Dry Chappie

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Dry Chappie

Missy · Master

I've tried quite a few dry dog foods and found most of the real cheap ones causes slack poohs and upset tums.

I now currently feed my greys on Purina Beta Greyhound.... not a slack pooh in sight and no gurgling bellies. I also use a mixer to pad it out a bit which is designed for the more sensitive stomachs. Burgess Super Dog triple mixer. I have four dogs and a 15kg bag with mixer bag tends to last 2 weeks. Also the Purina Beta Greyhound is VAT Free and is only £11.99 for 15kg. You can buy both of these products from pets at home. Just remember if you change the food you will not see improved results for about a month in other words try them on one brand per month until you get the results you want but obviously if they take an extreme dislike or severe slack poohs then don't continue to use the product.

Hope this helps.

UndercoverElephant · Master

We haven't tried Chappie with Blue, he's rather pampered with his Arden Grange. We have tried ProPlan though (when the Arden Grange ran out), and I can safely say never again, dreadful results.

I have heard from other owners that the dried chappie is great though, and a fair few vets will recommend it for dogs with dicky tums. I'd say give it a go with a small bag, see how they go.

-- Edited by UndercoverElephant at 17:06, 2006-03-01

Jennifer · Big Cheese

when am i gonna see Blue? i havent seen him since you rescued him from "the dump" LOL

Can i see piccies purlease?

Amanda · Master

Hi Jennifer. Will get some more pics sorted. There is 1 of him in"roaching" position on the kennel fund dog show site.

We will hopefully be going to the first Edinburgh dog walk (weather permitting).

Back onto the chappie thing. Never used the dry stuff but my parents spanial had the tinned chappie - it was the only thing her stomach would tolerate. Hope you get a good result from it

Ax

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Im going to the Edinburgh walk so hopefully see you there

Im gonna buy some dry chappie tomorrow and gradually wean them over and hopefully it will suit them

UndercoverElephant · Master

And now there's another, in "Face in Focus" of him saying, "Put the camera down and give my ears a tickle!".

Sunny girl · Master

We feed Sunny on Wagg complete. Sunny wouldn't eat Arden Grange (very fussy eater). We tryed 5 different brands when we first got her and she turned them all down. My friend down south has greyhounds and all have great shiney coats, I couldn't beleive it when she said she feeds them on Wagg its only £9 per 15kg sack.

Sunny is fit, well and happy and clears her bowl every night. People keep commenting on her shiney soft coat so it must be doing her good. Oh and never had a soft poo.

Its about what suits your own dog, not how much it costs.

I do add a bit of oil to it and somtimes a bit of hot water.

Hope you find somthing that suits your pooches and your pocket soon.

Landess and Sunny.

Teresa · Enlightened One

we've had our fair share of dilemmas over food too. one consideration has to be the cost, considering how expensive some of these dog foods can be.

we give ours about a 1/4 cup of Wagg for breakfast which they graze on during the day.

evening meal is now Supa Dog by Burgess - the Adult Maintenance one. since giving them this food, their poos have been so much better, not a sloppy one in sight. i can only put this down to the low protein level - 18% as opposed to the 20% or 28% in the "proper" greyhound kibble they were having. I aso buy the frozen packets of various minced meat from Pets At Home which I cook and mix with the Supa Dog. Mind you, this is probably more for my benefit than theirs - I like to think I'm a good mummy and give them some tasty stuff to go with the biscuits !!!

We have no experience of the dried Chappie but it's more expensive and, as with many products, you may be paying for the name but do give it a go.

both Wagg and Burgess are available at Pets At Home for about £10 for a 15kg bag.

good luck with whatever you try.

Jennifer · Big Cheese

daves_mum wrote:

We have no experience of the dried Chappie but it's more expensive

Chappie is cheap, i bought a 15kg bag tonight on way home from work and it was only £13, this was actually with a free 2kg Thought that was a bargain, compared to the likes of James Wellbeloved at about £40 a 15kg bag.

greyflintstone · Master

daves_mum wrote:

i can only put this down to the low protein level - 18% as opposed to the 20% or 28% in the "proper" greyhound kibble they were having. I aso buy the frozen packets of various minced meat from Pets At Home which I cook and mix with the Supa Dog. Mind you, this is probably more for my benefit than theirs - I like to think I'm a good mummy and give them some tasty stuff to go with the biscuits !!!

