This is my top list of (UK) dried dog food brands in no particular order:
Barking Heads
Orijen
Applaws
Arden Grange
Skinners Field and Trial
James Wellbeloved
Wainwrights
Fish4Dogs
Lathams
Burns
See previous blog post for a description of the first five makes.
James Wellbeloved
This company produces a huge range of food – several flavours and in each one, varieties for mini, adult, senior, large breed, puppy etc. etc. so I haven’t listed ALL of them in the table below.
Good ingredients, it doesn’t contain maize only rice, potato, oats or barley. It has a good percentage of meat (although still below 30% and as meal) and a range of lower to mid range calorie foods.
It is in the mid to high price range for premium dog food though, depending on where you get it from. Often conveniently sold in big pet store chains.
Wainwrights
Pets at Home own brand premium dried dog food. Mostly good ingredients but watch out for the odd variety that contains things such as ‘refined poultry oil’ or ‘poultry digest’ or ‘lamb digest’. I haven’t included any of those below.
Interesting also that a 7.5kg bag of Lamb & Rice does contain lamb digest while the 15kg bag of the same food doesn’t according to the website? They also do a cereal-free variety but this still contains ‘poultry fat’.
Obviously you can only get it from Pets At Home and therefore pay their prices which make it a mid-range priced food.
This food would sit at the bottom of this list, along with Skinners Field and Trial (listed products only, other products don’t qualify here).
Fish4dogs
A premium dog food which contains over 55% fish and no cereal (it uses potato). Doesn’t seem to be very widely used (perhaps because some owners say it smells so much they have to keep it outside!) but it contains all-good ingredients with no common ‘baddies’ (i.e. those ingredients which some dogs might be sensitive to).
It also has a high percentage of meat which can also only be better for dogs. There are a couple of different types available, as you’d expect, in the higher price range for premium foods (although again you can find some good prices online).
Lathams
There isn’t a lot of information about Lathams online yet as it’s Tesco’s own brand of premium dog food. However, we’ve been using the large breed variety for our smaller, laid back pedigree idiot as it’s got a lower oil (and therefore calorie) content than many premium foods and she looks as good as the big dog on top-notch Arden Grange (although still not as slim as I’d like).
Even though it’s from Tesco, it’s not cheap. It’s in the middle to high price range for this food.
I also can’t find any information online about the analysis – oil, protein etc. I can remember that the adult one is about 23% protein and 10% oil and the large breed is 24% protein and 11% oil.
Watch out for the feeding guide – the amount they suggest to feed is way over the top. They say our dog (21kg) should be fed over 300g a day whereas she’s maintaining her slightly overweight state, with 2 hour exercise a day, on about 225g a day (although all dogs will be different).
Burns
OK, lots of dog owners swear by Burns. It was developed by a vet after all. However, some varieties have a low percentage of meat and the rest is made up with cereals (especially the maize range), not an ideal diet for a (mostly) carnivore.
You will also see on forums many people complaining their dogs can’t keep weight on with Burns. We found this with ours, when we used to feed it we had to give our toast-rack dog the ‘Active’ variety which has the highest amount of oil at 20%. Most of them contain only 7.5% oil. Personally I think this particular vet got fed up with seeing fat dogs so developed a pretty low-calorie food.
It doesn’t contain any particular ‘baddies’ though. Some people add extra meat such as tinned tuna or those wet food pouches that are over 65% meat (Naturediet, Wainwrights, Applaws etc).
There is a huge range available now, please see the website for all of them, only a few are shown below.
I have only listed the first few ingredients in each one (usually down to the ‘oil’ ingredient, otherwise the table would be massive) so you can see what proportion of cereals are included and what they are. Please visit each company’s website for more information on their food.
