[swellmomma]

I have not been on this page long but already I am so happy with what I have been learning here. In my tiny rural town there is very limited options for dog food. It is sold in the tiny litle grocery store and basically you can have store brand, dog chow, or Iams (at almost double the price of elsewhere), and 2 brands of wet food. That is it. I have been using the store brand because I did not know better. My puppy has had digestive issues since we brought her home. The night we brought her home she was vomitting and had diarrhea. She was on expensive food from the vet when we brought her home but the vet said to switch her food from that to something else, that her illness was likely due to the food. I got her healthy again and since then she has had issues with fluctuating between normal poops, loose stools and full out diarrhea though she has never vomitted since we brought her home. I have been reading on this forum about why the food options in this town are not the healthiest for my puppy. This week she stopped wanting to eat the kibble so I had been mixing in wet food which got her eating properly and helped turn her diarrhea into loose stools only. Still not quality food obviously.

Anyway, long story short this forum helped me see what I needed to look for in a food. Today we were in the big city so I went to a pet food store and holy cow what a selection to choose from. Rows and rows of food, and it all seemed to be names mentioned here as good ones, as well as other brands I had not heard of before specializing in organic grain free meats etc. I didn't buy any today because I wanted to a look a few up on dogfoodadvisor (also learned about that here) and see what would be the best on to try.

I was amazed at the prices. The high quality stuff at this store cost the same the store brand stuff from my town. It is definitely worth the 2 hour drive to stock up on good quality food for her. We are back in the city on Sunday and I will be picking up the new food for her.

Thanks to everyone here I think I am going to go with EVO dog food for her. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the valuable information shared here. I know my puppy will be much healthier just from this 1 change thanks to this forum and the members of it.

 

[Rescued]

I'm not being sarcastic, this is honestly one of the nicest things I've read on here! Kudos to you for doing your research, not being afraid to "admit" there was a better option, and going with it! I wish every new dog owner was this responsible.

That being said, you can also google the food delivery sites if you're in the US (petflow.com is one I know of) and you might be able to get a better price/ same price but delivered to your house so you don't have to store a bunch of bags of food (not that it's a bad thing to do that, just be sure to keep them where the dog can't reach! We made that mistake once and only once... poor Toby ate 6 or 7 cups of kibble before we caught him.)

 

[swellmomma]

I'm not being sarcastic, this is honestly one of the nicest things I've read on here! Kudos to you for doing your research, not being afraid to "admit" there was a better option, and going with it! I wish every new dog owner was this responsible.

That being said, you can also google the food delivery sites if you're in the US (petflow.com is one I know of) and you might be able to get a better price/ same price but delivered to your house so you don't have to store a bunch of bags of food (not that it's a bad thing to do that, just be sure to keep them where the dog can't reach! We made that mistake once and only once... poor Toby ate 6 or 7 cups of kibble before we caught him.)

Thank you. I am in Canada so not the us but perhaps there is a delivery company somewhere here too. We head to the big city usually at least once every 4-6 weeks (though occasionally more often like this week due to medical appt's) so I will simply be sure to stock up on our needs for her while there if I can't find an option for delivery out here.

 

[hargyle]

If you are in Canada you can actually order off of Petsmart.ca, its not the best price or shipping but its at least and option. I have heard decent things about this site as well: http://www.petacular.com , or http://www.petfoodcanada.com/ ; I have personally never ordered food online - petfoodcanada is owned by Rens Pet depot, I sometimes get my food there because they have awesome prices when things go on sale!

 

[Rescued]

http://www.petfooddirect.com/landing/FAQ.aspx#doyoushiptocanada

It looks like they do too. Just an option- lots of times you can also google "coupon for XXXX" (website) and find a coupon code to take off a little bit more from the price.

 

[swellmomma]

I will be bookmarking those websites for food delivery in case I am ever in a bind. They may come in very handy over the winter when trips to the city are determined by road conditions.

 

[doxiemommy]

I live in a small rural town, too, but in the US. We have feed stores and Tractor Supply stores that carry good quality foods, better than the grocery store.....

 

[georgiapeach]

If you're in Canada, research sites that sell Acana. It's an excellent Canadian made food! I've switched my dog to it, and he LOVES it!!