Anyone having problems with Burns?

Nic

Hi everyone, its been a while!

I was just wondering if anyone had experienced any problems with Burns dog food lately?

I have been feeding it to Joey since he was a puppy, but for the last 6 months it seems to have stopped suiting him. He has runny poos, has to have his anal glands emptied regularly, eats a lot of grass and seems very itchy. He's been looked at the vets and I've eliminated all other causes and come to the conclusion that it must be his diet.

I've been having a look around at other brands and for advice as to why he would develop an intolerance after such a long time and have found that there seems to be a common theme in that this is happening a lot at the moment with the same symptoms, particularly after a few years on the Burns food.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else had experienced the same problems at all?

Thanks!

Nic x

Fay · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:52 pm Post subject:

Hello Stranger Very Happy

My 2 are still on Burns with no problems, but as they always have the same flavour, I'll keep an eye on them Smile

Hope you're well Very Happy

Tractorgirl · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject:

Hi Nic - lovely to hear from you & Joey too.

Zadie is fine on Burns too - has a variety of flavours and been eating it for 2 years with no problems (though she only has Burns for 1 meal a day - she has Naturediet for her breakfast)

lablandi · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject:

I had problems with Burns mini bites which I fed to Tots as a pup - she constantly had tummy upsets with it and eventually we gave up, even after speaking regularly to their helpsite where they insisted I was overfeeding her - she had no real allergy symptoms on it though!

Blondie1 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

Hello Stranger!

How are you and hubby and Joey?

Still on Burns here, no probs either.

sue51 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:15 pm Post subject:

My eldest two didn't get on with Burns at all Shocked

from itchy skin through to dicky tums (and both of them have the constitution of an ox Shocked

)

They are both now fed on Nutro - and while a bit pricey - it suits them brilliantly Very Happy

WendyC · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject:

Hi Nic - have just had to move my Westie from Burns Fish and Rice onto the Burns Pork and Potato. He was being sick every night - we assumed he had developed an allergy so am interested in your post. I hadn't realised other people had had problems. The other three are also on Burns but they have other health issues so it's difficult for me to judge.

Westie, Jasper, is fine so far on the pork recipe but still early days so may consider changing brands now before going to the vets - so thanks for a very interesting post.

Have to say their helpline isn't very helpful in my experience !

roxi123 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:42 pm Post subject:

We use to feed our dogs Burns, but it didn't suit them, also their coat went very dull, and had a dicky tummy.

We now feed them Arden Grange seem to be doing well on it

Eve · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:58 pm Post subject:

As many of you know I have a real thing about Burns...

Fed Neo on it as a pup, and he did not thrive - failed to gain weight got very very thin coat very harsh and dull... phoned their helpline who suggested adding canine extra - all that did was to produce runny poos and wind!

Vets were useless I was forever there weighing him and asking for help because i was so worried and their stock response was I was neurotic!

At about 8 months old Neo developed the most awful diarrhoea and as others have said Burns stock response was I was over feeding and it was all my fault - at the time he was having a couple of eggs some rice and 75g of Burns per meal....

I changed vets a couple of times as Neo got iller and iller and thinner and thinner, it is no exageration to say you could see every bone in his body. His life was saved by a wonderful vet in Windsor even though it was a 50 mile round trip twice a week, it was so worth it..

He was diagnosed only last October after suffering for some 3 and a half years with numerous allergies and is now on a prescription diet. I ahve often wondered what would have happened if I had changed the food as soon as he was noticeably losing weight, but I believed that it was a good food and I was doing the best for my puppy...

Burns will never ever enter this house again. I also used to feed the cats on it until my vets told me to stop because they had had so many cats suffering health conditions because the cat food was lacking essential nutrients.

I am still so angry with Burns as much for their attitude that it was all my fault as anything else because they made a terrible situation worse and I saw a few months ago a letter in your dogs magazine where a lady wrote in because her dog was suffering from diarrhoea (not fed Burns) and John Burns immediate response to the letter was that it was her fault and she was overfeeding, it was so familiar, I nearly wrote the magazine a letter saying what I thought...!

Eve Neo and Baby Bramble

Nic · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject:

Hi everyone, thanks for all the responses.

We are all fine thank you apart from this food palava!

Burns have suggested I'm overfeeding but we struggle to keep Joey at 25kg so I'm reluctant to cut back too much.

I will have a look at Nutro too, and have contacted Arden Grange for samples.

It has been suggested that the fact that the price of brown rice has gone up has affected the dog food, but I'm not sure how it would. I might have a go with the Pork and Potato to see if it is the rice thats the problem.

Another manufacturer told me that they are having 4 or 5 queries a day similar to mine at the moment about the Burns food which rings alarm bells for me.

Burns actually suggested doing an elimination diet to see what he might be sensitive to which I think sounds pretty impossible.

Anyway, I'm going to keep nosing around to see if anyone can suggest anything else! Very Happy