What do you think of those Italian ham bones?

I've always heard that you shouldn't feed them Frolic for their daily meals because they add so many flavour enhancers to make it more tempting! If I were you, I’d switch to Royal Canin; they even have a special range for sensitive digestion. Mind you, a bag definitely won't just cost you about £3.50!

So, I’ve had a look at the ingredients in my dry food because it’s been playing on my mind a bit. It’s just a budget supermarket brand for seniors, and there’s no mention of the percentage of grains, but 'cereals' is the first ingredient on the list, followed by minerals, then meat and animal derivatives. For the wet food, it’s 42% meat and animal derivatives and 4% cereals, including cooked rice... I suspect it’s not great, but what’s the maximum percentage of grains you’d suggest? Also, what’s your take on dry food specifically formulated for certain breeds? Just for context, a 6.6 lb bag costs me about £3.50 and lasts two weeks, plus the wet food—I use the more expensive Pedigree Senior for that. I started off feeding him Frolic, but the vet told me that while Frolic is okay for younger dogs, it’s far too salty for older ones... I’d like to upgrade to a better quality food, but I’m not ready to quadruple my food budget. Just as a rough guide, how much do you spend on your dry food?

Yes, it’s true that it’s a tricky one. Why do we cook meat? Because fundamentally we’re frugivores, so we aren't actually built to eat it, but it does provide certain vitamins. It's just like dairy, which is really bad for your health – anyway, I don't want to start a whole debate, moving on. I’d recommend Orijen dry food; I managed to get my grandparents to switch to it for their old Lab. He was on Hill's Senior, but when I read the ingredients list I was honestly shocked, there was absolutely nothing in there for his joints either.

I'm totally lost with BARF... prehistoric humans also ate raw mammoth but then they evolved because raw meat was full of bacteria, which is exactly why we cook it nowadays. I’m not saying BARF is bad, I honestly don't know, but once again, all these conflicting comments aren't helping at all. I’ve been reading up on those raw feeding sites, but frankly, all the '10% of this' and '20% of that' just seems so complicated... I’ve asked before, but nobody wants to give a sample weekly menu; everyone just sends you a link and tells you to figure it out for yourself... I don't understand why these links don't give sample weekly menus based on the size of the dog. It might encourage more people to give it a go, since you all seem so convinced of the benefits of BARF. Anyway, thanks for your comments, but I’m still just as confused about what to feed my senior dog... all I know is that I need to keep the grains in his dry food to an absolute minimum...

Personally, I don't give them chicken bones... (natural ones), I prefer to give them rawhide bones, but as soon as there’s a small bit left, I throw it away; any bits that crumble off go straight in the bin. Out of three dogs, I’ve never had a single problem. As for dry food, I don’t buy it from the supermarket. I go to a pet shop or the vet and get one of the big brands. Then, if the dog has more specific issues, it’s up to the vet to advise me, and the brand I use makes very specific types of dry food. It’s a bit weird that your vet recommended supermarket dry food. You could also give them home-cooked food, like boiled white meat with vegetables, but you should check with the vet first to see what’s suitable. The other day on telly, they were talking about people who give their pets vegetarian dry food or even a full vegetarian diet, and apparently, they live longer! That’s absolute rubbish! The dog will end up with deficiencies on a home-prepared diet of just boiled white meat and veg.

With dry food, you're at risk of bloat because it takes 12 hours to digest, and rice doesn't actually help with digestion either. BARF is brilliant—as soon as I find a local slaughterhouse, I'm going to dive straight in. Raw feeding too; after all, dogs lived perfectly well on meat and bones back in the day... You must never give them cooked bones, only raw ones. You can end up with all sorts of issues with dry food, like urinary tract problems, kidney failure, and so on...

We mostly feed her a high-quality brand of dry food (grain-free if possible), sometimes moistened and sometimes with added veg. She gets wet food occasionally too, and whenever we pop to the butcher's, we pick up some frozen bones and give her one once it's defrosted every now and then—maybe two or three times a month. They’re big bones, like sawn vertebrae. She gnaws on the marrow bones and it takes her months to even make a dent in them. She also plays with them by tossing them up in the air; she must be copying how cats behave! 😁 O.

Thanks for your replies. I’ve got a question that might sound a bit daft, but here goes: I’ve adopted an older dog. For the first four years, I have no idea what his owner was feeding him, then the owner sadly took his own life and the dog spent four years in a rescue where he was fed on basic, cheap dry food and budget wet food in gravy. So, isn’t the damage already done for my dog? Is it really going to make any difference to his health if I buy him high-quality dry food now, other than maybe helping with his wind? Because honestly, it’s absolutely lethal at the moment!

I personally don't give chicken bones... I prefer giving rawhide bones, but as soon as there's a small bit left, I throw it away. Any bits that splinter, I put them in the bin. I've had three dogs and I've never had a problem. As for dry food, I don't buy it from the supermarket; I go to the pet shop or the vet. I buy the most well-known brand, and then if the dog has more specific issues, it's up to the vet to advise me. The brand I use makes very specific types of dry food. It's strange that your vet recommended supermarket dry food. You could also give them home-cooked food, like boiled white meat with vegetables, but you'd have to check with the vet what you're allowed to give them. The other day on the telly, they were talking about people giving vegetarian dry food or even a vegetarian diet to their pets—apparently they live longer!