# Dr John Dog Food



## Callie (May 6, 2010)

Has anybody heard of or used Dr John platinum dog food. Somebody has recommended it to me but not sure if I want to change or not. Currently I am feeding Royal canin and before that it was Burns. Only reason we changed from Burns was when my bitch was pregnant she did not eat well and went off the burns food and after trying so many different things we got her to eat Royal Canin. She had her pups 9 weeks ago so only considering the change for few weeks time. Any suggestions


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## Ducky (Nov 23, 2008)

its possibly one of the worst in my opinion. its basically all cereals and no meat. 
hence the ridiculously low price tag. 

some others that i would recommend are Arden Grange, Fish4Dogs, Orijen, Skinners.


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

Ditto above
dr johns is rubbish

If your paying royal canin prices now you have stacks of choice, acana, orijen, fish4dogs, arden grange


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

Horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE stuff!!! Stay well away PLEASE!

My parents have recently started using it (god knows who recommended it to them), but I have said I'm going to pay out of my own pocket for a decent food for their poor dog!

Have a look what this website says about all the Dr.John range, then run fast and far away in the opposite direction of wherever you are going to buy it:

Dr.John Dog Food Review

Either that or stick with Burns - even though I have recently discovered that even it is not as good as I thought it was.


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

I have to agree here,its not a food that i would personally use.(but i know alot of farmers and working dog owners use it down here).Though to be honest,im not a fan of royal canin either.There are many better foods in that price bracket,and cheaper,if you are looking to change.

How is callie doing? must be quiet now the pups have gone,though you did keep one didnt you? how is pup doing?


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

Been using it at the rescue, got given a crate by feed place so not going to say no! The dogs all love it, they are looking fab on it and in my opinion all complete foods are full of rubbish dogs don't really need ...lets face it if they had a choice between dried stuff and a raw meaty bone which do you really think they'd pick? So for the price and the fact a large range of dogs are happily eating it if you supplement their diet with good quality raw meat as I do for my own I don't think the complete really matters what it is. :thumbup:


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

> A large range of dogs are happily eating it.


A large quantity of dogs are "happily eating" Pedigree Chum, Bakers and Chappie. They may look like they are happy and healthy, but unfortunately they cannot speak human languages, and they do not know what they are being fed. If they had full knowlede of all the ingredients, of what rubbish they were being forced to eat, and what the associated health risks were, do you think they'd still be happy to eat it?

I'm sorry (well - I'm not, actually), but Dr.John's really is a terrible food. One of the worst I've seen. As has already been stated: there are FAR better options for the money.



> I don't think the complete really matters what it is










Seriously?!











> All complete foods are full of rubbish dogs don't really need


That is simply NOT the case! There are excellent, high quality complete foods out there - people just need to do their research.


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## Matrix/Logan (May 7, 2009)

Quite simply Dr John is cereal based so would be like feeding your dog weetabix! You would have a lot more waste produced so more poop collecting and would have to feed a lot more food than you do now to keep weight on your dog as they digest so little of it.  

Royal canin is meat based so it is like feeding chicken as the main part of the meal, so very digestible and therefore you feed less and have much less waste produced! :thumbup:

I would never feed a cereal based food to my dogs as it's false economy! It is cheaper to buy a bag of dr john but if you need to feed double the amount and your poor dog is pooping all day, is it really worth the change?! 

I personally wouldn't, i feed royal canin to all my 3 and am very happy with it. :thumbup:


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## Callie (May 6, 2010)

How is callie doing? must be quiet now the pups have gone,though you did keep one didnt you? how is pup doing? [/QUOTE]

Amber is doing great and pup is doing well too.:thumbup: You forget very quickly what is like to have a puppy again. Learning to read the signs for toilet time and the fact they do not understand the commands you say to them!!!!

Will post some pictures soon and as for the food...won't be changing to Dr Johns!!


