Food advice, practising what you preach!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

littlehays — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:23:02 GMT

[quote user="Phrin Vernon"]

[quote user="Bizzy McClure"]

Interestingly I went to a Diabetes CPD last night and the speaker said that somne referral practces feed chappie to Diabetic patients as it is high in fibre.

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I have always been taught that chappie is the best of the low cost foods, esp for diabetics, as it so high in fibre.

I feed my pooch chappie, and yes, she does poo a lot! But she is in fab condition - I'd love to be able to feed her a premium food, but I just can't afford the initial outlay!

[/quote]

i feed my lurcher chappie mainly because it is the only thing he'll eat, he loves it! he's such a fussy git but chappie gets his approval

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Phrin Vernon RVN — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:20:00 GMT

[quote user="Bizzy McClure"]

Interestingly I went to a Diabetes CPD last night and the speaker said that somne referral practces feed chappie to Diabetic patients as it is high in fibre.

[/quote]

I have always been taught that chappie is the best of the low cost foods, esp for diabetics, as it so high in fibre.

I feed my pooch chappie, and yes, she does poo a lot! But she is in fab condition - I'd love to be able to feed her a premium food, but I just can't afford the initial outlay!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Tracey Louise — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:00:07 GMT

[quote user="Vickipr"]

Hi,

I feed my cat Whiska's wet and he has dry hills C/D in a food ball. He was meant to be on C/D wet, but HATED it so much, and the RCW equivelent, and in fact, his cystits re-occured as he was so stressed about the food he disliked so much, so now he has whiska's wet and dry C/D in a food ball to keep him active! He's doing so well on this and no more cystitis! :)

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I didnt think you were supposed to give any other type of food with the prescription diets? As they dilute them down, and may be reversing what they are trying to do?

I may be wrong on this one, but that is what ive always been told by vets i work with.

But at least his cystitis has gone

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:57:19 GMT

Vicky......I think its a staffie thing......look hard on the outside but totally soft and sensitive on the inside!!!! If Tiya has anything else other than her Beta she tends to trump......bless her........silent but deadly ones!!!!!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Katie B — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:38:04 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

Like everything else, you get what you pay for. In the vast majority of cases the quality of the food will be reflected in the price. Plenty of people are still happy to eat (and feed to their children) mechanically recovered meat and offal in their sausages and burgers and are therefore unlikely to worry about the quality of the protein in their pet's food. I personally would rather eat one good sausage than 3 crappy ones so am happy to pay 3X as much for them. I choose to feed my dogs a better food than chappie. However, I am also happy to say that most pets won't come to any harm on it.

We are all here to simply advise, not to be salespeople. What clients (and nurses) choose to do with their own money is up to them, surely? At the end of the day, any complete diet is going to be better than the 'bad old days' of just feeding scraps and leftovers!!!

[/quote]

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Vicky RVN — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:47:00 GMT

As to tooth brushing....no i don't do Jacks. I got a kit and tried it, he loves licking the paste off the brush but he hates being brushed and would hide when he saw it. So i decided not worth stressing him out, he primarily eats dry food, has an oral bar every night, chews on a regular basis and his teeth are still perfect.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Vicky RVN — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:43:37 GMT

[quote user="Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA"]

My staffie has a sensitive stomach...bless her......had a right problem with wind!!! So I put her on Royal Canin sensitivity which did work......but even with staff discount it was costing a fortune.....so we now have her on Beta sensitive which does the same job but half the price........

[/quote]

Jack too has a sensitive windy belly!!! When i got him he was on Arden Grange, didn't get on with it and had soft stools, so tried him on JW. Still not great on that so now got him on Burns white fish and brown rice. He prefers it to the JW and his belly is much better on it. He has a spoon of veg with each meal and loves it! I found that for his size he needed lots more of the JW than he does the Burns, so a sack lasts longer and Jack is eating his meals rather than leaving some.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Honeybadger — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:51:29 GMT

Interestingly I went to a Diabetes CPD last night and the speaker said that somne referral practces feed chappie to Diabetic patients as it is high in fibre.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Gillian Mostyn — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:16:32 GMT

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Vickipr — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:45:23 GMT

Hi,

He also does have his teeth brushed, and absolutely loves the chicken flavour toothpaste!

I work for a charity, and so our client's can not always afford the prescription diets. Chappie is used quite a lot, especially for dogs with sensitive tummies, and most of them do really well on it!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Nicola Smith — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:51:34 GMT

We sell RC at work but if a client comes in and the food they are feeding is suiting their dog then fine. I would never advise a client to change if no problems, only if they are having problems on the food eg d+. If they are having problems will give them samples of ours but also advise other pet shop diets they can look at which may be suitable, as RC food is above most of our clients budgets.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Katie B — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:31:26 GMT

[quote user="Ju_xx"]

I feed my dog Eukanuba as that is the best that has suited my dog. She was on RCW a few months back but her coat went awful so I swapped it back. I know some people don't like eukanuba but I have found it great. I agree with the opinions about chappie as in my experience it has been very good and also have worked with vets that highly recommend it. I don't like food such as Baker's and pedigree and i've jsut found them bad foods (and also learnt recently that they are pro inflammatory so not good for joints either). I do a lot of nurse clinics and I go with what the owner wants.

I find there is no point telling someone what to feed the dog as they are less likely to come back to you and you won't bond with the client either as they think you are being bossy and won't want to bring thier overweight dog or cat back to you.