Dog food | Ingredients | Analysis (% protein, fat, fibre, ash) | Approx. Price |
James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice Adult | rice (26%), lamb meal (26%), ground whole barley (14%), lamb fat | 20.0%, 10%, 3.6%, 8.4% | From £37 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice Large Breed Adult | rice (26%), lamb meal (26%), ground whole barley (10%), lamb fat | 23.5%, 14.5%, 3.4%, 8.7% | From £40 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice Senior/Light | rice (26%), ground whole barley (14%), lamb meal (21%), whole linseed, lamb gravy, sugar beet pulp, lamb fat | 18%, 8.5%, 3.5%, 7.0% | From £40 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Turkey & Rice Adult | rice (26%), turkey meal (26%), oats (13%), whole linseed, turkey gravy, turkey fat | 21%, 10%, 3.3%, 6.4% | From £26 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Turkey & Rice Large Breed Adult | rice (26%), turkey meal (26%), oats (10%), turkey fat | 23.5%, 14.5% 3.3%, 6.5% | From £40 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Turkey & Rice Senior/Light | rice (26%), oats (19%), turkey meal (17%), sugar beet pulp, whole linseed, turkey gravy, turkey fat | 18%, 8.5%, 3.8%, 5.2% | From £40 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Duck & Rice Adult | rice (27%), duck meal (27%), oats (12%), whole linseed, duck gravy, duck fat | 21%, 10%, 3.3%, 5.8% | From £37 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Duck & Rice Large Breed Adult | rice (27%), duck meal (27%), oats (7%), duck fat | 23.5%, 14.5% 3.3%, 6.5% | From £42 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Duck & Rice Senior/Light | rice (26%), duck meal (18%), oats (14%), whole linseed, duck gravy, duck fat | 18%, 8.5%, 3.8%, 6.8% | From £38 (15kg) |
James Wellbeloved Lamb & Veg cereal free Adult | lamb meal (26%), pea starch (26%), potato flakes (20%), tomato pomace, lamb fat | 21%, 10.5%, 4.8%, 8.9% | From £33 (10kg) |
James Wellbeloved Turkey & Veg cereal free Adult | turkey meal (26%), pea starch (26%), potato flakes (20%), tomato pomace, whole linseed, turkey fat, | 21%, 10.5%, 4.8%, 7.0% | From £33 (10kg) |
James Wellbeloved Fish & Rice cereal free Adult | ocean white fish meal (26%), pea starch (26%), potato flakes (20%), tomato pomace, whole linseed, fish stock, fish oil | 21%, 10.5%, 4.8%, 7.0% | From £34 (10kg) |
Wainwrights Adult Rabbit & Rice | Brown Rice (min. 24%), Rabbit Meat Meal (min. 26%), Whole Grain Barley (min. 23%),Potato Protein (min. 5%), Sunflower Oil (min. 4%) | 23%, 10%, 4.5%, 8% | £35 (15kg) |
Wainwrights Adult Lamb & Rice | Brown Rice (min. 30%), Lamb Meat Meal (min. 26%), Barley (min. 25.1%), Whole Linseed (min. 5%), Sugar Beet Pulp (min. 5%), Lamb Liver (min. 3%), Alfalfa (min. 2%), Lamb Fat (min. 1.5%) | 23%, 10%, 3.5%, 11% | £35 (15kg) |
Wainwrights Large Breed Salmon & Potato | Salmon (min. 24%), Potato (min.24%), Fish Meal (min. 13%), Potato Protein (min. 9%), Sunflower Oil (min. 8%), | 27.5%, 17%, 3.5%, 8% | £35 (15kg) |
Wainwrights Adult Salmon & Potato | 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 | 21%, 10%, 3.5%, 7.2% | £35 (15kg) |
Wainwrights Salmon & Potato Complete Puppy Food | Salmon Protein (min. 23%), Potato (min. 17.5%), Atlantic Fish Meal, Potato Protein, Sorghum, Whole Grain Barley (min. 10%), Sunflower Oil, | 30%, 15%, 3%, 3.7% | £35 (15kg) |
