Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Who makes your products?
A. We manufacture all of our own products at our Mills in Suffolk. This means we have total control of every aspect of production from the sourcing of raw materials through to manufacture, distribution and most importantly - quality control.

Q. Do you test your products on animals?
A. We utterly condemn the practice of animal testing and no animals are used, or tested on, in any way by our company.

Q. How long have you been in business?
A. The Stradbroke Mill has been in the Skinner family for seven generations. We have been manufacturing our petfoods since the early 1970's. The first food we produced was Skinner's Original Dog Meal and this is still made to the same recipe.

Q. Who are you owned by?
A. The Skinner family owns the business in its entirety. We are completely independent.

Q. Where can I buy your products?
A. We have a database of over 4,000 outlets in the UK who either stock Skinner's products, or are able to get our products to order within a few days. We have always supported the independent pet trade and our products can be found in pet shops, country stores and agricultural outlets up and down the country. Our products are not available in mainstream supermarkets.

Q. Can I buy your products overseas?
A. We currently export to Kenya and many European countries including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Q. Do you have any hypoallergenic diets?
A. In our Field & Trial range, Duck & Rice and Salmon & Rice are both completely hypoallergenic being free of wheat gluten, maize gluten and barley gluten as well as soya and dairy products. Field & Trial Puppy and Field & Trial Superior are both free from wheat and wheat gluten. In our Skinner’s range, Chicken & Rice Sensitive and Lamb & Rice Sensitive are both free from wheat and wheat gluten, dairy, beef, egg and soya whilst Puppy & Junior and Light & Senior are both wheat and wheat gluten free.

Q. What is Taurine?
A. Taurine is an amino acid, that has been shown to have beneficial effects on the heart, helping to regulate the heartbeat and maintaining cell membrane stability. Taurine can be found as an ingredient of many of the commercially available sports drinks.

Q. Can you explain the extrusion process?
A. The extruder is rather like a giant pressure cooker that cooks the ingredients by the introduction of steam. Two long corkscrew-shaped barrels rotate in opposite directions and the ingredients are introduced at one end and are cooked under high pressure as they are forced down the barrel. After extrusion, the food is dried, cooled and is given a coating of fats and oils to enhance its flavour and digestibility.

Q. Do you add any chemical preservatives?
A. No, we do not add any chemical preservatives to our foods. Instead, we use a blend of mixed tocopherols and rosemary oil, which are natural antioxidants. In addition, organic selenium is added to some of our diets, which again has proven to be an extremely beneficial antioxidant.

Q. Do you have a diet for fussy eaters?
A. Humans are very often responsible for encouraging their dogs to be fussy, by offering them too wide a range of foods, titbits and treats. When it comes to mealtimes, dogs are then more interested in what other foods might be available if they leave their regular food. Of course, there are many dogs who do not have very good appetites, and our Ruff & Ready with its mixture of real meat, steam cooked flaked cereals and vegetables usually does the trick with even the fussiest of eaters.

Q. Do you use only British ingredients?
A. Wherever possible we use locally grown cereals. We use British grass-fed lamb in Lamb & Rice Sensitive, Scottish salmon from a sustainable source in Field & Trial Salmon & Rice and the duck meat meal in Field & Trial Duck & Rice comes from Lincolnshire. Some of the ingredients we use, such as rice, are not grown in the UK and these are obtained from reputable sources in other countries. We have full traceability of all the ingredients we use in our foods.

Q. What are Glucosamine and Chondroitin?
A. Chondroitin Sulphate and Glucosamine Sulphate are key structural components in cartilage and are classed as amino-sugars. These have proven benefits to both older, and larger breeds of dog, where joint mobility is often challenged.

Q. What are FOS and MOS?
A. FOS (Fructo-Oligosaccharide) and MOS (Mannan-Oligosaccharide) are both classed as pre-biotics and are derived from natural sources. They help to promote a healthy digestive system and can aid in the resistance of pathogenic colonisation. We add a blend of MOS and FOS to our puppy foods, and these aid the production of healthy bacteria in the digestive system.

Q. Are your foods GM-free?
A. Yes. Our raw materials have been carefully sourced and are guaranteed to be GM free.

Q. What is the 'ash' content that is mentioned on your packaging? Do you add ash to your food?
A. No. We do not add ash to our foods. Ash is simply the declaration we have to make which describes the part of food with no nutritional value at all.