[/quote]

oh i didn't know they were bad for the joints. So glad I only got a small pedigree diet bag now. Thanks for letting us know.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Ju_xx — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:17:23 GMT

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

bongo — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:01:26 GMT

one thing which really bothered me about my last practice was the constant pressure to sell rcw food. One nurse inparticular was very pushy indeed and really put the pressure on clients to buy these diets for their animals. we were constatnly having training on how to sell food and at the end of the day i am not a salesperson and if I am in a shop and someone is bugging me to buy something then i am less likely to buy it (even if i really want it!)

Dont get me wrong, these diets do have their place. I feed my cat on felix. He did once had LUTD but as this wasnt due to crystals i never bothered to put him on urinary food, i just mix water with it to ensure he is getting plenty of fluids into him. if he had had evidence of stones/crystals in his bladder then i would have definately had him on urinary diet- like I said I am not against the diets.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Fuzzyduck — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:54:09 GMT

[quote user="HelenS"]

which ones are the same?

[/quote]

Ha i was just going to ask the same thing!!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:27:31 GMT

which ones are the same?

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

molladog — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:55:32 GMT

I agree with scot lass. I used to work in a large retail pet food store and we used to sell a massive range from 60 pounds to 10 pounds for a 20kg bag. Most of the brands around the 20 pound mark were good quality food and were definately not substandard. Most people are unaware that several premium brands are bought up and re labelled under a different name much cheaper than the original!!! If you know which ones they are then you are laughing + can grab a bargain.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

paula morgan — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:12:15 GMT

My 2 labs have been on Wag for years and they are the picture of health, my 2 Border Terriers are on Chappie, Scamp has CECS and was advised by the chairman of CECS to put him on that, I havent had any problems since he went on it, sorry theres no way am paying £50 for a bag of dog food!!!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:32:38 GMT

Chinchillas and ferrets are on pets at home food.....I did have the ferrets on JWB when I first got them.....use to but the 15kg bag so was cost effective but ran out one time so had to grab something and pets at home was option.....they go mad for it........s kept them on it.......only problem is it only comes in a small 2kg bag which doesnt last long......I have mentioned this few times when I go to my local pets at home store but no change yet. Seems very strange when theres a larger bag for rats?????

I dont tend to preach to clients I will tell them about the food the practice stocks but if they really cant afford it I work with what they can afford.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Sally Howe — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:15:12 GMT

I too go with what the owner can actually afford.

I or my mother-in-law brush my dogs teeth as they are show dogs. they are on arden grange light (gaia and hercules) and obesity (maya, until ideal weight and then onto arden grange).

The 8 cats are all on Royal Canin mature (when we get our free quota) or arden grange senior

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Mark Walsh — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:45:48 GMT

I have had dogs and cats all my life and have always fed the commercial foods such as chappie, caesar, felix and go cat. All our pets have lived to old age without any ongoing problems or anyting diet related. Reps say that Royal canin and Hills food is better quality and maybe they are right but how can I tell an owner to avoid the commercial diets when I have found them to be absolutely fine?

I also find that their isn't the variety of flavours with Hills and Royal canin that you get with the supermarket food. E.g a box of Felix cat food pouches gives the cat a different flavour each meal.

I did try my two Jack russells on Royal canin neutered dog dry food and they clearly got bored by eating the same bland diet every feed. One refused in the end. For her it must've been like eating a big pile of plain ryvita for us. Too dry and too bland.

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:44:39 GMT

i might just do it and tell the mr its tough. its funny because most people would say that i 'wear the trousers' (i hate that phrase sorry) but he really puts his foot down with his cats (we have been together almost 8 yrs but they are still 'his' lol)

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Fuzzyduck — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:38:49 GMT

[quote user="HelenS"]

well i am not a nurse (yet!)

our cats are fed whiskas, im afraid to say, the cats have been here longer than me and the husband refuses to feed them anything else, i got them onto a more ethical healthier dry food but they both got cystitis as they wernt drinking enough. It sounds bad but as i dont drive and cant carry the food I have given up on trying to change it :(

the dog is fed on burns, and i wouldnt feed him anything else

our chickens are ex battery hens so they need the specific ex battery hen crumbs, they are really flourishing on that stuff!

our rats are fed a home made mix, if you google the shunamite diet, its that. It was invented by a rat breeder that has also studied their needs thoroughly, sadly no premade rat foods are of a good enough standard (in mine and many other rat fanciers opinions)

[/quote]

Helen, i get Burns food for my cats, if you wanted to switch foods for them i get mine from Zooplus website, its the cheapest ive found for that particular food and very cheap compared to Hills RCW etc. Free delievery too, so you dont have to struggle carrying it from the supermarket etc!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Tracy Windler RVN — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:30:15 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"] I am sorry you didnt think I was interested in anybody elses opinion because I am, but I must admit that I did read your original post that anybody not feeding the 'best' wasnt doing the best by the animal and that anybody not advising the 'best' was failing the client -when a premium food may not actually be the 'best' for an individual, so yes that did get my hackles up and yes I did allow that to influence the tone of my reply. Apologies for any mis-understanding.[/quote]

I thought your reply seemed anything BUT harsh or critical. I got the impression you were deliberately trying to avoid it! I keep expecting to get a barrage of abuse everytime I post something controversial and don't these days. Are we getting a bit more placid on here??!!

Re: Food advice, practising what you preach!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:25:13 GMT

well i am not a nurse (yet!)

the dog is fed on burns, and i wouldnt feed him anything else

our chickens are ex battery hens so they need the specific ex battery hen crumbs, they are really flourishing on that stuff!