Dog Food Suggestions

[GreatPyrLover]

I am feeding my dogs Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potato right now....the cost of this food is getting outrageous....what are some good suggestions for dog food that is good food and isnt gonna cost a fortune to feed five dogs? Three are dachshunds, one is a Sheltie and the other is a 20 month old Great Pyrenees. The dachshunds and sheltie have some age on them...but I would rather keep them all on the same food b/c it so much easier. I have been out to dogfoodanalysis.com and looked around...just wanted to hear what some other folks feed their dogs.....Thanks for any recommendations

 

[OtterCreekRanch]

I am not sure what Natural Balance costs (never tried it), but we fed our dogs Diamond Natural (Extreme Athlete...but our dog is a very high energy pit bull, so he burns off anything else and says too skinny). Our cats were on Wellness Core, but that was getting too expensive (over $40 a month for 2 cats) so we have recently switched to Taste Of The Wild which is nearly half the cost. Not sure how the cost of their dog foods compare. When I raised cats I always fed the Diamond brand cat foods and found it very comparable in results to some of the much more expensive brands, but much more cost efficient.

I just wanted to edit to say I have never looked into the dog food analasis thing you mentioned, but I used to be part of a forum that swore by it. I know a lot of people feed their dogs the very best because they feel it is going to give them a longer, healthier life, and while that may be true to some extent, I have had family members that have raised working dogs for decades and they never fed anything fance (usually just Purina Dog Chow or something along those lines) as did we with our previous dog, and our pets have always lived a long, happy, healthy life. I can see not wanting to feed your animals the crappiest of the low, but I think a lot of what you hear about foods being terrible comes down from the marketing of the more expensive foods. I have never had a dog with health issues related to the specific brand of food they were fed.

 

[carolinagirl58]

I switched my dogs to 4Health (http://www.tractorsupply.com/pet-ca...ormula-for-adult-dogs-dog-food-18-lb--5149532) from Tractor Supply at my Anatolian breeder's suggestion. It's around the same price as Iams but VERY high quality. I have been very pleased with it.

 

[GreatPyrLover]

The largest bag of Natural Balance Venison is 28lbs and its about $60...I am going thru the bag in about 3 weeks...so I would really like to find something else. I also grew up with our dogs just eating the grocery store dog food and they were fine and lived a long nice healthy life....I had thought about the Blue Wilderness or putting them back on Taste of the Wild...I use to have them on that. Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[Blue Ninja]

I would suggest Canidae all life stages about $40 for 30 lbs. I adopted a Great Pyrenees that had been emaciated and he was able to eat that and it didn't upset his digestive track like Innova did, and it is cheaper than Innova with great results! I also would suggest Taste of the Wild and Holistic Select that are reasonable priced and pretty good quality. You want to be careful with cheaper foods and all the extra (unnecessary) additives. Plus avoid unidentified meat sources (meat meal, meat by-product) because some dog food companies will process euthanized pets/animals and use them in the mixture. That is bad enough but think about all the drugs, sutures, staple, etc being fed into your pet. Instead look for chicken, lamb, salmon meal, etc so you know where the protein is coming from. Sorry, to go on a tangent just one of my passions...I feed a mixture of raw and Flint River Ranch but I am only feeding a 15 lb doxie and a 30 lb corgi.

 

[bagendhens]

if youve got a costco locally you might want to try Kirkland brand.
its a good food (not the best but no byproducts, no corn and first ingredient is meat

i pay $23 for i think its almost 50lb bag of the chicken and rice, the lamb and rice is a few dollars more.

 

[Theapplechicks]

I had been feeding my dog Iams and one day was inside Tractor Supply and they were all out of Iams and I didn't feel like going anywhere else so I bought a bag of the Diamond dog food they carry! My dog LOVES it! She has a sensitive stomach and this food does not have a lot of filler in it and has never bothered her at all. Best of all.... it's cheap!!! Get a 20lb bag for the same price as a small Iams bag. They also have 50lb bags too. (but my dogs are little and don't eat much) You should check it out if you have one near you. It's pretty great quality stuff. Even some of the big time brands don't measure up w/ the ingredients.

 

[mama24]

If you have a Costco, I second the Kirkland brand. I have read that Kirkland actually has healthier, better quality food than some of the more expensive brands, like Iams. They also just started carrying a grain free brand, I'm not sure which (I don't currently have a dog, I buy the Kirklands lamb and rice for my neighbor friend.) I feed my cat Wellness CORE or Blue Wilderness cat foods b/c she has IBS and can't have any grains whatsoever. Think it's expensive to feed a dog, cat food costs twice as much!

 

[HEChicken]

When we first adopted our old dog four years ago, I tried all of the expensive brands of feed but it didn't matter which, he had the stinkiest farts I'd ever experienced. Silent but deadly, they were. We never heard a thing but man, could he clear a room in a hurry. One day DH came home with 50lb of Old Yeller from the grocery store which had cost $11. It just doesn't get any cheaper than that. I moaned a bit about the low quality food but after about three weeks, it occurred to me: the dog hadn't farted in awhile! We ended up staying on that even when it jumped all the way up to $15/50lb (yes, that was tongue-in-cheek) and he remained healthy and fartless. His coat gleams in the sun and until recently when his hips started to give out (he has severe hip dysplasia, unrelated to feed), he had tons of energy and happiness.

Three weeks ago we adopted a 9-month-old BC/Lab X puppy who is on Diamond Puppy Lamb & Rice formula. Her foster mom recommended keeping her on that so I recently bought another bag. The observations I have made so far about this food are that a) she doesn't seem that crazy about it (but perhaps is a dog that is not that food motivated?) and b) The feed is corn, soy etc free, and the dog seems to crave the scratch I throw out for the chickens. It makes me wonder if there isn't something in grains that dogs need, and with the latest trend of keeping grains OUT of the dog food, they just end up craving that which they need but don't get. (Or maybe she just likes chicken scratch).

Anyway, for me the jury is still out. I have noticed that she is very interested in what our old dog is eating and I think would go for it in a heartbeat if he let her get anywhere near it.

 

[sourland]

Taste of the Wild is $45 for a 30# bag, 4 health somewhat less at TSC. Worked great on my dogs over winter, but started with hot spots this summer (too high protein?) so I am mixing with Purina One at the present. Really like the results on Taste of the Wild.