# Best low fat, no additives, dry dog food



## cullamubba (Apr 2, 2010)

So we have 3 bichon x yorkie boys and 2 of them are over weight. 

A while back the boys wouldnt eat their breakfast when they were having just dry food so my Dad started mixing in meat aswell, so now they've ended up having 2 meals a day of meat and dry mixed and I'm pretty sure that is too much! My Dad's having none of it though!

I've been trying to find a low fat natural dry food to ring the changes for them as they're not that kean on dry on it's own. 

My Dad has done a load of research on the best dog foods and has found Burns to be the best and not too expensive, but this is based on it having no grains as apparently animals don't have the ability to digest grains but I don't know how true that is??? 


I've been looking at the Hills nature range which seems pretty good but it does contain barley so my Dad wont even consider it. 
Why would pretty much all vets, the PDSA, RSPCA, and Blue Cross all stock Hills if it contained ingredients that were no good for them?? Doesnt make sense to me so I'm not convinced it's completely true.

So basically I'm asking are we doing the right thing by feeding them just dry in the morning, then meat and mixer in the evening, and if so, which is the best dry food for no more than about £5 per kg.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2011)

cullamubba said:


> So we have 3 bichon x yorkie boys and 2 of them are over weight.
> 
> A while back the boys wouldnt eat their breakfast when they were having just dry food so my Dad started mixing in meat aswell, so now they've ended up having 2 meals a day of meat and dry mixed and I'm pretty sure that is too much! My Dad's having none of it though!
> 
> ...


You've posed some interesting questions 

Firstly the Hills range is NOT good food. It's not terrible but it's by no means great, and it's extremely overpriced. The reason why vets etc stock and push it is because they get commission for selling it. Plus, a lot of vets know very little about nutrition, and their nutrition training is actually sponsored by Hills! It's the same with Royal Canin in some vets. I was sucked in by 'the vets recommend it, it must be good' too, but it's really, really not!

In terms of wet/dry, it really doesn't matter provided you're feeding a good quality food. You can feed just wet, just dry or a mix, whatever suits you best. It's the quantity that causes weight issues, not whether it's wet or dry. Obviously if you're feeding a full meal of dry and then adding wet on top of that, it's going to be too much. If they're really overweight you need to be looking at the amount of exercise they're getting too.

Burns is a middle-of-the-road food, it's ok (certainly better than Hills) but not the best. It has quite a bit of rice in it, so I'm not sure why your dad thinks it doesn't have grains. Maybe they do a potato variety instead of the rice, but so do pretty much all good brands.

I don't really know much about low-fat varieties of common foods, I'm not sure there's too many around (but could be wrong). I would think though that if you start feeding them to the recommended amount and upping the exercise a bit you shouldn't need a low-fat variety.

In terms of good food, you're looking for something with as much meat as possible and therefore little or no grains. If you want a completely grain-free food (and no potato) you want to look at Orijin - just meat and vege in there. Personally it's the only kibble I would feed, but it is pricey, although you feed very little of it (quite a bit less than other kibbles). Like I said Burns is ok, but I'd also recommend you look at Wainwrights (best value for money I think), Fish4dogs, James Wellbeloved, Acana, Arden Grange (and a few others I can't think of right now) for dry food. Good quality wets include Wainwrights, NatureDiet, Natures Harvest, Lily's Kitchen.

Hope this helps a bit


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## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

I have 2 chi x yorkies that are on Acana (which is also grain free), 1 weighs about 8lb and gets 50g a day and the other is almost 6lb and gets 40g a day, it can make them quite muscley but not fat. I've also used Arden Grange light temporarily for getting weight off the bigger one


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2011)

I didn't think Acana was grain free - doesn't it have oats and rice?


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## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

McKenzie said:


> I didn't think Acana was grain free - doesn't it have oats and rice?


They used to, but they do grain free now


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2011)

Ah so they do! Good for them :thumbsup:


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## kimdelyse (Sep 6, 2010)

Lily's Kitchen is the best quality I'm aware of...but the price and the fact it is largely only available online is a real downer. I buy it because I'm vegetarian, and whilst I respect it would not be right to impose my diet on my dog, their food contains organic, free-range chicken. Its a compromise


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2011)

I meant to add that you could consider feeding raw too - arguably the best diet for a dog


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## SixStar (Dec 8, 2009)

kimdelyse said:


> Lily's Kitchen is the best quality I'm aware of...but the price and the fact it is largely only available online is a real downer. I buy it because I'm vegetarian, and whilst I respect it would not be right to impose my diet on my dog, their food contains organic, free-range chicken. Its a compromise


Lily's Kitchen dry food is VERY middle of the road - 26% chicken, and that's fresh chicken, not even chicken meal - so once the moisture content has been removed you are left with something daft like 4% actual chicken in the food. It's also extremely grain heavy.

And - £49 for 7.5kg  Orijen is cheaper, and contains 80% meat and no grains.


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## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Just to add - it may be helpful to look at the "senior" version of brands. They are often lower in calories and sometimes cheaper than foods targeted specifically for slimming


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## Bellaboo1 (Aug 10, 2011)

Hi Burns Hi Oats is supposed to be good for overweight dogs, although as someone else said, Burns is mainly cereals !


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## henry (Mar 16, 2009)

Bellaboo1 said:


> Hi Burns Hi Oats is supposed to be good for overweight dogs, although as someone else said, Burns is mainly cereals !


See, this is where I was always torn with Burns - I like the ethics and the company, etc, but I can't get my head around 60-70% rice/cereal. Now I've gone the other way and feed Acana/Naturediet.


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## kimdelyse (Sep 6, 2010)

SixStar said:


> Lily's Kitchen dry food is VERY middle of the road - 26% chicken, and that's fresh chicken, not even chicken meal - so once the moisture content has been removed you are left with something daft like 4% actual chicken in the food. It's also extremely grain heavy.
> 
> And - £49 for 7.5kg  Orijen is cheaper, and contains 80% meat and no grains.


Flo has been thriving on Lily's Kitchen for the record, but Orijen does look good and appears to satisfy my ethical criteria...so thanks for the tip.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

kimdelyse said:


> Flo has been thriving on Lily's Kitchen for the record, but Orijen does look good and appears to satisfy my ethical criteria...so thanks for the tip.


Noone said Lily's kitches was a bad food. The wet is fantastic. But the dry is middle of the road. And stupid expensive considering Orijen is about the best kibble available and costs less.

Did you cut out some dry to compensate for the added wet?

I feed both, just give half the rda of dry and half the rda of kibble, no overweight dogs here.

Instead of changing food, maybe just feed less of it.


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## Tanji (Jul 17, 2013)

Nataliee said:


> I have 2 chi x yorkies that are on Acana (which is also grain free), 1 weighs about 8lb and gets 50g a day and the other is almost 6lb and gets 40g a day, it can make them quite muscley but not fat. I've also used Arden Grange light temporarily for getting weight off the bigger one


Love the thought of a 6lb muscular animal lol nice on


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## IncaThePup (May 30, 2011)

Fish4 dogs has a weight control only 7% fat and has a small bite for small breeds. ..only one my big dog will eat dry. If I get her regular size she won't eat it dry as treats! 

She's trying the Hi Oats Burns one at the minute but she doesn't like it dry on its own and if you add water it turns to mush. We might try the fish and brown rice instead not sure that that kibble is like, but Burns have reputation for keeping weight of dogs so something must work. 

She likes the Burns Penlan wet (for breakfast) which is not moussey like most wet foods its brown rice, chicken and veg. I think thats just over 2% fat.


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