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

> Won't be changing to Dr Johns!!
> Reply With Quote


Bravo! She would thank you for that if she could! :thumbup:


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

SlingDash said:


> A large quantity of dogs are "happily eating" Pedigree Chum, Bakers and Chappie. They may look like they are happy and healthy, but unfortunately they cannot speak human languages, and they do not know what they are being fed. If they had full knowlede of all the ingredients, of what rubbish they were being forced to eat, and what the associated health risks were, do you think they'd still be happy to eat it?
> 
> I'm sorry (well - I'm not, actually), but Dr.John's really is a terrible food. One of the worst I've seen. As has already been stated: there are FAR better options for the money.
> 
> ...


:lol: I've been 'researching' what dogs eat for the last 30 odd years of ownership thanks. And beggers can't be choosers when it comes to food being donated, and YES our dogs are all in perfect condition and EXTREAMLY happy ...but then I suppose they would be after being saved from death, so I doubt a bag of 'terrible' food is worse than what they were getting.  All complete food isn't what dogs would naturally pick to eat, if you read what I wrote ANY food fed in conjunction with good quality raw diet is fine because they will get the goodness from the meat and the crap dried stuff is purely there for bulk.

Those that can afford a high horse fab :thumbup:...the rest of us will continue to abuse our poor dogs with a bad diet due to our obvious lack of knowledge. 

Oh just noted you are asking questions about raw feeding? So you admit that a compete diet (even one that passes your strict criteria) isn't perfect for dogs??? Suggest you read posts first before replying in the future.


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

> I've been 'researching' what dogs eat for the last 30 odd years of ownership thanks. And beggers can't be choosers when it comes to food being donated, and YES our dogs are all in perfect condition and EXTREAMLY happy ...but then I suppose they would be after being saved from death, so I doubt a bag of 'terrible' food is worse than what they were getting. All complete food isn't what dogs would naturally pick to eat, if you read what I wrote ANY food fed in conjunction with good quality raw diet is fine because they will get the goodness from the meat[/B].
> 
> Those that can afford a high horse fab ...*the rest of us will continue to abuse our poor dogs with a bad diet due to our obvious lack of knowledge*.
> 
> Oh just noted you are asking questions about raw feeding? So you admit that a compete diet (even one that passes your strict criteria) isn't perfect for dogs??? Suggest you read posts first before replying in the future.


My oh my. Such hyper-sensitivity and sarcasm there (is it really necessary one wonders?), it's difficult to know where to even begin with a reply. Suffice it to say that nobody was suggesting anything remotely like what you said in that penultimate paragraph, or what you were sayng in general in that reply.

I have had my eyes opened to the benefits of a natural, raw diet since joining this forum, and that is what I have been led to believe is the very best we can feed our dogs - hence it is what I'm going to attempt to feed from now on. Perhaps even this diet isn't the best - which has led to my confusion on the subject with such differing advice being published here there and everywhere.

I do admit that a 'complete' diet isn't perfect for dogs, yes. When or where did I say otherwise? I doubt there even IS such a thing as a perfect diet for all dogs (although the raw diet sounds to me like the most plausible, sensible and 'natural' option) hence questions and topics such as this one, and the confusion over feeding decent food to our companions that seems all too common. The fact of the matter is that for the same money you'd spend on a bag of Dr.John's food, you could be buying a far better product, or even making your own homemade food.



> The crap dried stuff is purely there for bulk


Since when did 'bulk' add anything positive to a dog's diet? Why not do without the 'bulk', if it has no nutritional value whatsoever, and feed purely wholesome, nourishing food? Why waste money on useless 'bulking' material - which is precisely what you're doing when feeding Dr.John's?



> YES our dogs are all in perfect condition and EXTREAMLY happy ...but then I suppose they would be after being saved from death


You're not suggesting they are "happy" because they once knew they were facing death, but now are not, surely?



> ANY food fed in conjunction with good quality raw diet is fine


So a food that is full of proven carcinogenic chemicals, animal faeces, feathers or floor sweepings is "fine", is it?

All I have been suggesting throughout this topic is that Dr.John's food is not the best food you can feed your dogs by any stretch of the imagination. I was merely making my opinion known. Isn't that why the question was posted in the first place - to get people's opinions? Isn't that the whole point of forums such as these?

It's such a shame that people take posts so out of context and then have to resort to personal insults or sarcasm to get their own points of view across.