Wainwrights Salmon & Potato Mature | Potato (min. 22%), Salmon (min.20%), Sorghum (min. 20%), Whole Grain Barley (min. 17%), Fish Meal (min. 8%), Whole Linseed (min. 4%), Sugar Beet Pulp (min. 4%), Minerals, Sunflower Oil (min. 2%) | 18.5%, 8.5%, 3.5%, 6.5% | £35 (15kg) |
Finest Fish4Dogs Complete | Fresh Fish 30.5%, Potato 30.5%, Herring Meal 21.4%, Salmon Oil 7.6% | 26%, 12%, 2.5%, 9% | From £37 (12kg) |
Finest Salmon4Dogs Complete | Salmon 30.5%, Potato 30.5%, Herring Meal 21.4%, Salmon Oil 7.6% | 26%, 12%, 2.5%, 9%, | From £41 (12kg) |
Finest Fish4 Puppies Complete | Cod 34%, Potato 21.3%, Herring Meal 26.5%, Salmon Oil 9.6% | 30%, 14%, 2%, 8%, | From £42 (12kg) |
Lathams Large Breed Lamb & Rice | Rice (26%), Lamb Meat Meal (26%), Peas, Potato, Chicken Fat | 24%, 11% | £25 (10kg) |
Lathams Large Breed Turkey & Rice | Turkey Meat Meal (26%), Rice (26%), Oats, Barley, Sugar Beet Pulp (5%), Chicken Fat | 24%, 11% | £25 (10kg) |
Lathams Small Breed Lamb & Rice | Lamb Meat Meal (26%), Rice (26%), Peas, Potato, Chicken Fat | £20 (10kg) | |
Lathams Small Breed Turkey & Rice | Turkey Meat Meal (26%), Rice (26%), Oats, Barley, Linseed (5%), Chicken Fat | £20 (10kg) | |
Lathams Puppy Turkey & Rice | Turkey Meat Meal (26%), Rice (26%), Chicken, Oats, Potato Protein, Chicken Fat | £20 (10kg) | |
Lathams Mature Turkey & Rice | Rice (26%), Oats, Turkey Meat Meal (17%), Peas, Linseed (5%), Barley, Chicken Fat | £20 (10kg) | |
Lathams Sensitive Lamb & Rice | Rice (26%), Lamb Meat Meal (26%), Peas, Potato, Chicken Fat | £6.50 (2kg) | |
Lathams Light Turkey & Rice | Rice (26%), Potato, Turkey Meat Meal (17%), Peas, Linseed (5%), Sugar Beet Pulp (2.5%), Chicken Fat | £20 (10kg) | |
Burns Adult Chicken & Brown Rice | Brown Rice (Min 63%), Chicken Meal (Min 20%), Oats, Peas, Chicken Oil | 18.5%, 7.5%, 2.2%, 7.0% | From £39 (15kg) |
Burns Adult Lamb & Brown Rice | Brown Rice (Min 54%), Lamb Meal (Min 21%), Oats, Peas, Sunflower Oil | 18.5%, 7.5%, 2.0%, 7.0% | From £40 (15kg) |
Burns Adult Fish & Brown Rice | Brown Rice (Min 63%), Fish Meal (Min 18%), Oats, Peas, Fish Oil | 18.5%, 7.5%, 2.2%, 7.0% | From £40 (15kg) |
Burns Adult Duck & Brown Rice | Brown Rice (Min 65%), Duck Meal (Min 20%), Oats, Peas, Duck Fat | 18.5%, 8.0%, 2.2%, 7.0% | From £44 (15kg) |
Burns Adult Pork & Potato | Potato (Min 35%), Pork Meal (Min 29%), Maize, Peas, Pork Fat | 18.5%, 8.0%, 3.0%, 9.0% | From £42 (15kg) |
Burns Adult Chicken & Maize | Maize (Min 70%), Chicken Meal (Min 16%), Peas, Chicken Oil | 18.5%, 7.5%, 2.0%, 5.0% | From £37 (15kg) |
Burns High Oats | Oats (Min 56%), Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Peas, Chicken Oil | 20%, 7.5%, 6.5%, 7.5% | From £39 (15kg) |
Burns Active | White Rice, Chicken Meal, Chicken Oil, Oats | 24%, 20%, 3.5%, 9.0% | From £36 (15kg) |
Burns Alert Chicken & Brown Rice | Brown Rice (Min 63%), Chicken Meal (Min 20%), Oats, Peas, Fish Oil, Chicken Oil | 18.5%, 7.5%, 2.2%, 7.0% | From £35 (15kg) |
Burns High Energy Lamb | Lamb Meal (Min 32%), Brown Rice, White Rice, Sunflower Oil | 24%, 15%, 2.8%, 7.0% | From £30 (15kg) |
Burns Canine Extra | Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Oats, Beet Pulp, Peas, Chicken Oil | 24%, 12%, 2.0%, 7.0% | From £48 (15kg) |