Non-grain dog food?

[Soupermom]

Can anyone recommend a good brand that doesn't cost a fortune? I recently had to switch my older dog to this type of food for his bone/joint health. We've been getting Hills brand from the pet store, but it is SOO expensive. I've seen other types at Meijer and Wal-Mart (Rachel Ray and other brands I've never heard of), but I'm not sure which brand to trust. My vet said preferably it should not include chicken; I'm not sure why or if that included turkey. (He was substitute vet and we recently switched to another vet...long story). I saw a Purina form today with beef and venison, but the small print said it had corn meal in it. I'd love to find a less expensive alternative. Any suggestions?

 

[DLgal]

You will not find what you are looking for at Walmart or a supermarket.

Many dogs are allergic to chicken, but Turkey is often okay. If your dog is having problems that point to food intolerance, try a food with salmon as the main ingredient. Grain free foods tend to be SUPER pricey, but many dogs thrive on them.

You will need to go to Petsmart or Petco, or order online from chewy.com (great prices and 2 day free delivery)

Our dog is very food sensitive. After a year of trial and error with practically every type of food imaginable, we have settled on Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach formula. It is a good compromise between price and quality and our dog does well on it. As for grain free, we liked Castor and Pollux Ultramix (fish formula, has NO poultry products, corn, wheat, soy). That one is more expensive but our dog did welll on it. I decided grain inclusive was just fine, as long as it was rice, oatmeal, or barley, and NO CORN or WHEAT, which are not good for dogs.

 

[DLgal]

Also, if you have Costco, look there. They have some grain free and some without chicken. Only have huge bags, but they are all under $40/bag.

 

[Sandysbuddy]

This website provides a lot of good information on dog foods and their ingredients: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

We use Diamond Naturals and buy it at our local farm supply store.

 

[3Gsandme]

I've heard good things about the Kirkland brand of grain free foods, but we haven't tried them. We feed our dog 4 Health, which is Tractor Supply's in house brand. They have three grain free "flavors" (beef, turkey and salmon). We're happy with them and their priced lower than most brands.

 

[Ranger111]

My dogs are working dogs. They only get grain-free foods.

You can go to one of the big box pet stores -- I don't need to name them -- and you can find over-priced celebrity endorsed -- and not celebrity endorsed -- brands.

Or, depending where you live, you may have a "feed store" or "farm store" near you.

They may have the exact same brands as the "pet stores." Or they may have different brands.

Regardless, the farm/feed stores are usually cheaper. MUCH cheaper. I know that is true in my area.

I feed my dogs Taste of the Wild. It comes in several different "formulations."

http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/

Oh, WalMart does have their own grain-free-- sorta -- I just realized it has rice. I bought a bag once when I needed one and could not make it to the feed store. Dog's loved it, but it has some controversy around it -- but then there seems to be a pac of people who make it their business to knock everything WalMart.

http://www.walmart.com/cp/Pure-Balance-Natural-Dog-Food/1097490

There is a website that rates dog foods, it also has some controversy, YMMV.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Myself, the dogs like Taste of the Wild, price is better than the pet store stuff and the people at the feed store actually seem to know what they are talking about.

 

[ellie05]

Taste od the wild is a good you won't find good brands at walmart or the super market. We feed our dogs Acana it is great but pricey.

 

[Soupermom]

Wow! Thanks for all of your input. We have several feed stores in our town so I will check them out.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We use the lamb and rice food from Costco (Kirkland brand). It's a very good quality food, no grain, and a reasonable price.

 

[momto2inKC]

We buy our pet foods at the local farm/feed store. Like someone else mentioned, they tend to carry high quality stuff you'd find at places like Petco.
Our dog eats Infinia turkey and sweet potato. It's rated 5 stars on Dog Food Advisor. She has a sensitive tummy and has not had any issues since we switched her to this. It's pricey but totally worth it.