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Callie said:


> How is callie doing? must be quiet now the pups have gone,though you did keep one didnt you? how is pup doing?


Amber is doing great and pup is doing well too.:thumbup: You forget very quickly what is like to have a puppy again. Learning to read the signs for toilet time and the fact they do not understand the commands you say to them!!!!

Will post some pictures soon and as for the food...won't be changing to Dr Johns!![/QUOTE]

Im sorry,i got Ambers name wrong before!! Glad Amber and pup doing well.
Yup the toilet training is great fun ,but they soon get it.Iv been so lucky with Isla,even though she has suffered with reacurring urine infections,shes had no accidents.(oh im not complacent about it,my other dog was the dog from hell with toilet training!! im just grateful) Look forward to piccies xx


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

JSR said:


> :lol: I've been 'researching' what dogs eat for the last 30 odd years of ownership thanks. *And beggers can't be choosers when it comes to food being donated, and YES our dogs are all in perfect condition and EXTREAMLY happy ...but then I suppose they would be after being saved from death*, so I doubt a bag of 'terrible' food is worse than what they were getting.  All complete food isn't what dogs would naturally pick to eat, if you read what I wrote ANY food fed in conjunction with good quality raw diet is fine because they will get the goodness from the meat and the crap dried stuff is purely there for bulk.
> 
> Those that can afford a high horse fab :thumbup:...the rest of us will continue to abuse our poor dogs with a bad diet due to our obvious lack of knowledge.
> 
> Oh just noted you are asking questions about raw feeding? So you admit that a compete diet (even one that passes your strict criteria) isn't perfect for dogs??? Suggest you read posts first before replying in the future.


Whilst I obviously HUGELY applaud anyone who rescues animals, I hate when they then turn around and use it as a point to justify knowingly feeding crap food.

Exactly how much would you price a high horse at? £15? £20? It's nothing to do with affording anything, there's decent quality foods available to suit all budgets, you just choose not to feed it. Simple.


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## Matrix/Logan (May 7, 2009)

SlingDash said:


> My oh my. Such hyper-sensitivity and sarcasm there (is it really necessary one wonders?), it's difficult to know where to even begin with a reply. Suffice it to say that nobody was suggesting anything remotely like what you said in that penultimate paragraph, or what you were sayng in general in that reply.
> 
> I have had my eyes opened to the benefits of a natural, raw diet since joining this forum, and that is what I have been led to believe is the very best we can feed our dogs - hence it is what I'm going to attempt to feed from now on. Perhaps even this diet isn't the best - which has led to my confusion on the subject with such differing advice being published here there and everywhere.
> 
> ...


Agree! Someone is being oversensitive me thinks!! 

The person asking for advice has not got a kennel full of rescue dogs and was asking for advice for her pet dog ''i think''!


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

Another thing that has been said many, many times both here and elsewhere is:

"*My/our dogs are being fed on so-and-so food, and they are happy and healthy*".

People are missing the point entirely with this comment - even if they feed the 'best' food there is.

The dogs aren't appearing "happy and healthy" BECAUSE of the food they are being fed. Very few animals 'start out' ill and diseased, and get better by improving their nutrition, but most - if not all - animals will suffer the consequences of a poor diet eventually.

*Such dogs appear to be happy and healthy because they ARE happy and healthy*, but by feeding terrible quality food, you are seriously jeopardising the chances of them remaining so for as long as they possibly can. The scientific/technological mantra of "garbage in, garbage out" springs to mind here, and feeding poor quality food is in no way good for any animal - no matter how much better quality food they also eat. It all has to go through the same bodily functions, the body has to deal with everything that is put into it, and an animal can only eat a certain amount of food.

In JSR's case, the dogs appear happy and healthy because, I would assume, JSR runs a fantastic rescue centre, and he/she gives the dogs the loving care they so desperately need.

If I may repeat myself here:

JSR's dogs are 'happy' because of the care they are receiving, and NOT because they are being fed on Dr. John's food.


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

If you were happy with Burns before, you might like to try Skinners Lamb & Rice (is that the one guys?) or Skinners Duck Maintenance. 

