


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## toryb (Jul 11, 2011)

Our two ex-racers didnt ever like dry kibble..we adopted them when they were 5 and I think they were just so used to slop  I used to add warm water and let it soak abit and added either some tinned meat or tinned fish to lure them into it...

Millie is a lurcher and a complete pig when it comes to food, she steals left, right and centre...she will eat absolutly any kibble/wet food/human food/plastic pen lids/toys/wooden blocks etc etc etc  but she is so sensitive that we have to be careful with her!


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Toryb-thanks-I didn't realise greyhounds were fed wet food when they were racers-I would have thought dry food would have been easier and cheaper for them. I've tried soaking the various food but she won't touch them. She loved the puppy food yesterday though so I'm hoping smaller pieces might be more appealing to her.I've ordered the applaws to try anyway as her coat is in bad condition-very harsh compared to the other greyhounds in the park that we see.
Milly managed to get into the pantry today and took one of her treats lol. Do you feed once a day or twice?I've been feeding once in the evening but I'm experimenting today and have fed her a tray of food already and will give another this evening.Once the applaws arrives I'm not sure whether to give the dry mixed with half a tray or give them seperately, one in the morning and one in the evening?


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## porchpotty (Aug 3, 2011)

Try checking PetBest. They have an array of dog food choices that's fit for your buddy.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

porchpotty said:


> Try checking PetBest. They have an array of dog food choices that's fit for your buddy.


Thanks but an American site doesn't help when I'm in England.


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

polishrose said:


> Toryb-thanks-I didn't realise greyhounds were fed wet food when they were racers-I would have thought dry food would have been easier and cheaper for them. I've tried soaking the various food but she won't touch them. She loved the puppy food yesterday though so I'm hoping smaller pieces might be more appealing to her.I've ordered the applaws to try anyway as her coat is in bad condition-very harsh compared to the other greyhounds in the park that we see.
> Milly managed to get into the pantry today and took one of her treats lol. Do you feed once a day or twice?I've been feeding once in the evening but I'm experimenting today and have fed her a tray of food already and will give another this evening.Once the applaws arrives I'm not sure whether to give the dry mixed with half a tray or give them seperately, one in the morning and one in the evening?


They're not fed wet food as such, as in tinned dog food, but rather sloppy gruel - things like soaked brown bread, weetabix, pasta, soaked racing kibble, tripe etc.

My greyhounds came to me direct from their racing training and he told me he fed them brown bread and weetabix soaked in milk with tripe for breakfast, and soaked Wagg worker with pasta or oats for tea. Thankfully mine didn't have too much trouble switching over - I put them on good quality wet and dry to get their weights and conditions up before I moved them over onto raw, as I thought raw straight away would be too much for them. They had Naturediet trays with Orijen six fish kibble and I would mix the Naturediet with some warm water before mixing it in with the kibble so it coated it all and made a meaty, soupy mix that they loved.

Maybe try that? Mixing a chuck of wet food with hot water to make a gravy and coating the kibble with that?

My dogs always eat twice a day - it's best for breeds such as greyhounds that are prone to bloat.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Thanks-you would have thought greyhounds would be fed decent food seeing as they want them to run fast and win races. I tried the hot water/dry food/wet food mix-she refused to touch it. She's so damn fussy. She had no trouble eating mashed potato and casserole though.I even tried putting the dry food in the casserole-she ate the meat and licked all the sauce and left the bits of dry food.Sigh. She loves pasta.She went to another family before coming to me-she was only there 6 weeks and they gave her back.No reason given.


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> Oh I didn't realise that! How dumb am I?
> It's so difficult at the moment as she just steals so much food-we try not to leave it lying around but the kids don't always remember.She doesn't seem to gain any weight though. She just loves the wainwrights trays though so I will keep buying those.I've ordered the Applaws-I found a site where the regular price is 41 so not too bad as it'll last longer than a month  Hope she likes it.


Aww, yeah, if you're feeding her as a 26kg dog and she is underweight you will just be feeding her to maintain her current weight. My Greyhound came to me at 24kg and she should of been 30kg - yes 6kg underweight! She was a bag of bones...looked awful, horrible coat etc I fed her at her target weight of 30kg - she is now stable at 30kg and looking better than ever - she did drop off 1.5kg not so long ago when I tried feeding her raw but she just didnt take to it...I give her what ever is on offer at the time for that month - so SPR Premium Sensitive (same as CSJ No Grainer), Fish4Dogs, Applaws, Orijen, Acana etc.


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

The best way to put weight on is little and often but don't over feed as it will just come out as waste.

