Pedigree Chum Mixer Dog Food

My sister has a cocker spaniel from 8 weeks old and was fed on Eukanuba for a while but then changed to much cheaper brands, he lived till 13yrs and was very healthy most of his life until the last year, he had perfect teeth and gums and breath too!

Myself and my mother also had Cocker Spaniels (unrelated) from puppies and these were fed on Pedigree the majority of their lives. Their teeth, gums and breath were dreadful, both of them had to have several teeth removed. This happened despite brushing teeth and using lots of different cleaning type chews.

My male cocker had a melon sized tumour removed from his stomach but then had to be put down shortly after. My mothers cocker lived 3 more years longer, went deaf through constant ear infections and suffered from diahorria a lot too.

I would never recommend Pedigree, i now have a 5yr Jack Russell, she has much cheaper brands, and is very healthy indeed, no trips to the vets at all !

This food receives a 1 star rating simply because there is nothing lower.

The primary ingredients in the food are grains (it should be meat!). Corn is a problematic grain that is difficult for dogs to digest and thought to be the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems. We prefer not to see this used in dog food.

Meat and bone meal is a low quality meat product for which it is impossible to determine the source.

Corn appears a second time as corn gluten meal. The AAFCO definition of corn gluten meal is "the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm". In plain English, that which remains after all the nutritious bits have been removed.

The next ingredient is by-products. It is impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of chicken by-product meal is "a meal consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice."

Animal fat is a further low quality ingredient and is impossible to determine the source. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this as "obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative".

This food uses chemical preservatives (BHA, BHT) which is believed to be carcinogenic, and is banned from use in human food. It also uses artificial colourants.

The 6th and 12th ingredients are fragments of wheat. The use of wheat is a significant negative: wheat is believed to be the number one cause of allergy problems in dog food. This is another ingredient we prefer not to see used at all in dog food.

Well - if you read what is in the can it is the same as all other commercial dog food only 4% meat the rest all rubbish and very bad for your dogs.

full of preservatives

just paying for the name

No good points, read the ingredients, lots of advertising but not very good dog food.

Myself and my parents before me have always used pedigree chum products and our dogs over the years have all lived to a ripe old age and very rarely visited the vets.

Six dogs now have grown up on pedigree, and have thrived on it, they have all been fit and healthy dogs, with glossy coats, thanks to pedigree.

I have bought different brands and tried canned dog food but my dog will not eat anything other than Pedigree. A must for all dogs.