I highly recommend Arden Grange. Their Adult Lamb & Rice is popular and the price tag is a nice bonus too.


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

Skinner's is yet another new one for me!

Having just looked at the website, it does look pretty good, although the main ingredient is Maize, and the meat content looks very low:
*
Maize, chicken meat meal (17.5% min),
whole rice (15% min), oats, poultry fat,
white fish meal, vitamins and minerals,
brewer's yeast, culinary herb mix.*

It all looks natural though, so I'd say it is a pretty good food overall, and certainly far better than the majority of commercial rubbish there is out there. Arden Grange looks a little more 'suspect' to me, although we have fed it in the past:

*Potato (min. 42%), White Fishmeal* (haddock) (min. 26%), Beet Pulp, Chicken Oil*, Linseed, Fish Oil*, Dried Brewers Yeast, Egg Powder, Minerals, Vitamins, Nucleotides, Prebiotic FOS, Prebiotic MOS, Cranberry Extract, Chondroitin Sulphate, Glucosamine Sulphate, MSM, Yucca Extract *Preserved with mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract.
*
What on earth are all those additives?! Why are they needed if it is such a good quality food? Such confusion!

Has anybody ever heard of Symply? Our local pet shop has just started stocking it, and they are praising it very highly (probably thanks to some business goings-on behind the scenes...?? Such skepticism, eh!). Here is the list of ingredients for Symply:

*Dried Turkey (min. 26%), White Rice (min. 26%), Rice Bran, Rice Flour, Oats, Sunflower Oil, Beet Pulp, Dried Egg, Seaweed.*

You can see that the main ingredient here is meat*, and this is what we believe should be the main ingredient in all good quality dog foods.

*Actually, having re-read that post, it's NOT the 'main ingredient, is it? It's equal in proportion to the rice content!

*"Welcome to Symply - healthy, natural dog food*
*The healthiest natural dog food on the market today."*

Is it? That's quite a claim for them to be making there!


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## Callie (May 6, 2010)

About Symply dog food................I think I might give this a try at some point as it was suggested by someone on the forum when I told about my puppies having doggy dandruff...It's supposed to be really good for problem skin.


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## Horse and Hound (May 12, 2010)

Those in the know, what do you make of these:

1)
Salmon Protein (min. 23%), Potato (min. 21%), Sorghum, Whole Grain Barley (min. 10%), Atlantic Fish Meal, Whole Linseed (min. 4%), Sugar Beet Pulp (min. 5%), Sunflower Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Alfalfa, Natural Seawood (min. 0.5%), Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Methionine, Marigold Extract, Yucca Extract, Rosemary Extract.

2)
Fresh Turkey (min. 65%), Turkey Liver (min. 5%), Brown Rice (min. 5%), Minerals, Vitamins, Seaweed, Chicory Root, Glucosamine and Chondroitin. with Antioxidant EC Additives


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Well,im certainly no expert,but the first seems abit odd.The first ingredient being salmon protein (not salmon?) .It also has a high suger content (sorghum and sugar beet pulp) plus the fish meal (whatever parts of fish that may be) is quite low in the list in my opinion.
The second seems to be a good quality food to me.


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## Roo (May 28, 2009)

The second one looks far better until you get to the 'Antioxident EC Additives' part..............that is a real cloak & dagger minefield. Personally, I wouldn't touch any food with EC permitted additives.


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

lyceum said:


> whilst i obviously hugely applaud anyone who rescues animals, i hate when they then turn around and use it as a point to justify knowingly feeding crap food.
> 
> Exactly how much would you price a high horse at? £15? £20? It's nothing to do with affording anything, there's decent quality foods available to suit all budgets, you just choose not to feed it. Simple.


tell you what love you put your hand in your pocket and buy us some food then. What a utterly utterly stupid insensive thing to say. How many dogs you watched die this week through lack of funds?


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

Matrix/Logan said:


> Agree! Someone is being oversensitive me thinks!!
> 
> The person asking for advice has not got a kennel full of rescue dogs and was asking for advice for her pet dog ''i think''!


Yes very very very oversensitive when idiots thing they know everything when in fact they know nothing.

