Feeding dogs abroad

[maggsmep]

I shall be motor homing in mainland Europe for several months. I would rather not use up valuable space by taking bags of Wainwrights with me. Does anyone know of a similar standard dog food that is widely available in France, Spain and Portugal?

[Dottie]

Hello and welcome to the forum.  Unfortunately I cannot help you with this as I have never taken a dog abroad.  The only thing I can think of is to take a dehydrated product that is reconstituted with water.  There are a few that are reviewed in the Dog Food Directory on this website.  Two that spring to mind are Pure and ZiwiPeak.

[Eden Holistic Pet Foods]

http://piensosnaturales.com/en/ have some excellent foods and can deliver to France, Portugal and Spain, but I'm not sure if that will help with you being mobile, may be worth speaking to them.

It may be worth weaning onto any alternative food before you set off so you don't risk upset tummy while travelling

Hope you have a great trip.

[Dottie]

Yes, that's a good point. Those two dehydrated products that I mentioned are probably higher in protein and fat than Wainwright's so your dog would need to be transitioned gradually. Also bear in mind that he may need less quantity wise.

[maggsmep]

Thank you - am now looking into your suggestions.

[DQ]

Arden Grange has stockists in Europe so they may be able to help. Gentle is made in Germany so there could be a similar product available in Europe, it might be worth talking to them. These are just 2 I'm aware of, there could be others if you look at there individual web sites.

[maggsmep]

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions, you sent me down avenues I wasn't aware of.

I've done my research. Ziwipeak comes out very expensive so I'm going to go with Canagan a similar British made, no cereal food. Shelf life of 18 months, high concentrate so you feed slightly less. I shall only need to take 3 x 12kg bags for my 8 month trip and it works out at £22.50 per month.

Result; healthily fed dog, space saved and less weight on the back axle!   

[Dottie]

Thank you very much for getting back to us on this.  As I mentioned, I have no experience of these dried foods so I am sorry that I couldn't really help.  However, Canagan is a good choice and yes, with a quality food such as this one you don't have to feed as much and therefore need less in quantity.  Have a lovely holiday.