What is it about Chappie that allows Mars Pet Foods to put on the product label that it is ‘recommended by vets?’ I know from reading up about it, and from personal experience that this claim is actually true. The reviews on this website for dry complete is poor and the wet, canned version even worse. I had a spell of using it many years ago when I didn’t know any better and from what I remember, the dogs seemed ok on it. Just looking at the ingredient list would put me off using it again. I do like the lower fat level though, and the fact that the dog probably feels fuller. That would be useful for my lot who would eat all day long if they were allowed to.
I reckon that vets recommend it because they can’t think of anything else - a stock in trade answer. However, there is no doubt that there are folk who find it helps their poorly pooches. What do you think?
Chappie is certainly recommended by vets but they tend to be the older generation who started to recommend it before there was really anything else available. Then and now it works well for a lot of dogs because it is quite bland and doesn’t cause any of the problems often associated with the very low-grade foods that dominate the market.
Unfortunately the ingredients list is very vague, using lots of very broad umbrella terms that could really mean anything and since our policy is always to assume the worst when information is not provided, we have to give it a low rating. Despite this, it has to be said that a lot of dogs do seem to do well on it which is what really matters.
To my knowledge - the ‘recommended by vets’ is a historical thing - vets would recommend Chappie in the early 70’s when there wasn’t much else around and they’ve kept the tag line since.
Only other thing - I had a customer who had been prescribed Royal Prescription diet tins by her vet, she couldn’t afford them and asked if we could find something similar. She brought the tin in and the tray - no ingredients listed anywhere. I phoned Canin but was told that as I wasn’t a vet, they couldn’t divulge ingredients. Looked at the packaging again, thinking no labelling was illegal, thought the label may be on the tin itself so I took the label off and found the ingredients list on the inside of the label. Ingredients were meat and meat derivatives, cereals and cereal derivatives, oils, fats, minerals - exactly the same as a tin of Chappie. The cynic in me thinks that vets may recommend Chappie because it is a fifth of the price of a Canin prescription diet
I was just about to add my boy was put on Hills renal tinned and I had to resort to the internet for ingredients, definitely not easy to find. It was also similar ingredients to chappie and they were charging nearly £5 a day :o