Which food to choose?

Hello, my pup is now nearly 9 months he's been on rubbish supermarket biscuits and pedigree chum meat since we've had him (from 12 weeks) he doesn't really like biscuits but the vets suggested that dogs should really only have dry food?

We really want to put him on a good diet one that isn't really expensive but good one- we've tried iams but he didn't touch it. (He's a poodle cross ckcs)

Can anyone recommend a food? And also a supplier as ive been told places such as pets at home charge twice as much as online suppliers?

Thank you sooo much!

Iams is poor quality and they test on animals.
Good quality processed food - Burns or Arden Grange. (There are others but I personally haven`t used them so can`t recommend them)
Butchers and Chappie are quite good tinned foods.
Even better is Naturediet. These are pouches.
Please be aware that most vets know little about dog nutrition / feeding unless they`ve made a special study of it. And that they receive commission on sales / recommendations.

Ah I assumed that anything supermarket wouldn't be any good.
Shoud I be looking at dry foods? Or mixing?
The breeder recommended eukanba ?

We have runny poo problems sometimes!

My dog was on Purina when we got her and had runny poos, swapped her to James Wellbeloved gradually and no problems at all now (and a very shiny coat!).

That can be a false economy as the seemingly more expensive foods often work out cheaper than supermarket stuff as your dog will eat less as they absorb more of the nutrients in the food rather than have bulked out food they don't really digest that well. For example, it costs me about 60p a day to feed my 45 pound shar-pei James Wellbeloved or Burns. She also gets a tablespoon of tinned food in the evening meal (about 5p's worth), but that's more for my benefit than hers as she wolfs it down without the wet food for her brekkie anyway. If I fed her tinned food and mixer, it would cost me nearer £1.00 a day as she'd need at least one tin of food at 65p plus at least 150g of mixer at about 30p.

I'll only recommend what I've tried personally. I've fed James Wellbeloved for years and of course would recommend it. Also Burns which they're on right now as I forgot about Easter and the bloke on the pet stall having deadlines for ordering stuff. Burns was what he had in and they transferred over with no troubles. If you want something a bit cheaper but high quality, Skinners Field & Trial is excellent - I'd highly recommend both the salmon and rice and turkey and rice. Not tried the duck, but I'd presume that's as good too. I also always soak the dry food and serve it warm. That may help if he doesn't seem interested in the new food. Wet food wise, Naturediet is good stuff but expensive and supermarket wise, Butchers loaf one is about the best quality, but avoid their dry food.

As for internet suppliers, just google and shop round. Or if you have a local pet shop, just pop in and ask them if they will order stuff in for you. Often it won't work out any more expensive than on the net with P&P and if you get a nice one like mine, they'll deliver it for you if you're getting a big bag of several bulky items.

I personally prefer wet food than dry food. I would never feed 100% dry diet again. I feed 100% wet food at the moment. I feed my cocker spaniel Naturesmenu cans (60% meat).

Good quality wet food contains good quality meat, high meat content, high amount of water (which keeps the dog hydrated), and wet food is easier to digest than dry food. My dog is certainly healthier and produces better poos on wet food than dry.

I would look at wet foods, such as Naturediet, Naturesmenu and Wainwrights trays. If 100% wet diet not suitable, then 50:50 wet and dry is better than 100% dry IMO.

I find that Wainwrights wet trays are good value and my dog seems to do well on them. Make sure you get the trays - not the pouches!

Nature's Harvest is another good wet food, slightly more pricey. Both are available at Pets At Home, both in store and online.

For dry food...Arden Grange is a good one.

its up to you whether you want to feed dry, wet or a mixture of both.

good dry foods are:
arden grange
skinners
james wellbeloved
wainwrights

good wet foods are:
natures harvest
naturediet
wainwrights
natures menu

Sent the other half to pets at home for James well beloved They have a deal on at the mo too. Might get some wet and do both but he gobbled the dry down so we'll see how it goes.
Thanks everyone!

I have two toy poodles and they are fed on natures menu tins, I have tried all the other good quality wet food and this is the only one that my elder dog will eat. They also get small bite Arden grange but the nm is their main food.