pet.co.nz is where we were buying our dog food, when we were trying different brands to see if they would help one of our dog's allergies.

They shipped fast (and free if you spend over $59) and pricing was much cheaper than buying locally.

Luckily we have a Lab, so he is happy with anything and everything foodwise, so can cheap out there ;)

Best thing to do for a dog (or any pet), find a vet you trust and the animal responds well to. While we have a local vet available, we travel a bit further to one who goes beyond the call of duty for the health and safety of pets. Our dog goes mental when he sees that vet, remembers the care he was given after having a very bad accident.

As a Bordercollie owner I agree with rscole86 about using pet direct, they have been my choice and also my friends' who are breeders for buying things.

I would strongly recommend having a look at https://www.petfoodreviews.com.au for some good information about feeding your dog.

It's an Australian website, but it's written by a credible pet food nutritionist, and many of the pet foods on offer here are the same.

The pet food industry is dominated by two big suppliers, Mars and Nestle, who make most of the big brands. Sadly most of it is low quality junk made of very cheap ingredients sold at high profit margins, backed up with huge marketing budgets. Your dog will probably eat it, but it's mostly terrible from a nutrition and long-term health point of view.

You'll also find that pet food retail suffers from the same problem as human food retail, with prices highly inflated so that they can periodically offer "specials", with discounts of 20%+ being common. I have a number of trusted dog food products that I buy, and I find it best to shop around every month to avoid paying silly prices. It's not worth becoming too loyal to one supplier, and so long as you don't wait until you've run out before ordering, you can save a lot of money.

rscole86: We changed from pet.co.nz to pet direct.co.nz, after the former got worse and worse with their delivery times. They started as overnight, or two days to Wellington, to regularly taking over a week.

pet direct have never taken longer than two days to get to Wellington, including when it's shipped from Christchurch. This includes packages up to around 20kg.

Strange as we never had an issue with deliveries from pet.co.nz.

Always arrived within 2 days and we are rural delivery near Oamaru.
Sometimes even arrived overnight!

toys and things, petdirect.co.nz

food we get from our Vet, she is on Royal Canin hypoallergenic food as she's a sensitive little girl.

as for Kennels we use Harkleah Meadows, its a big open farm, everywhere else we toured looked cramped and small.

Good post, thank you.

Has anyone else bought dog food from Farmlands?

We have a couple times. The 20kg bags, per kilo they work out cheaper for us. My wife prefers to buy the Nood brand. Anyone else tried this?

1st bag from Farmlands was CopRice Family Dog Adult 20kg and our bigger dog got flaky skin.

Most recent bag is Stockman & Paddock Working Dog Dry Food 20kg the dogs eat it up easy.

Thanks for the replies, this is really good information!

I'm sure, buried deep deep in the terms and conditions of Geekzone, that it says if someone mentions a pet then that someone must then post a photo of the pet as well. Preferably a photo of said pet in a cute and endearing pose.

kiwifidget:

 

I'm sure, buried deep deep in the terms and conditions of Geekzone, that it says if someone mentions a pet then that someone must then post a photo of the pet as well. Preferably a photo of said pet in a cute and endearing pose.

 

Sure....... :)

Our girl is on the far right (her two brothers left and center)..... taken at Pilmmierton Dog Park

yay!