By adding extra meat to a complete dog food you are, in essence, giving them a high protein food! That's why it's called a complete food - cos it's got everything in the right quantities that your dog will need.

Teresa · Enlightened One

oops!!! never thought of that! silly me.

mind you, by reducing the protein level in the complete food, i'm reducing the protein level overall eh??

anyway, poos and dogs seem good on it !!

Jennifer · Big Cheese

I add a bit meat to my dogs food aswell. I know its complete but they sometimes get a bit bored of it on its own so i just flavour it for them

carolineasb · Old Hand

Hi all

Just to add in my experience - we are feeding our 2 on dry chappie at the moment although they don't eat it very enthusiastically so I'm adding natural yoghurt to it. Sascha had started peeing in her bed & we had to go to the vet's to have it checked out (thought she might have the hormonal incontinence that can be common in older spayed bitches) & it turned out that her pee was too alkaline instead of slightly acidic which is apparently a bit like cystitis. The vet asked what food they were on (which was Hill's Nature Diet - not one I liked them eating on an ethical basis, but they were eating it & they can be fussy - although I had noticed that they were drinking more) & suggested that I change them to dry chappie - touch wood she's not had any accidents since.

Our GSD that we had several years ago was on tinned chappie as it was the only thing that was good for his stomach.

Caroline

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Ive now got my 3 on the dried chappie and it seems to be going down a treat. I noticed you said about your dog having hormonal incontinence, my oldest bitch "Eva" gets this and has been on tablets for it everyday for the past year. She is on tabs called Incurin. They seem to have really helped. Also you mentioned about your dog drinking a lot and thought it may be cystitis, my Eva has also been drinking a lot the past few weeks and i was gonna take her to the vets for a check incase of infection or kindey problems but since i have changed her the chappie (although she has only been on it about 1 week) i have noticed a difference. She hasnt been drinking the large amount that she had been when she was the proplan complete food

BOWGANG · Master

We feed our 3 on Wagg too. We tried lots of others but this is the one that they seem to prefer. They are all very healthy with nice shiny coats and wet noses so what more can we ask for!!

Shirley

Jennifer · Big Cheese

well dry chappie isnt going down a treat anymore

Im not even half way down the bag and they are fed up with it. Millie took one mouthful tonight then walked away, normally she loves her grub! Toby just walked away too and Eva wolfed the lot as she'd eat anything. Im gonna have to have a re-think about what im gonna feed them thats still fairly low protein

Chas · Old Hand

Thankfully, we've never had a problem with fussy eaters. Freddy eats anything he's given, and Wilma's diet is controlled due to certain intolerances!

My brother-in-laws dogs can be very fussy (not eating that, there's no gravy!!) and they are both fed on dry Chappie. If you change their food just cause they have stopped eating after a few days, they could become fed up with the next lot of food and you have the same senario all over again. This happened with a friend of ours, and they tried 4 or 5 differnt brands, before they decided to persist with the same food. After 2 or 3 days of turning their nose up at the food, the dog decided it wasn't that bad after all and now eat most of the bowl without any fuss.

Might be worth sticking with it a while longer to see what happens. The dogs might be hungry for a couple of days and then realise that the Chappie is better than nothing. Maybe add some water, or very watery gravy every now and again, just to change the flavour a bit - trick them into thinking the food's new!!

Might be worth a try whilst you've still got a load of the Chappie left!

Chas

MojoTilly · Master

Just to warn you in our experience Chappie makes dogs rather windy! Tilly is currently on Beta Active food (on offer in Pets at Home) which seems to suit her. She's still fairly windy on numerous occasions but at least the kibbles are larger and stop her from inhaling the food.

