Evaluating Dog Food

[ninjapoodles]

When I first started feeding the Volhard Natural Diet (homemade, raw), I thought it was expensive. Then I did some of this kind of figuring, and also saw how VERY LITTLE was being wasted. The most expensive ingredient, of course, is the fresh meat (but if you hunt, or raise your own, then you're sitting pretty), but even so, it wound up costing less to feed the dogs for a month on fresh, superb ingredients that I put together myself than it did to feed them a premium brand of commercial kibble.

But it is REALLY difficult to convince people to look beyond the price on the package. This weekend we babysat a young dog of our breeding, and were horrified at how fat she'd become. The new owners were feeding her a cheap food, but gosh, if they'd just fed her the *correct* amount of something decent, she'd be much healthier and they'd actually be spending LESS money...especially when it comes to future vet bills.

And then there's the bonus of knowing exactly what your animals are eating, and where it comes from!

 

[PurpleChicken]

I'm a big Costco fan so this thread is great for me. We have 3 dogs and feed them
less than the packages suggest. Our 50 pound, overweight 17 year old, gets a cup
of kibble twice a day. Our other two 40 to 50 pounders get 2 cups of kibble twice a
day.

We supplement our kibble with chicken soup or fresh eggs cooked or raw, and various
types of steamed rice.

Our dogs are happy and never go to the vet. Sorry to the vet people we just don't
buy into all the shots and pills.

 

[southernhen]

I have been fortunate, I haven't had any problems with my dogs and had to run them to the vet. I live in the panhandle of Florida, we don't have a cosco's or a kirklands.....any suggestions???

 

[Rosalind]

Didn't Timberwolf Organics get busted for serious mislabeling, and it turned out none of their ingredients were organic--and upon further inspection during the pet food recalls, it turned out a lot of the ingredients listed on the package weren't even in the food at all? I seem to recall last year they "switched formulations" only it turned out they were really just told to list actual ingredients on the package as opposed to the ingredients they wished they had.

I feed my dog Wellness Large Breed. He was raised on Eagle Pack, but he really was not enthusiastic about it and wasn't putting on weight properly. Seriously, he eats about 2 1/2 - 3 cups per day of Wellness. We leave his food bowl out 24/7 with food in it, he could eat as much as he liked, but he only eats a few cups per day and spends the rest of the day working and playing. Strong as an ox and all lean muscle. Local feed store charges about $35-40/50 lb. bag, but one bag lasts, like, a month or longer.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I feel bad reading this thread. heh, my family use to feed Pedigree thinking it was one of the more "expensive" cheap dog foods at Walmart. Recently Pedigree rose another $5 which makes it about $25 for a 40lb bag. We broke under the pressure and had to switch to Ol'Roy. Which makes me feel much better knowing that Ol'Roy scored almost twice as much as Pedigree. Yeah, I know they are still both very low scoring, but it's what we can afford for now. I don't think I can talk my father into feeding our 3 German Shepherds and our mutt fresh meat.

Thanks for sharing the method for evaluation!

-Kim

 

[Sonia]

I feed Canidae and Felidae. The prices are similar to purina prices and it is sooo much better for them. Add to that that they eat less of it so it really is cheaper than feeding lesser quality foods. Plus consider that if your pets are getting better nutrition then they will get sick less often saving you a LOT of money in vet bills. As an added bonus they will poo less and that poo will not smell as bad.


P.S. your feed store will most likely order it for you if they don't already carry it. If not you can get it from petfooddirect.com and if you google for coupons you can almost always get 15-20% off your order.

 

[Smoky73]

I feed my dogs and cats all Flint River food. It was costing me about $20 a 20lb bag of Iams, and they were eating it in about two weeks.
I now am paying $36 a 20lb bag of Flint River and I only order it once a month. They eat less of the food. The corgi gets 2/3 cup a day, and my aussie/border collie (who weighs 48lb ) gets 1 1/2 cups a day. They also poop a lot less because the food is a lot more digestable, so less waste.

I was shocked to read that Iams was not any better than any other brand at the grocery store, so if I was going to throw away the money, it might as well go to better food.

 

[texasreb]

I feed mostly Innova Evo, but I do rotate every other bad with another grain free brand such as Taste of the Wild (made by Diamond--Yuck--but a good food); Barking at the Moon (made by Solid Gold) and a few others.

I must say that I am impressed with Costco's food. IMO, that is the way anybody should go if you cannot afford raw or grain free. It's cheap and it's good. Perfect combo.

 

[K7S10]

Try going to your local butcher and talking to him about buying meat in bulk.
I order 50 lbs of meat at a time for my two dogs (German Shepherd x Whippet and Golden Retriever x Border Collie) and my sister's dog (Basenji x ).
I get their oatmeal, millet and flaxseeds (which I grind) at Bulk Barn, and some joint supplements at our local feed store).
Not a bad price and soooo much better than commercial.

 

[horsejody]

Don't forget two of the nastiest things a pet food can contain, BHT or BHA. They are chemicals that are used as a preservative. There are better preservatives that are much safer. BHT and BHA are so bad they have been banned from human food even in trace amounts. They can cause long term health problems for pets. They can also make existing health problems worse. These things are proving to cause disease and have been known causes of epilepsy and other neurological problems. Please read the labels. If it has BHA or BHT, throw it away.
JMHO