Initially, when putting weight on my grey, I fed her 3 times a day (1 third am, 1 third Midday, 1 third pm) now I just feed her half in the morning and half in the evening


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Born2BWild said:


> The best way to put weight on is little and often but don't over feed as it will just come out as waste.
> 
> Initially, when putting weight on my grey, I fed her 3 times a day (1 third am, 1 third Midday, 1 third pm) now I just feed her half in the morning and half in the evening


Thanks-I will try that.It amazes me how she hasn't put any weight on yet-she sleeps all day so it's not like she's burning it off LOL.Hopefully she'll like the Applaws


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> Thanks-I will try that.It amazes me how she hasn't put any weight on yet-she sleeps all day so it's not like she's burning it off LOL.Hopefully she'll like the Applaws


Aww fingers crossed for her - Applaws is a very good food - she wouldn't of put any weight on as you had been feeding her based on her current weight not her goal weight  The good thing is that she hasn't lost weight...just up the quantities based on her goal weight and she should start gaining  My Greyhound needs just 300g per day (150g AM, 150g PM) of applaws to maintain her weight at 30kg which is her optimum weight...do keep us posted on how she gets on!


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

300g is a lot less than the other dry foods I have tried her on-that means a sack will last around 40 days if just feeding dry and 80 days if I do half dry and half wet-that's actually really good as I was expecting to have to buy a sack a month.


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## Bellaboo1 (Aug 10, 2011)

polishrose said:


> 300g is a lot less than the other dry foods I have tried her on-that means a sack will last around 40 days if just feeding dry and 80 days if I do half dry and half wet-that's actually really good as I was expecting to have to buy a sack a month.


Hope your grey gets on ok with Applaws but it gave both mine, a greyhound a lurcher bad loose stools, even the smallest amount and i gave it to them very gradually with their normal kibble but no joy, in the end i had to another food.

I know its supposed to be a good food but it did nothing for my two.


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> 300g is a lot less than the other dry foods I have tried her on-that means a sack will last around 40 days if just feeding dry and 80 days if I do half dry and half wet-that's actually really good as I was expecting to have to buy a sack a month.


I think the feeding guidelines are slightly more but I have found feeding this amount suits my greyhound along with cooked liver as treats and I sometimes add sardines to her food and have found a good balance in quantities


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Bellaboo1 said:


> Hope your grey gets on ok with Applaws but it gave both mine, a greyhound a lurcher bad loose stools, even the smallest amount and i gave it to them very gradually with their normal kibble but no joy, in the end i had to another food.
> 
> I know its supposed to be a good food but it did nothing for my two.


She has loose stools anyway so hopefully it'll get better on Applaws. Fingers crossed.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Born2BWild said:


> I think the feeding guidelines are slightly more but I have found feeding this amount suits my greyhound along with cooked liver as treats and I sometimes add sardines to her food and have found a good balance in quantities


I'll try and see.I was thinking 200g of Applaws and a tray of wet food a day


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> I'll try and see.I was thinking 200g of Applaws and a tray of wet food a day


How many trays is recommended for her target weight ?

If feeding dry and wet you should half the amount of dry and amount of wet - for example, if the feeding guidelines for feeding the wet on its own is 2 trays, and the feeding guidelines for feeding the dry on its own is 300g, you would feed 1 tray wet and 150g per day - but remember the guidelines are just guidelines and all dogs are different  x


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Well it says 3/4 to 1 tray a day but she gets 2 and isn't putting weight on yet and steals food so that's why I suggested 1 tray and 200g of Applaws.She's due a visit at the vets in October for a health check so will see how she goes till then.


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## Born2BWild (Jun 6, 2012)

polishrose said:


> Well it says 3/4 to 1 tray a day but she gets 2 and isn't putting weight on yet and steals food so that's why I suggested 1 tray and 200g of Applaws.She's due a visit at the vets in October for a health check so will see how she goes till then.


Thats Wainwrights yes? Their feeding guidelines are very very tight - I have always fed them based on the Naturediet feeding guidelines which would be 2 packs for my grey - sounds good, just try not to give her too much as it will just come out as waste and won't be beneficial at all  I would try the feeding her for her target adult weight not current weight and if she still doesn't put on weight and is underweight I would run some tests with the vet to make sure nothing medical is related to her being underweight - good luck - she sounds just like how my grey was! She will get there  x


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

When I first got my greyhounds I used these to help get the weight on them;

Beaphar Sherleys Lactol Vitamin Fortified Milk Powder - From £4.85
Calo Pet High Energy Nutritional Support - £7.03

Four small meals a day initially - two just Orijen, two Orijen with Naturediet and lactol mixed in, and an inch of Calopet a day each. An extra supper of lactol and green tripe was offered just before bed, 50/50 as to whether they look it or left it. They had about seven kilos each to gain, and it took them about six months.

