Today we will be looking at Skinner’s dog food. It is a very popular brand for ‘’working dogs’’ and also offers tailored foods for different breeds and conditions.
Additionally, you can get discounts if you are a breeder and feed & recommend Skinner’s.
Sadly for all manufacturers, we will not be looking at their marketing claims, discounts or any incentives but the actual ingredients and quality of food.
We reviewed 6 different recipes, four from their ‘’and rice’’ Field and Trial recipes and two from their grain free Get Out and Go range.
The results are not surprising.
Brown rice expands when cooked. So the 40.3% rice they use in the recipe is likely expanding one or two fifths more. That's just one ingredient! A 15kg bag of this retails for £25. You would be paying £10 just for brown rice. We consider that expensive.
BEST DRY DOG FOODS UK
This is another ''hypoallergenic'' recipe. Hypoallergenic means nothing these days. With ingredients like ''Poultry Meat Meal'', you sadly don't know what you're feeding the dog.
As dog owners, we cannot accept anything else but meat as the first ingredient in our dog food.
More egregiously, we cannot accept ingredients such as ‘’Poultry Meat Meal’’ or ‘’Poultry Meal’’. Why? Because the manufacturer will use the cheapest animal at the time to go in the bag.
If a manufacturer labels something as ‘’Raw Turkey Liver’’, they have to use raw turkey liver in the recipe. But if they say ‘’Poultry Fat’’, rest assured they will not use the most premium animal fat they can find.
Their premium range is Get Out and Go.
This food is more of the same. They have substituted rice for sweet potato and white potato. A little sweet potato is ok in dog food, but 48.7% of the bag being sweet and white potato is not good. Almost half your money would be spent on potato.
This a food we will never stock. We could actually make more money selling it and telling you it's great, but we would be lying.
Why this food can cause health problems:
- Your dog lacks salivary amylase, which breaks down starches. This means they will have a very tough time digesting the high amount of carbs this food has.
- Dogs make their own blood sugar through a process called gluconeogenesis. They DO NOT need carbs.
Furthermore, they have 8 hormones to raise sugar levels and only one to bring them down. Overloading their bodies with carbs leads to skin allergies, teeth & breath problems, IBD, IBS, pancreatitis, obesity...
- Dogs are meat, organ and bone eaters. They have sharp K-9s and carnassial teeth to crush bone. Any food they are given needs to be rich in good quality meat. Feeding that many carbs to a carnivore will ensure continual vet visits.
We could be naming reasons why this food is likely to make things worse all day, but, at the end of the day, you have to realise that certain brands and professions are in just for your money, and not to protect your dog.
We could make more money if we sold this, but that would not help who really matters: your dog or cat.
There are healthier, cheaper and better alternatives.
For example, a list of ingredients of a food we stock:
Fresh Chicken Meat (11%), Fresh Turkey Meat (7%), Fresh Whole Eggs (6%), Fresh Whole Herring (6%), Fresh Chicken Liver (5%), Fresh Whole Flounder (5%), Fresh Turkey Liver (5%), Fresh Chicken Heart (4%), Fresh Turkey Heart (4%), Fresh Chicken Necks (4%), Chicken Liver (Freeze-Dried), Turkey Liver (Freeze-Dried), Fresh Whole Pumpkin, Fresh Whole Butternut Squash, Fresh Whole Zucchini, Fresh Whole Parsnips, Fresh Carrots...
These ingredients are much, much healthier!
BEST DRY DOG FOOD UK
SHOP DOG FOOD
For a free, friendly chat about nutrition call 01642 90 36 50.
Alternatively, we have branches on Yarm High Street and Linthorpe Village.
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01642 90 36 50