I had to change dog food - $42 a bag is over the top

[d.k]

* My sheba mix eats Kirkland (Costco) dry -CAT- food and has for a decade. It's also what the shelter where we got her fed to her. Everytime we've tried to switch her to any dog food her coat gets crappy-- coarse and dry looking.

 

[Sonia]

I feed my dogs a combination of Canidae and table scraps. Yeah I know your not supposed to give them fatty scraps but my little 'Rat' is so skinny without it. Our cat (was two up until a week ago) get Evo and scraps. I also get raw bones from our butcher.

 

[Davaroo]

I feed my dogs whats on sale.

 

[sweet_peeps]

The Kirkland dog food that Costco sells is
Diamond brand.
It should say it on the back.
I've used it too and it's good but I hate paying
money to shop somewhere so I let my memebership
go.

I have used Nutro and had throwing up dogs too.

I know some people don't like Iams but i've used
it since my shepherd was a baby and we both love
it.
She will be 10 tomorrow.
Happy Birthday G.

 

[hdchic]

I was like you a couple years back, feeing my working dogs the high dollar stuff. Times are hard and we had to find the cheaper brand. I sat in the isle at WalMart with every brand around me comparing ingredients. Funny thing, Old Roy (which I bashed at every turn) had the same stuff as Iams and Pedigree, and some was even better. $15 for 50 lbs was great for me 4 dogs (3 of which are LARGE breeds). Then we got the chickens, and found that Diamond was sold at the feed store for close to the same price as Old Roy, and they eat less of it. (higher protene, etc) So, I buy Diamond, and chicken feed for $27 and it will last about 2 weeks.

 

[s6bee]

Quote:
I haven't read through all the posts here but the question I would have is do the dogs need to be on a special diet? Why the switch? What are you looking for?
My dog has skin allergies and needs a good diet. I have used both Avoderm ( a vegetarian food but they have meat based ones too ) and Canandaie (sp? ) with much success. I can't afford the really expensive foods either. Those run me around $22-$25 for a 17 lb. bag.

 

[jaruca]

I feed my dog Orijen. I used to feed SolidGold Wolfking but switched because I feel that Orijen is the next best thing to feeding raw. (I do not have a freezer so feeding raw is not really an option for me). It is $70 for a 30lb bag. Obviously, I am insane.

I have thought about switching but two 'pros' keep me going back for more.
1. He eats less. I used to feed 8 cups a day but with Orijen it is only 5-6 cups. There are no grains(filler) in Orijen so they don't consume as much.
2. Like herechickchick says about her mothers dogs, my dog hardly poops! Once a day tops and they are very small for a great dane. (less then 1/2 the size they were with SolidGold). This comes back again to the fact that there are no fillers in the food. The poop also disintegrates into nothing within 2 or 3 days.

The fact that it is canadian made is also a big plus for me!

 

[Javamama]

I couldn't have found this topic at a better time. We have always fed our dogs Nutro but my little dog just started vomiting after eating it. Now, it would probably help if he would chew his food, but he has never had problems before. I am wondering if Nutro changed the formula because the price around here hasn't gone up much. I am looking for something else now. He doesn't eat much so I can give him a more pricey brand if needed. I just don't want to be cleaning up more puke puddles. My lab mix still seems to be fine on the Nutro.

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
I also feed Evo, but it's about $45 a bag here! I have 3 50-ish pound pit bulls. We go through 28 pounds every two weeks. The Evo has no grains (filler!) so they eat very little of it. We are always looking for ways to be frugal, but we didn't save anything feeding the cheaper dog food because we just ended up having to buy twice as much.

For anyone having an issue with food (like you guys having trouble with Nutro, etc.) I would try the Innova Evo. Grains can often cause digestive troubles. Evo is all meat. Of course raw is the best way to go, but not everyone can do that, for various reasons.

 

[DuckyBoys]

Quote:
I didn't click the link but if you read my earlier post you can see that I mention this.

My daughter (18 this August) has been a card carrying PETA member since she was 12.

They send her SO MUCH STUFF OMG - anyway she got all upset at me over buying IAMS but to be honest I don't believe they do that. Maybe I'm in denial I dunno, but most of those PETA videos are way out dated.