Wellbeloved for our Well Beloved (James Wellbeloved)

Member Name: aefra

Product:	James Wellbeloved
Date:	25/06/03 (1919 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of goodness, Easily digested, A good range

Disadvantages: **

We have come a long way since my childhood when our dogs were fed on what was available. This tended to be rabbit and or tablescraps. Since our own food was rationed we should not be too pompous about this. Since those days the pet food industry has become a mighty marketing machine and we are now inundated with a choice of foods and flavours which I suspect are largely aimed at what the manufacturers believe the pet owner would perceive to be tasty.

We are fortunate that 95% of British petfood manufacturers belong to the Pet Food Manufacturers Association and there are two main benefits for me. One is that are that those belonging to the PFMA use only ingredients which would be safe for human consumption although it is a myth that the food is tasted by humans. The other (particularly as I am vegetarian myself although not insisting my dog has to share my beliefs) is that only meat traditionally used in the UK is included. Since the British meat-consuming public prefers on the whole not to eat absolutely everything that moves, petfood does not contain horse, whale, ostrich or any other flesh not commonly found on the British table. Despite all this, I have been concerned for a long time that offal (meat derivatives) and E numbers are generally to be seen on the list of ingredients.

So it was that a few years ago I started giving kibble (hard food) with an occasional period of canned meat for variety. After trying different makes with varying acceptance by the dogs I stumbled upon James Wellbeloved lamb and rice kibble and now (apart from a tad of the reliable Chappie to hide her glucasamine) feed nothing else. Is it coincidence that, apart from my dear little rescue lhasa, Missy, who sadly died last week aged 14, all my dogs have reached a grand old age? My jack russell terrier, Jody, is going on 15 and with the help of glucosamine for her joints astounds everyone with her energy and happy love of life. Her white coat is as good
to touch and look at as it has always been and she still runs and swims when she has the chance. Her reduced hearing, which seems to be selective, cannot be blamed on diet.

The James Wellbeloved Company is British and was formed in 1992 by animal lovers who were concerned that allergies were being caused by the ingredients in petfoods. The feeds they produce contain natural ingredients and no artificial colours, preservatives or unhealthy additives. Antioxidant vitamins are added and a selling point is the good effect upon previously irritated skin caused by diet.

The foods available are lamb and rice, duck and rice and turkey and rice. I feed the lamb only because the flavour and texture has always been preferred by my dogs. This is fortunate as I am also concerned about the rearing practices of fowl. This is a light, fairly rough-textured brown kibble a centimetre long which absorbs a little water very quickly indeed without going mushy and smells biscuity. The ingredients apart from lamb and brown rice are barley, seaweed (long used as a health additive) alfalfa and yucca. There are no beef, pork, wheat or dairy products in this feed. Thus gluten is avoided. I have been offering this to my dogs for some years now and the effect on their digestions improved almost immediately from day 1 and did not change. In fact if it hadn't been for her ability to digest her feed easily despite a massive benign, yet growing tumour, my little Missy would not have lived as long as she did. How do I know about their digestions? Well, as any dog owner knows, the result has to be gathered from the garden lawn twice a day.

There are two benefits for the human part of the family. I remember clearly that Jody, when on tinned food, was not always the most socially acceptable animal to share the settee. Whoever was sitting next to her would warn their spouse that a deep and long lasting smell would reach them soon from Jody's bottom.
Heaven help us if we had company. The farts stopped from the first meal of the JW kibble. The other benefit, without going into detail, was the ease of clearing the garden.

Although with any dried food plenty of water should be available (but then it should anyway) I have not found that my dogs have drunk excessively after eating. I choose to offer the kibble dry for one meal and add a little boiling water for the second. The occasional egg dresses it up a little. Care should be taken not to feed too much. Soak in boiling water and leave for some time and you would be shocked how it has expanded. Jody weighs over 20lbs, yet has only three quarters of a miniature christmas pudding bowl as a measure for each feed. Clear feeding amounts are shown on the packs, which come in bags of 2kg, 7.5kg and 15kg sacks.

James Wellbeloved offers the standard feed, puppy feed - also suitable for small dogs - and the one I use, senior light. This last contains only 16% protein, which has been long found to be adequate for the older animal. Stockists range from petfood shops to garden centres and vets. In fact my vet was very pleased indeed that little Missy was being fed James Wellbeloved, even though this was not sold by him.

Fortunately this is not as expensive as some dried specialist foods although not the cheapest. I pay between £4.50 and £5.25 for a 2kg bag depending where I buy it and it becomes quite a lot less expensive when the larger packs are bought.

James Wellbeloved are now the fastest growing British pet food manufacturer and also supply a formula for cats. Anything you want to know about their recipes can be found on http://www.wellbeloved.co.uk

I am more than happy to give this 5 stars as I know I am using a reliable product for Jody's health. Of course the marmite on toast soldiers she shares with me every morning doesn't do any harm either.

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