I've had my fill of this place. Full of moron's who have absolutely no idea what the real world is like. Sit at home and watch Panorama, write a little post about how sad it all is and just get on with life.

Lucky you that you can all bury your heads so fair up your own bums.

Reply all you like cos I won't be around to respond, much rather spend my time and energy discussing things with people who actually know what they are talking about and DO rather than bleat like sheep.


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## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Well said JSR:thumbup:

Rescue's do the best they can with the funds they have and I'm sure would use the best of everything if funds would allow.


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

Mum2Heidi said:


> Well said JSR:thumbup:
> 
> Rescue's do the best they can with the funds they have and I'm sure would use the best of everything if funds would allow.


I doubt anybody would or could deny that fact, but this is not what this topic was about.

The problem here is that some people seem incapable of realising that topic subject matter, and what people say in their responses to it, has absolutely nothing to do with their personal situation - at least that's not what is INTENDED by people's replies. Some folk personalise everything that's said in people's replies when they really shouldn't do so.

This topic was asking about the quality of a certain food, and people have offered their advice on what is, and what is not, a good quality food.

That's it. Simple as that.

If people are personalising what others have said, then they are totally misunderstanidng the whole point of a forum such as this, and it's irrelevant and unnecessary to the point of the topic itself to start hurling abuse at others.

If this topic were titled: "*Re-homing shelters should not feed Dr. John's dog food, and they are being immoral and/or uncaring if they do so*", then the angry replies we've had from some members would be wholly valid.

It has been suggested that people read the topics that are posted befroe replying to them and this, I would suggest, is what has not been done by those who have responded in such an angrey manner.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

JSR said:


> tell you what love you put your hand in your pocket and buy us some food then. What a utterly utterly stupid insensive thing to say. How many dogs you watched die this week through lack of funds?


So now that's my fault? And everyone here is a moron, you're clearly the only person who has to deal with these things in the real world, while the rest of the us sits at home at watches panorama? Oh please, get over yourself.

If we're talking personal circumstances, I'm a carer, have seen people suffering immeasurably through lack of funds, but since that's got zip to do with doctor Johns food, I'll not bang on about it.

Nobody is disputing the fact that rescues do the best they can on what they have, you know, like every charity worth a damn. But OP asked about a food, not a charity.


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## Amy&Ted (Jul 14, 2010)

Blimey we're all morons now? :eek6:


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2010)

To be fair, I wouldnt feed it to my own dog, but JSR simply stated she uses it at her rescue and their dogs are fine on it and got jumped on! Accusations of not researching or caring what they eat...when keeping a kennel full of dogs is an expenisve task, and dogs eat alot when there is more than a few "pets" so who can turn down food donations?? 
Bringing rescues into the mix was merely a response to people jumpin down her throat for saying that shes had good experiances with the food!
Alot of ignorance and arrogance shown here


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## Amy&Ted (Jul 14, 2010)

To be honest in a rescue i can imagine with the amount of animals they take in... it must be difficult to feed them. After being malnourished and possibly abused or neglected... they would probably be glad of ANY meal.

I think rescue centres do a fantastic job and without them a lot of animals would be still on the streets or worse, dead.

However this thread isn't about rescues. It's about asking questions about the best food. So perhaps its time to get the thread back on track and let tempers cool down.


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## SlingDash (Jul 30, 2010)

> However this thread isn't about rescues. It's about asking questions about the best food. So perhaps its time to get the thread back on track and let tempers cool down.


Agreed. But judging by what's happened, getting topics (especially this one) about which foods are bad and which are good, either back on track or without tempers flaring, is going to be very difficult!

It is hardly surprising such things have happened, seeing as we all care so much about our companions, and we all wish to do our very best for them.


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## Amy&Ted (Jul 14, 2010)

SlingDash said:


> Agreed. But judging by what's happened, getting topics (especially this one) about which foods are bad and which are good, either back on track or without tempers flaring, is going to be very difficult!
> 
> *It is hardly surprising such things have happened, seeing as we all care so much about our companions, and we all wish to do our very best for them.*


Completely agree but they turn into slanging matches which helps neither the OP or anyone else that may have these queries


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