Grape and Bubble

A visit to Rokers, an animal feed shop, the other day was an eye opener.  I remember when it was not much more than a barn and sold mainly animal feeds for agriculture, a few sacks of dry food for working dogs and a small section of horsey goods.  

I haven't been in for over a year, as it was easier for me to run into Dorking. Now Kelly lives only a couple of miles away.  I needed dog and sheep food, and a couple of new bowls for the pup, so it was my nearest option. I walked in an almost fell over.  The enterprise has expanded and they are selling every top of the range pet food and accessory that you could think of, making me slightly worried that they may give up on the agricultural supplies. Huge spaces given over to dogs cats and wild birds.   I didn't realise there was  a large demand for ranges for guinea pigs, ferrets, and all manner of other strange pet.

I'm not a fan of fads or spending money because I have to spoil my pets to show my friends I'm keeping up with the Jones.  My dogs are dogs, my sheep are sheep and I feed them well and on a healthy diet.  I give the dogs a good quality dried food, which gives them all the added vitamins they need, and mix it either with home cooked meat and veg or the odd tin of dog meat.  It's an eye opener to see how much people are prepared to spend.  There are queues to buy ridiculously priced tins of Venison, buffalo, duck all mixed with a few carrots and peas, or butternut squash in the most extreme mixes.  There are sausages of ready to serve meat that contain an extremely high quantity of liver, which vets will tell you is a good source of vitamins and protein in small doses but could cause severe damage to your pets bones if given more than once or twice a week. To add to the injury it sells at more per kilo than fillet steak! 

Tell me, please? Am I alone in finding the dog food world to have gone somewhere over the top? I was amazed to find foods aimed at, not only age and size but for specific breeds too.  Am I alone in sourcing my pet's toys in charity shops and boot fairs?  Is it just mine or do your dogs prefer a stagnant puddle or old bucket  to drink from than a fresh bowl of chlorinated water? 

:) We may disagree but it's a talking point!

Oh and the photo.. I was given a tube of Tough Buster Bubbles at the store for the pup.  They don't burst quickly and this one found it's way on the grapes.  Took a bit of doing. :)


For those interested... a couple of links to Pet Food Legislation and Practices

The Law

The Legislation and everything else you might want to know about the industry