Have a 6 month old cockalier (King Charles/cocker spaniel mix). He’s on Burns Free From Range,loves it,wolf’s it down but is always hungry. He’s also a bit hyper. Burns is quite expensive so I’m looking to switch to Markus muhle Junior or Lukullus junior. Both are cold pressed,look good value and nutritious…is one better than the other? I’m in Ireland so will probably use zooplus.ie
Hello and welcome to the forum. You don’t say which product you are using from the Burns Free From range. Assuming it is the puppy version, I have put the ingredient list into the Instant Review Generator and it has a nutritional rating of 66% and no red/yellow ingredients. The ingredient list is as follows:
Potato (44%), Duck meal (28%), Buckwheat (12%), Duck fat, Peas, Sunflower Oil, Seaweed, Minerals, Salmon Oil.
The protein is 24%, quite low for a growing puppy. Fat is 15%. The carbohydrate is above average because of all the potato and buckwheat.
I am not surprised that your dog seems to be always hungry. You will see that potato is the first ingredient. You need to look for products that have the protein source first on the list. Dogs can use some carbohydrate but not too much. Puppies in particular need good quality protein as they are growing fast. If you want to know more about what to look for in finding a suitable product, there is plenty of information on this website and there is a thread here.
Lukullus is made by Markus Muhle so either should be OK. The only MM junior product I could find was Black Angus and the recipe is as follows:
Ground dried Black Angus meat (20.2%), ground brown wholegrain rice, ground dried duck meat (9.1%), ground wholegrain corn, ground dried herring (5.6%), ground millet, ground amaranth, fresh green herbs, linseed, dried algae mix, herring oil, cold pressed vegetable oil mix, beet pulp, gelatine, dry peat (2%), dried ground yucca schidigera, fennel seeds, dried blueberries, powdered egg yolk, siliceous earth (1.5%), muscle meat extract from green-lipped mussels (1.5%), green mineral soil (1.5%), sea mollusc protein from green-lipped mussels (1%).
Protein is 28.6%, fat 12.2%
The Lukullus Junior that I found is Chicken & Norwegian Sea Salmon. The recipe that follows is the smaller bags. For some reason the 10kg bags have a slightly different recipe.
Dried and ground chicken meat (29.3%), whole-grain ground rice (26%), dried and ground salmon (7%), dried and ground potato flakes, cold-pressed rapeseed oil (5%), dried seaweed, dried and ground liver, dried alfalfa, rice germ, gelatine, beet pulp, dried herbs (3%), dried pears (1%), dried apples (1%), dried egg yolk, caraway, linseed oil (0.5%), dried and ground carob, powdered mineral clay, diatomaceous earth, dried blueberries (0.5%), mussel meat extract from Perna canaliculus [New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel] (0.5%), dried and ground Yucca schidigera.
Protein 28.5%, fat 12%.
They both appear to be a better option than the food you are currently giving. They are cold pressed which is different to the extruded food you are used to. You must weigh the food because it is quite dense. The amount in the bowl will look smaller. It is very easy to overfeed this type of food. We have a thread on cold pressed foods here. Do take a look at it. There is information there about quantities, transition, storage etc. You should store the product in its bag, not in an airtight container. If you wish, you could alternate the two products to give your dog a change and more variety.
Your dog will benefit by the inclusion of some suitable fresh cooked food, particularly protein such as meat, poultry, fish. This will give some variety to his diet. If you wish to know more, take a look at this thread.
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Thanks for your reply,very detailed and informative.
I think I’ll go with the Markus Muhle black Angus junior. One further question- I thought I read somewhere that I can change him over to cold pressed immediately. Is that true? Or should I gradually introduce the cold pressed with his Burns food over 2 weeks?
That is a good choice. Some dogs may not need a transition period but others have a more sensitive digestion so will need a gradual period of introduction to the new food. There is some excellent information about transitioning to cold pressed food on the Guru Pet food website.