Dave-o

She's a very talented photographer, it's nigh on impossible getting such good photos of dogs.

Looks pretty good This is what I think from an ingredients standpoint - Black Hawk Grain Free Review

Jules, I hesitated at replying to this, but I had a 14 year old cat diagnosed with kidney disease and given 6 months. Our vet put him on k/d and science diet which we continued to feed him until he died at a ripe old age of 21. This was many years ago when I was ignorant of many things, and I took the little fella's longevity as testament to the quality of the Hills food. But thinking back, from his diagnosis to the day he died he was very lethargic. He became very skinny and quiet, the muscles in his rear legs deteriorated, his coat was dull, and he was a shadow of the cat he was before. Fair enough he lived another 6 years and we made the most of his company, but thinking back I wish I fed him a better food - maybe it would've helped, even if he died younger. We had him put down as his bowels were giving up and he couldn't pass.

It doesn't look too bad to me. There's a few sub-par ingredients but it's definitely better than most.

Really made me laugh My BC army crawls really low to the ground with her head flat.

Fair point, I apologise. It frustrates me that vets don't push for a better quality food to cater for such issues.

Hmm, the fact they include iodized salt in a prescription food to help kidney dysfunction is ominous to me. It's more often used to cover rancid meats and fats, and given there's no meat content I assume we're talking about the pork fat here? Brewers rice - waste Egg product - lousy Corn gluten meal - by-product of a filler Beet pulp - Sugary filler Calcium sulfate - plaster of paris? Phosphoric acid... Most of the mineral inclusions look like standard sources to me. Fair enough, they're included, but none of them are quality sources. Let's mash up some Berocca and feed it to our kids in a Big Mac...

I don't know how a food like k/d that's predominantly a waste product from beer brewing can be good for a dog, premium prescription price or not. Just because they throw in some extra flaxseed doesn't make it a healthy food.

I contacted Sunday Pets and they sent the following reply: I'll leave you to interpret "off cut"...

Their other recipes seem to include more oils, like fish oils. Brewers yeast is unusual for them...

I'm not sure if my cousin leaves a lot of "adult" magazines lying around, but his dear dog seems to know the tricks of the trade...

My cat barks :laugh:

Hi Jennifer, Credit where credit's due, it's great to see percentages. I'd love to see Purina do that with their "cereal by-product" based foods. In the case of Sunday Pets grain free, the main ingredients are Meat & Meal(min 79%) including Meat & Bone Meal, Free Range Lamb and Fish Meal. Once cooked the lamb will lose it's water content, making this fairly insignificant in the food, and as such I'd like to know what comprises the "meat and meat meal" content and where it's sourced. Fish meal is also non-descriptive. Appreciate your feedback, thanks.

Great stuff :laugh: I'm not sure I'd want to be pulled along on a 2-wheeled bike, but 3 would be good!

Yes, I realise that... at the heart of it I'm another dog enthusiast who cares about their pets, and probably should've signed up as such. Happy to answer any questions and take any criticism, but perhaps via PM or a separate thread. I didn't mean to hijack this one, sorry.

Well you're a friendly bunch! Honestly, stating "frighteningly inaccurate" is simply unconstructive criticism. It depends on whether you take "duck and turkey meat" as one ingredient or two... it's listed as one. Yes I overlooked red lentils - now updated - I only wrote that review yesterday in my lunch hour. Honestly, I posted on this thread as I was interested in the "meat and bone meal" in this food. I expected a rational discussion, not a witch hunt.

Hmm, no agenda... I was after genuine thoughts given most of the 16 pages of this thread were raving about the food. I wondered if the positive remarks were based on assumptions or a deeper knowledge of the food. "Meat & bone meal" is what it is, and I doubt it's written on the packaging for any other reason. If it came from the lamb (or beef) it would be written as such. Sags - I'll ask Sunday Pets for clarification. On a side note, thanks for compliments on my website, and criticisms are fine too. It's merely ingredients and nutrition analysis, and the reason I don't go into too much detail is to keep the reviews easily readable. I could discuss each and every vitamin/mineral inclusion and state the quality of the source, but that becomes tedious to write and tedious to read.

I've read this whole thread... but is this really a good food?? Looking at the grain free ingredients it seems it's mostly non-descriptive meat & bone meal, which makes the "100% New Zealand Grass fed Lamb" they advertise slightly insignificant. When I see that in a pet food, it makes me wonder what quality the "meat & bone meal" is, which is largely open to interpretation. If it's from a decent source they'd say so, and if it was a quality ingredient then they'd be using that in their marketing, wouldn't they?

Mine spent most of the winter swimming in the icy cold ocean! She doesn't seem to mind the cold weather!

Ha, I don't think it's a bad thing. My dog cries when she hasn't seen me for a while, but she also rolls around the floor in excitement.

I was reading up on diabetes the other day and it seems it has increased by 300% over the last 30 years - http://www.petfoodratings.org/nutrition/diabetes-and-pet-food/ There has to be a reason for that, and it might coincide with the quality (or lack of) with dry foods? The link above lists a number of ingredients that can cause diabetes, with brewers rice being the most commonly found culprit (most supermarket brands have brewers rice as a dirty cheap filler).

Interesting, can anyone upload the ingredients...? Edit - Here's my review in retrospect: Black Hawk Grain Free Review

It's a decent food and great value for money. It's made by Diamond and sold to Costco under Kirkland brand. They also make Taste of the Wild, which is a better food but pricier (you can buy it from PetCircle.com.au). This is my review of Nature's Domain - http://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/dry-dog-food/kirkland-signature-natures-domain/