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small fry · Chanel

dog food

Metric · Gucci

I feed Ness Iams Healthy Naturals. She's a fussy eater and she loves it. We have tried a dozen different foods and that's the only one she'll eat vigorously.

I have a philosophy about my dog, please don't flame me ladies. But this is how I feel: Some people I know get really snooty about store bought/major brands pet foods. I can't justify feeding her fancy expensive food from "specialty" holistic pet stores. $70 and a drive across town for a bag of dog food is not cool with me.

She is a dog. She would eat garbage and deer poop if I let her. Her food doesn't need to cost more than my food. Our vet says her weight is excellent, she had healthy skin and teeth and no health issues. I love her with the power of 1000 suns but she's just a dog.

small fry · Chanel

Thanks Metric, I agree about not spending a arm and leg on food. The previous owner feed Ol Roy, but I have started with purina puppy chow

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

I'll tell you about the ones that I have experience with: Iams has awful reviews and the ingredients are crap. Nutro is the same, but more expensive. My pup liked it but started developing allergies and dry skin, he even has a bald patch. I now have switched him to Wellness Core, which is grain free and about the same price as the Nutro (about $13 for 4 lbs, expensive but not the priciest). I also like Merrick for his wet food (Grammy's Pot pie is probably more nutritious than the food I eat).

This site is really helpful in breaking down and understanding the ingredients in your food:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

-- Edited by XtinaStyles on Sunday 30th of January 2011 01:39:27 PM

Kelly · Hermes

Right now Traci is eating Science Diet Light just because she has diabetes and needs a lot of fiber, and this food has the highest fiber content I could find. I'm not too thrilled about it though because it is filled with corn.

I don't think every dog needs to eat organic specialty meals or anything (like Metric said, she eats poop for pete's sake), but dogs evolved to eat mainly meat, not grains. So I can't see how eating mostly corn could be good for most dogs. Plus, a lot of the corn-filled foods have larger feeding requirements - for example a cheap dog food might be only half the price of an expensive one, but you might have to feed twice as much. So you're not really saving anything there.

I don't remember the name of the brand I used to feed her because it's been a few years, but I remember I just went into the pet store and looked for a brand that a) didn't cost a fortune and b) had a meat as the first ingredient.

Good luck!

Hermes

I'm home cooking. I feed Flora 1/3 c 3 times a day, and Charlie gets 1/4 c 3 times a day. I do a combo of 1/3 each: organic brown rice, ground turkey, and vegetable (peas, spinach, green beans, carrots (by themselves or in combination.) One tub cost me $4.25 and almost lasts me a week for both dogs. A bit of work to cook (takes me an hour because of the rice) but it's a huge savings over store bought and so much better for them.

wetbandit42 · Marc Jacobs

I am feeding my dog Acana (which is made by the same company that makes Orijen, but it's not quite as high-protein). Trust me, my dog has probably been through 10 different brands until I found something I actually liked for her. I started her on Iams when she was a puppy because I didn't know better. Like Xtina said, Iams is junk. Dogs don't need to be eating a corn-based food. It's bad for them, it makes them gain weight and like Kelly said, a lot of those brands may seem cheaper, but if you buy a better, more meat-centric food, it's often cheaper b/c you need to feed them less food.

Honestly, I know you might not like this advice, but you're probably not going to find anything good for your dog at Walmart. I recommend going to a pet store and looking for a food that has a named meat (for ex., Lamb, not Lamb-by-product) listed as the first ingredient. Blue Buffalo is pretty good and not terribly expensive. They carry that at Petco & Petsmart.

Don't listen to your vet either. If my vet had his way, I'd be feeding my dog Iams or Science Diet (which his office conveniently sells). They only recommend those dog foods b/c a) vets only learn a limited amount of info. on dog nutrition in vet school, b) those nutrition classes are sponsored by companies like Iams, and c) I think they probably get kickbacks from companies like Science Diet, similar to the way doctors push certain Rx drugs.

Also, agree with Xtina's suggestion for the website & the Merrick canned food - my dog absolutely loves it, and it actually smells really good. Another place I like to look is at rateitall.com, which has lots of reviews written by real people on tons of different brands of food.

*I'm not trying to sound judgmental or snotty about this. I just know a lot of people don't really know much about what's in dog food. I know not everyone can afford to spend a ton on dog food. That's fine, just make sure to buy the best you can with your budgeted amount.

-- Edited by wetbandit42 on Monday 31st of January 2011 12:40:56 PM

small fry · Chanel

Thanks ladies for all the great input