A new question about dog food selection

[FourPawz]

At this point in time, you need to feed what you can afford and use your eggs to up the protein and healthy fats. And, at least for a month you could easily feed the 2 big dogs 3/4's of what they've been eating to keep your costs in check. Kudos to you for wanting your dogs to eat good food.

 

[pbjmaker]

Quote:
Not around here any more - the governments are as desperate for money (fines) as are households.

 

[lishah2000]

I would cut back the amount you feed the two large dogs and that will save you some. Three bags a month is a lot for two dogs. One bag of Natural Balance (30 lbs.) feeds two of mine for a month. The other dog gets a bit more, but still only 4 cups a day and that is for him to gain weight.

I would try to keep the beagle on as much of the Blue as you can do, unless he has had the Purina before and did well on it. Mix it now so it isn't a sudden change.

If you need to stretch it more I would add rice, veggies, eggs, meats.

You could also look at expiration dates on the bags. If they are close to expiring the store may give you a discount. Our store starts marking food down at 90 days from expiration. When it gets to 30 days the price really drops. Maybe go in a day the Blue representative is in the store and see if you could get some samples.

Those are just the things I would do in the same situation. I would probably stay with Purina if I needed to add a different food unless it was just small amounts.

I do believe that on the food analysis sites Ole Roy ranks higher than Beneful.

 

[clairabean]

You do what you have to do. A month or two of eating Old Roy mixed with their old is not going to kill them. Sorry to say, but they are dogs. You are not fattening them up with organic feed to eat them, you are not showing them. They are healthy pets. They can handle it. Supplement them with what you have. Eggs, hunter scraps... what you got.

Some people here advertise for 'hunter scraps' for their dogs. Really any unsmoked freezer-burnt meat will do.

Good luck in your tough times. It will get better. We all have done things, when in hindsight, and just stupid.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

HOLY CRAP!

7 cups a day? Wow! I was thinking my 2 cups a day of Authority was too much! My lab is 110 lbs and is almost too fat on his 2 cups a day. Might have to cut it down.

WOW. I never realized how much of a difference the foods made!

What size bags are you buying? I know this one might be out of your reach, but the food I feed is $28 per 38 lb. sack. I feed 2 cups a day to the lab.

Seems cheaper to me than purchasing the cheaper stuff and feeding more of it at each feeding?


If nothing else, maybe reduce the intake of the feed and substitute eggs or lean burger? That might help stretch it a bit.

 

[sourland]

Do what you have to do and your dogs will survive. Hope that your situation soon turns around.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Have you considered Diamond Naturals. TSC sells it. Its about $30 tax included for 40lbs, so $60 for 80 pounds of food. It's cheaper and a good quality food. Our Golden Retriever gets 2-3 cups a day.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I am still looking for reliable studies (not funded by dog food companies or people trying to sell their dog diet plans) on dog food. Just from personal experience, my cattle dog did very well on Old Roy lamb and rice (I think one of the only ones in their line with meat listed first) with a healthy coat and lots of energy. She did not do well on Taste of the Wild, and even with it mixed in with other food, it gave her diarhea and she refused to eat it eventually. Haven't had a chance to try raw, though she loves home cooked meals. I also remember during the food recalls when some of the expensive organic-doggy-meals people were running around saying, "feed this or you are poisoning your dog"...ended up on that same list. So yeah, I'm not sold one way or the other, and I am personally comfortable feeding my dog various kibbles and finding out what seems to work best for her, what she seems to feel the best on. Right now, that is another brand of lamb and rice, which I'll look up the name for. She does very well on lamb it seems, where as our other dog had terrible reactions to lamb and would projectile-everything-you-can-think-of all over the place til we figured it out on the third time he had lamb (they were on 'Rotations"...I really like that brand if you can find it, and he was only getting lamb at intervals). Different strokes for different dogs and all that.

As a side note, it looks like in the photos that the lab could maybe stand to eat a little bit less. That right there will help you foot the bill for whatever food direction you end up going in. Best of luck.

 

[secuono]

The cheaper the food, the more you need to feed them to get enough nutrients into the dogs.
Some people don't like Nutro, but the are fairly good and on an ok budget.
Currently I just buy mixed bags of farm dog food; large breed, active, working, etc types and let my dog free feed.

A lot of brands are actually made by the same company. So even low priced but popular brands are made by the same people also making the more expensive stuff. Just a way for them to be greedy and make the most $$ possible.

 

[bossynbella]

Thanks for all the replies. The beagle is use to the Purina One. When she had the pups she was on half Blue buffalo and half Purina one puppy food, because I wanted the puppies use to something you can get locally, its an hour + drive to get blue buffalo (we just order ours on amazon and it ships for free). I have 8 cans of Alpo homestyles I had forgotten about ( I used it to tempt my beagle to eat when she was pregnant and had first had her pups) So I have that available for this month as well. The bag of Purina One , Lamb and rice says to feed 5 and a half cups for 100lbs plus 1/2 cup for every ten pounds over that. Well at the last vet visit Apollo(the lab) weighed 128lbs. Vet said he looked good, not to heavy not to thin, you can actually feel his ribs if you run your hand down his side. So I have been giving him 7 cups of it. It says 4-5 cups for 70-100lb dogs, Lani (the mutt) weighed 81lbs at vet visit so I give her four cups.

I think I am going to go a head and buy the $30 bag of Purina One (34lbs). See how they do cutting the food down to 5 cups for Apollo and 3 cups for Lani. Annie (the beagle) eats 1 cup of blue buffalo, bag of Purina One says 2 and a fourth cups. So if I mix it, and just give her 2 cups a day. She should be good for the month. If I start running low on the PUrina one and I realize I won't make it through the month even with supplementing the Canned Alpo, eggs, etc then I will buy a bag of whatever I Can afford and start mixing the two together.

Thank you for the support! This is why I love this place.
Melissa