sorry, but disagree there in that the better and more natural complete foods are gnerally made from single sources of named meat protein, be it chicken, lamb or fish - I guess it's more hit and miss with the cheaper foods and 'animal by products'.
Cooking at home is ok, but for me I like the convenience of a dry food and the knowledge that the vitamin/mineral balance is ok, particularly with a puppy - bit like infant food I suppose, you could do it yourself but it's just so convenient to know that there's a balanced meal in the packet or bottle!

Poppy sometimes has turkey mince which doesn't seem to produce as much fat as lamb mince.

turkey makes more sense - or chicken, I guess. I notice they don't use a lot of beef in complete foods, so there must be a reason for this - maybe dogs don't do so well on it, or maybe it's back to the old BSE thing?

The reason there aren't many beef products on the market for dogs is because when BSE hit the headlines all the pet food manufacturers stopped producing beef products immediately because they considered that they wouldn't sell. They moved on to chicken - and now lamb is becoming more popular too. However, people are now realising that beef is an excellent source of protein for dogs and I am sure that the beef products will be hitting the shelves again soon.

Turkey mince is an excellent alternative to chicken. It is low in fact and a great source of protein.

Most of the commercial dog foods' main ingredients are rice or cereals. The meat protein source is often in the form of "meal" (which is dried meat!) and not true meat. The less expensive dry foods have less quality products but just because you pay a lot of money for a bag of dog food, doesn't mean it is any better than a cheaper brand. You must check the ingredients. The highest ingredients will be listed first. You are looking for the meat protein source to be listed first or second. Any lower and your dog is being fed rubbish. Also make sure that the meat ingredients are a high percentage of the total. Many dog foods only include 20% - 25% meat. You are looking for at least 30%-40%.

As I have said before in another post, your dog does not have to have a balanced meal at every sitting - just as humans don't need to have a balanced meal. The balance is made up over weeks and the month. That is the correct way to "balance" your food. Eating a balanced meal every day - however "convenient" it is - is unnecessary and IMO a bit boring for your dog. Best to vary the meals and make your dog look forward to mealtimes. When I have fed dry foods in the past my dogs don't enjoy their meals as much as they do now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with adding a bit of interest to a bowl of bland, dry food. At least it will give the dog something to look forward to.

We have become lazy in feeding our dogs. It is not rocket science to feed your dog a good, healthy, natural diet. It just takes a little bit time but I feel my dogs are worth that.

Kind regards
Annie

We feed a complete food but add something to it at every meal, this varies from cooked chicken, lamb mince, sardines, tuna, liver etc. Always human grade items and it adds variety. Surely it is personal choice and some complete foods are certainly more complete than others.