Do check her teeth - greys are notorious for bad teeth, and that could explain fussiness and preference for small kibbles and wet food.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Hi-she had her teeth looked at by the vet in June when she had a health check and no problems there. He did say she had an exceptionally long nose even for a greyhound, so that may have something to do with it.
The vet said she only has 3 kilos to gain but I will look into that fortified milk powder as she loves milk


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## CavalierOwner (Feb 5, 2012)

polishrose said:


> *Thanks-you would have thought greyhounds would be fed decent food seeing as they want them to run fast and win races.* I tried the hot water/dry food/wet food mix-she refused to touch it. She's so damn fussy. She had no trouble eating mashed potato and casserole though.I even tried putting the dry food in the casserole-she ate the meat and licked all the sauce and left the bits of dry food.Sigh. She loves pasta.She went to another family before coming to me-she was only there 6 weeks and they gave her back.No reason given.


All depends on how good the trainer is I'm afraid! I worked at a racing kennels for a few years and our dogs were fed ok.
They had James Wellbeloved complete, raw meat and veggies! Also had raw eggs a few times a week and sardines instead of meat on a sunday. They all had lovely coats and teeth! When we used to get pups over from Ireland (dogs around 18-24months) sometimes their teeth looked awful because they had obviously been fed 'slop' but with frequent brushing and decent meals they ended up with white shiny teeth.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Mine's an Irish one-I didn't know but I was told you can tell by the tattoos.


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## CavalierOwner (Feb 5, 2012)

polishrose said:


> Mine's an Irish one-I didn't know but I was told you can tell by the tattoos.


If she's English bred she will have one ear tattooed, if she's Irish bred she'll have both tattooed. 

EDIT! You can use Greyhound Data website too, if you put in her tattoo details it will tell you her race name and family tree. I've heard that it's not always up to date though but I've never had a problem using it.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

Yep she has both tattooed-sadly her details aren't on the database-I keep meaning to write to Ireland and ask for her racing name and history.


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## CavalierOwner (Feb 5, 2012)

Maybe you can check on the IGB website?


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

CavalierOwner said:


> Maybe you can check on the IGB website?


I can't find an option on there to check tattoos.


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## Adam G Pitt (Sep 11, 2012)

Born2BWild said:


> CSJ - no grainer - has tripe in it which is good for weight gain - SPR feed centre do the same food under their feed label "SPR Premium Sensitive" for £22.95 for 15kg - not sure where you are but I'm sure they deliver if you order over the phone ? If not the CSJ one is a lot more at £35 for 15 kg - my greyhound is an extremely fussy eater (refused raw!! Yes, really!!) but eats this with no problem - if she is having a particularly fussy day I either add warm water or a sardine  x


Hi all, just to let you know that 'SPR Premium Sensitive - 15kg Bag' 
is available for *local delivery* with a £5 delivery charge, 
or *FREE DELIVERY* if you place a minimum order of £50.

'SPR Premium Sensitive' can also be sent via the post (DHL) for a postage cost of £6.50 per bag.

SPR Premium Sensitive retails at just £22.95.

Also available in the 'SPR Premium Range' are:

SPR Premium Puppy/Junior - 15kg - £21.95

SPR Premium Adult - Salmon, Rice, Oats & Veg - 15kg - £20.95

SPR Premium Adult - Chicken & Rice & Oats 15kg - £19.95

SPR Premium - Senior/Lite - Chicken & Beef - 15kg - £19.95

These feeds will also be available to buy online very soon at UK Supplier of Animal and Pet Feeds, Equipment and Health Care Since 1969 | SPR Centre

In the meantime, orders can be placed over the phone by calling: 01243 542815

Adam Pitt


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## Chris1964 (Sep 11, 2012)

Born2BWild said:


> CSJ - no grainer - has tripe in it which is good for weight gain - SPR feed centre do the same food under their feed label "SPR Premium Sensitive" for £22.95 for 15kg - not sure where you are but I'm sure they deliver if you order over the phone ? If not the CSJ one is a lot more at £35 for 15 kg - my greyhound is an extremely fussy eater (refused raw!! Yes, really!!) but eats this with no problem - if she is having a particularly fussy day I either add warm water or a sardine  x


You can order over the phone 01243 542815 or [email protected] and will be available on the website soon UK Supplier of Animal and Pet Feeds, Equipment and Health Care Since 1969 | SPR Centre :thumbup:


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