I know you get what you pay for, but what if you can't pay the high price to get the quaranteed health benifits. What are the better choices on the lower end of the price scale? I have a Boxer and a Samoa/Husky mix big eaters. Thanks for your input. 
High priced -VS- Low priced Dog food???
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Hi
I am not a food expert i work at my local shelter and i have to say i have seen a lot of old dogs come through and they have been on the cheeper food and did well you need to do what works best for you and what you can afford
hope this helps
jamie
I am not a food expert i work at my local shelter and i have to say i have seen a lot of old dogs come through and they have been on the cheeper food and did well you need to do what works best for you and what you can afford
hope this helps
jamie
How cheap are you looking at? If you have to keep it at the very lowest price range, I'd recommend Purina Dog Chow. It's better than the other choices in that price range, and all the dogs I know who eat it are doing reasonably well. I think Dog Chow runs about $20.00 for a 55 pound bag.
If you can go up a notch from that, I recommend Diamond Naturals or Kirkland (Costco brand) food. They're both about $25.00 for a 40 pound bag (cheaper than Purina ONE, and better, too).
Another notch up would be Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul and Canidae. Chicken Soup is about $30.00 for a 35 pound bag, and Canidae runs about $40.00 for a 40 pound bag (except the price has gone up recently, so I'm not positive about that).
Anything with semi-moist bits (Kibbles n Bits, Purina Moist n Meaty, etc.) is a BIG no-no, because the moist bits contain corn syrup. Dogs do not need sugar in their diets; it can cause all kinds of health problems, and possibly hyperactivity (sugar buzz!).
And you want to avoid store brands. They're just no good at all, and all the dogs I've know who are fed store brand food are really unhealthy.
You can feed your dog less of a better brand, so it usually comes out even (say, store brand vs. Chicken Soup---the dog will probably have to eat twice as much store brand to get the same amount of nutrition)
If you can go up a notch from that, I recommend Diamond Naturals or Kirkland (Costco brand) food. They're both about $25.00 for a 40 pound bag (cheaper than Purina ONE, and better, too).
Another notch up would be Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul and Canidae. Chicken Soup is about $30.00 for a 35 pound bag, and Canidae runs about $40.00 for a 40 pound bag (except the price has gone up recently, so I'm not positive about that).
Anything with semi-moist bits (Kibbles n Bits, Purina Moist n Meaty, etc.) is a BIG no-no, because the moist bits contain corn syrup. Dogs do not need sugar in their diets; it can cause all kinds of health problems, and possibly hyperactivity (sugar buzz!).
And you want to avoid store brands. They're just no good at all, and all the dogs I've know who are fed store brand food are really unhealthy.
You can feed your dog less of a better brand, so it usually comes out even (say, store brand vs. Chicken Soup---the dog will probably have to eat twice as much store brand to get the same amount of nutrition)
Yeah, that's what I feed my dogs most of the time. Here's the store locator on their website: http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/dealer_locator/
I've known a lot of dogs, and it seems to be generally true from observing them that feeding a better food makes a big difference in their health - lifespan, weight, coat, teeth. All of the dogs I've known that were on a cheap food for any prolonged period of time tended to have a greasy coat, flaky skin, stinkier stools, and poorer overall health.
Better usually means more expensive, but more expensive does not necessarily mean better. Case in point: Science Diet. Terrible food, high price tag.
I don't know what you're looking to pay so I'm not really sure what to recommend. However, bear in mind that with some of the more expensive foods you don't have to feed as much to maintain the dog's weight.
Better usually means more expensive, but more expensive does not necessarily mean better. Case in point: Science Diet. Terrible food, high price tag.
I don't know what you're looking to pay so I'm not really sure what to recommend. However, bear in mind that with some of the more expensive foods you don't have to feed as much to maintain the dog's weight.
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There are no guaranteed health benefits with any higher priced food...alot of people swear by premium foods, and the ingredients sure do look better, but I personally was unimpressed with the actual results of the ones I tried. If my budget was bigger I would probably try a few more just to see, but for now I have used both Purina One and Walmart's Maxximum Nutrition and have been happy with both. If you're near a Costco, Kirklands is supposed to be good.
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Kirkland and Chicken Soup are both quite affordable and fairly decent brands of kibble. I would also look into Premium Edge, Taste of the Wild, Natural Balance and Authority Harvest Baked.
This is the cheapest I'll feed my animals now. I'm switching from it to Innova. This may sound harsh, but if you can't afford to feed your animals the proper diet, you can't afford to care for them and have them.
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Ok then, I'll go drop my dogs off at the pound.
My aren't you full of yourself!
I agree with you on the Science Diet. my dog is on the prescription KD for her kidneys and ever since she has been on it she has had skin problems and itchs a lot! before the vet recommend us put her on the prescription we were feeding the Royal Canine Bulldog food! when she was on that she had hardly any itching and never had to many skin problems! I would love to find a good food that is good for her kidney's as well but I have not been able to yet!
Oh yeah and we pay $75 for a 40lb of this food..geesh talk about a rip off!
I used to think that....but, really, there are more important issues.
If you can't afford to feed your dog AT ALL, you should definitely re-home him. If you can't afford to feed him anything but store brand, you should look into what you could do in order to buy a name brand (give up/cut back on smoking, sodas, candy, etc.), because those store brands really are awful.
But saying that you should give up your dog because you can't afford Innova.....really now, I think that with all the dogs dying in shelters for lack of homes, giving up your dog should never be an option, especially for a reason like food choices.
And of course, "proper diet" is highly subjective.
You know, I can't afford the time to walk my dog, so I think I'll just leave her in the crate or yard all day instead.
I'm totally with you. I'm not saying that anyone should give up their dog. They should, however, consider the cost of vet bills and proper food. I just wouldn't settle for feeding my dog Iams. I'd sooner give up spending money doing something I like. If that means not eating out for lunch, fine. I'm not going to make my dog suffer for my own poor financial planning.
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Here is the ingredient list for Purina Dog Chow, with the ingredients bolded, which I won't touch with a 40 foot pole:
Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Yellow 6), DL-Methionine, manganese sulfate, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
The first four ingredients all suck in a row. No thank you. If I ran out of money, I'd feed them MY food before I fed them this (and I've done it before).
I do love Kirkland. A 40 lb bag of food for 20 bucks, and no wheat, corn, by-products, or artificial colors/preservatives? Yes please! Mine are on this right now because I am short on cash, and they're doing great. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Yellow 6), DL-Methionine, manganese sulfate, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
The first four ingredients all suck in a row. No thank you. If I ran out of money, I'd feed them MY food before I fed them this (and I've done it before).
I do love Kirkland. A 40 lb bag of food for 20 bucks, and no wheat, corn, by-products, or artificial colors/preservatives? Yes please! Mine are on this right now because I am short on cash, and they're doing great. I'd recommend it to anyone.
For those without a Costco (like me), Diamond Naturals is almost identical to Kirkland. I pay $26.99 for the chicken and rice formula (40 pounds) and $20.99 for the beef and rice formula (I don't know why the beef costs less). I forget how much the lamb and rice formula costs, because my dogs don't do well on lamb.
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Good point. Diamond makes Kirkland and I totally forgot.
I don't have a Costco membership either, so I just have others take me to Costco lol...
I don't know for sure, but I think they are similar.I had never even heard of a Costco until I was on dog forums.
Is it like a Sam's?
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