Teresa · Enlightened One

we tried numerous combinations of food for the reason that they seemed to turn their noses up at it...i added sardines, tuna, yoghurt, olive oil, you name it, i tried it...then i decided to be a bit tougher. they either eat what i give them or they go hungry. it's really hard to do for the first few days but you know that what they're getting is good food - you're not poisoning them !!!

of course, the other consideration is their tums, or what comes out the other end! as long as the "produce" was ok, i was happy. now we are not bothering with the Wagg.... Burgess for brekkie and dinner. they are happy with it, as are their bottoms!

with food, it really is trial-and-error. price doesn't seem to guarantee results.

Dawn · Guru

At the end of the day..........

You get what you pay for.......buy cheap dog food and you get a dog on cheap dog food........skits (as they say in Glasgow), buy good dog food and you get a healthy happy dog............not having problems with his/her bum!!

Simple!!!

Buy from Frasers....quality

Buy from a car boot sale....... NOT quality!!

Simple!!

Dave · Enlightened One

ah, the old 'dog food' debate...personal experience is that you pays for what you gets, Chappie is cheap, thats pretty much all it's got going for it.

My advice is this - less than 20% protien for the skinny's and summit thats got little or no additives. Pick your upper price limit and stick to that. If the dogs get bored with the food then they get hungry but try something in it to liven it up (olive oil being the thing of choice).

Expect loose poo's with cheaper foods especially for our pampered hounds, like I say you pays for what you gets...

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Ive taken them off the chappie and back on to proplan!! Its about £30 a bag of 15KG and about 27% protien but they all love it and have rock solid poo's!! They wolfed their food down tonight as were glad to have it back. They also never have wind when on proplan. I have got a staff discount for buying proplan at work so although im paying more, your right about paying more - i have happier, less smelly dogs LOL and less poo to pick up when out walking. I found when they were on the chappie, they were producing huge amounts of poo

I think im just gonna stick to proplan from now on as dogs are happy and although im paying more, i'm happy knowing they are happy.

has anyone else used proplan or heard anything about it? would like to hear views? The only reason i changed was in the first place was that my dog agility trainer guy said it was so high in protien it would make dogs loopy

Dave · Enlightened One

Jennifer wrote:

The only reason i changed was in the first place was that my dog agility trainer guy said it was so high in protien it would make dogs loopy

Hi Jennifer, I'd tend to agree with your trainer, 27% is quite high! If we have a loopy hound on our hands first thing we usualy do is check the food! That said it doesn't seem to be doing your mob any harm!

UndercoverElephant · Master

You don't always do bad with the cheaper foods, for a long while, Blue was perfectly happy on Aldi's own Beef dog food (the chicken one did make his tummy bad, but the Beef was quite good). It seems quite tasty, it's cheap (£2 for a 3KG bag), and it has Friendly bacteria, to stop him smelling rank.

We only changed to the Arden Grange as it has the Glucosamine in, which is good as he used to get quite a lot of aches and pains, now he has none at all.

Sunny girl · Master

Mmmmmm not sure I agree with the price thing. Some brands you are paying for the name. If Wagg was £40 a sack I would pay it as Sunny likes it and is fit and healthy and has never had loose poos.

I was worried about posting what I fed as I feel a bit of pressure to go with certain brands but you have no idea how fussy Sunny can be and I always stuck with each brand I tryed for well over a week.

My dog is happy healthy and eating well so I am in no rush to change.

I do add oil and if she ever needs it will add other supplements.

At the end of the day its what suits your pooch best.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Sunny girl wrote:

Mmmmmm not sure I agree with the price thing. Some brands you are paying for the name. If Wagg was £40 a sack I would pay it as Sunny likes it and is fit and healthy and has never had loose poos.
I was worried about posting what I fed as I feel a bit of pressure to go with certain brands but you have no idea how fussy Sunny can be and I always stuck with each brand I tryed for well over a week.
My dog is happy healthy and eating well so I am in no rush to change.
I do add oil and if she ever needs it will add other supplements.
At the end of the day its what suits your pooch best.

I agree 100%. We feed our two on Autarky, which is £11 for a 15kg bag from Costco. All natural ingredients, no additives, no colours, good level of protein, nowt in there to send them loopy, good blend of veg/rice/chicken, every morsel gets eaten up. They're fit, healthy, well-behaved (

) and generally all-round smashing!

You say tomatoes and I say tomatoes (which would work better with a sound file!)