 

[crisi]

We get the grain free at Costco. They have three versions, one is beef, one poultry and I think the third is salmon - I believe sweet potato is the filler instead of grain.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We get the grain free at Costco. They have three versions, one is beef, one poultry and I think the third is salmon - I believe sweet potato is the filler instead of grain.

They also have a lamb formula.

 

[littlezar]

Our 10 1/2 yr old lab mix eats Wellness CORE grain free. It's definitely pricey but I think it's worth it because she hasn't had any health problems and still runs and plays like a puppy.

order online from chewy.com (great prices and 2 day free delivery)

Thanks for mentioning that website - definitely cheaper there than locally.

 

[disneybound31]

We use Blue Buffalo Basics Grain Free...our dog loves the salmon/potato flavor. A 24 lb bag is about $58, but with ebates and googling a coupon code I got it for $48. Breaks down to about $2 a lb. I am good with that to avoid extra vet visits over the dog itching and scratching herself silly every day and night. PetSmart or Amazon is where I order from...PetSmart ships this size free.

 

[okeydokey]

We feed Taste of the Wild as well. Wish we had a feed store nearby.

You will find that even if you pay more for the better food, you will need to feed them less of it than the corn filled ones. It makes the difference in price much more reasonable.

 

[LJSquishy]

Take a looks at dogfoodanalysis.com and look for a 4 or 5 star food preferably.

Natural Balance LID (limited ingredient diet) is a pretty good food and very budget friendly. I feed it to my dogs because one has a very sensitive digestive system. Previously I fed Orijen and Acana but they are pricey and were too high in protein for my two small dogs (Maltese).

You can also consider Blue Buffalo (I don't think they're all grain-free) and Wellness...they are also both pretty affordable. California Natural is also affordable.

As the others said, you won't find a quality food at Walmart or grocery stores. Feed stores are iffy...some will have a couple of good choices and others only carry garbage.

I like ordering from chewy.com sometimes because I don't have to pay tax.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We've bounced all over the place with grain free food brands. We've been using Wellness Simple Limited Ingredient dog food for the past year. We have 4 dogs (a lab, pitbull, Min Pin, and a Plotthound mix) and 2 of them have had food sensitivities in the past. We have a local pet food store that offers discounts/sales every once in awhile and I get a $3.00 off coupon emailed to me every month in their newsletter.

I would suggest whatever brand you pick to go to their website and see if they have any coupons or if you can sign up for their email list. Sometimes you can buy coupons off of Ebay too.

Our pet food store had a customer appreciation sale in March. Every Wednesday they offered 10% off everything in the store. I have enough huge bags of dog food to get us through for quite awhile now!

 

[pinkxray]

We had to switch my dog to grain free in the last year. Our vet recommended no chicken and said if possible try something other than turkey. Her recommendations were lamb, venison or rabbit.

We tried Blue Buffalo and it seemed ok but it was hard to find anything other than chicken or turkey in our area.

In the last few months we switched to canidae grain free lamb formula. I ordered it chewy.com since I can't find it around here. It is almost $10 cheaper than what I paid for blue buffalo. It is a lot more than I used to pay for our old purina one but you also have to remember that in most cases dogs won't be eating as much. Make sure you checked the serving recommendations.

Our dog loves it and all of her issues she had an her regular food cleared up.

 

[MarthaJr.]

Wondering if anyone has tried the Halo brand of dry dog food? It looks to get good reviews. Our dogs currently eat Science Diet dry--but judging by the dog food reviews---looks like we are horrible parents because it doesn't look too healthy. We have 2 rescue dogs...one is 7 lbs. the other 16 lbs. The bigger one inhales her food the other one snacks on his food and has never been a good eater. I'm thinking we should try a different food.

 

[Megkel]

I LOVE Earthborn dog food. They have bison, salmon, lamb, lots of flavors. Sadly we moved and they do not sell that brand around here. We feed Wellness Core now. My big dog used to have chronic ear infections, however after switching her food to the grain free she hasn't had one in years.

We buy ours from the military NEX but I think Amazon sells it on their subscribe and save program.