Another on the dog topic...

[lonegirl]

Right now I am feeding my lab puppy Taste of the Wild, as his breeder was and we just never switched. It rates tops on Dog Food Analysis website, and is not as pricey as others.

Please, I do not want debate on how I need to feed my dog well. My neighbor's Golden Retriever has existed on Ol Roy and McDonald's cheeseburgers and is turning 12 years old with no health issues. I am willing to pay a bit more for a healthy dog, but it makes me also wonder if this is another ploy for us to spend more. Remember when you were pregnant with first child and you walked into Babies R us and thought we needed all that stuff and then we realized baby needs diapers, crib, clothes, and a box to play in?

Anyway, I am finding it hard to justify the cost of this "better" dog food when dog eats crunch dried-up worms off the sidewalk and licks his tushy all day. I wish I could get my kids to eat what is in that food--salmon, sweet potato and duck anyone?

My question is, anyone have a healthy dog on a "grocery store" or even a petsmart brand instead of a "pet boutique" brand? Basically, looking for a large bag more in the $20-30 range than the $50 range.

 

[RachaelA]

Kirkland brand at Costco

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I had a very healthy full blooded German Shepherd who lived to be nearly 14 years old. He was close to 100lbs.. he at Ol Roy for about the last 7 years of his life!!! Never gave him a problem. I now have an 11 yr old Rotti mix, 3 Jack Russels ( ages 7, 6 & 5) and 2 Tea Cup Chi's ( 6 & 3). I no longer feed Ol Roy due to the smaller ones. The Rotti ate the Ol Roy with the Shepherd for the first 6 years of his life, but now eats Kibbles and bits because of the Jacks & the Chi's eat Iam's. If I didn't have the smaller guys, I would still be with the Ol Roy..

 

[Earstou]

I fed my dog Kibbles and Bits for most of her life. She was approaching 22 when she died!

 

[NikiM20]

I feed 4health from Tractor Supply. It is $30 for a 35 lb bag and is a 4 star food.

 

[Octoberbride03]

We are switching our dog over to Diamond which I'm told is the same thing as Kirkland for Costco. We are buying at Southern States, and so far so good. And WAAY less than what we were paying Petsmart for his Nutro. No idea if its as good as the taste of The Wild, but Onslow likes it and it seems to be doing a good job for him

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I fed my dog Kibbles and Bits for most of her life. She was approaching 22 when she died!

wow! What type of dog did you have.. I know size plays a role in how long they live.. average age for a large dog is 10 yrs old.. my Shepherd was considered "old" for her size and my Rotti is getting up there as he is now 11 & is 87 lbs. He just had surgery too last week on his mouth, he had a cyst on his gums/jaw. He gets them often. This time they could not remove all of it They even had to pull a tooth (now that makes 2 teeth lost due to the cysts over the last 4 years).

 

[JandJ]

This is a touchy subject around our house! When we brought our puppy home (he's a Bichon Frise) his breeder had him on Eukanuba, but he itched and scratched and bit at his skin ALL the time! He was losing patches of fur (it's actually hair on a Bichon) because of the scratching and biting. It was awful! I did some research and found that, especially with Bichons, grain or corn in their food will cause severe itching. We switched him to Kirkland Puppy (a 4-star food) and that was great because it was like $13 for a 25 lb. bag, only problem was he refused to eat it. It was making me miserable to see him eat so little food and his skin wasn't getting any better. More research and I found that many dogs do not like beet pulp in their food and Kirkland has beet pulp. So, I went to the pet shop and they recommended Taste of the Wild (a 5-star food). I said "what the heck, he has to eat" and brought it home. He lapped it up! He literally licked his bowl the first time I gave him TOTW. And the best part - the itching stopped 95% (he's a dog, he's still going to scratch now and then) and his fur has grown in so thick and full! He's like a new dog! If our dog would have eaten the Kirkland and had the same results as we've had with TOTW, I would have stuck with the Kirkland. I get coupons from our local pet shop, I joined their loyalty club (it was free to join) and I pay around $20 for a 25 lb. bag of TOTW. He's a small dog so a 25 lb. bag lasts awhile.

The touchy part around our house is, DH swears I would get the same results on a grocery store brand that doesn't contain grain or corn and doesn't cost as much. I think it depends on your individual dog. Our neighbors' dogs eat Rachel Rae, Kibbles & Bits, Beneful, etc. and they are all healthy and fine. For our dog, IMHO, it's worth it to buy TOTW.

(BTW our puppy ate the crunched up worms too, but he's 7-months old now and has outgrown that. Unfortunately, he hasn't outgrown eating the stray cat poo in neighbor's yards ).

 

[umaangel00]

We are switching our dog over to Diamond which I'm told is the same thing as Kirkland for Costco. We are buying at Southern States, and so far so good. And WAAY less than what we were paying Petsmart for his Nutro. No idea if its as good as the taste of The Wild, but Onslow likes it and it seems to be doing a good job for him

I just switched my 4 year old pitty and 14 week old boxer to Diamond. They love it! They were eating beneful but my pitty was tired of it. I've been told that Diamond is one of the best. What you need to look for is that corn or grains are not the first ingredieants. It need to be some sort of meat. The corn and grains are fillers and really don't do them any good.

 

[PrincessKate's Mom]

My vet recommends Purina Dog Chow. Our dogs have done great on it.

 

[Order66]

The genetics of the dog has a lot more to do with longevity than nutrition does. My dogs are now 7, 11 and 15. Two of them I bred myself and they came from a long line of dogs that lived to their early teens. I really don't think their nutrition has affected them all that much.

Nutrition depends on lots of variables. Breed, age, activity, health, etc.... And I don't mean feeding unbalanced diets. Dog foods that are AAFCO are shown to meet the nutritional needs to match the labeling. There is no one clear answer on what is "best". I have known people who feed "grocery store" food and had happy, healthy, old dogs. I have known people who spent more on dog food than human food and have a list of health issues.

This is a nice article on how to feed your dog, rather than the usual sites that tell you what to feed your dog. http://www.labbies.com/nutri.htm

I personally choose to feed a somewhat more quality diet. Not the most expensive stuff, but not economy brands either. Currently it's Candae. For me it has to do with cost, portion, taste and outward results. It's got to be affordable because I'm not rich. I want smaller portions due to the amount and size of dogs I feed. Right now that's 3 dogs all ~ 100lbs and what goes in must come out! LOL More nutrient dense means more absorption means smaller poop. The food has to taste good to them......quality means nothing if they won't eat it! And they have to be happy, look healthy inside and out. Diamond/Kirkland mentioned gave my dogs very nice coats and muscle, but such terrible gas and foul smelling poop I had to change it.

So dog food is kinda like politics. There is no right answer.......but everyone will tell you you're wrong anyway. Feed what gives you good results. I work in the veterinary field and I can tell you aside from dogs with true food allergies, the only nutritional health issue we really come across is obesity. Many of those dogs eat "top shelf" food.........just way to much of it.

regards

 

[kelleyrn2000]

Our lab puppy eats the Diamond Lamb and Rice from Menards. I'm not sure of the price, though. DH buys it when it goes on sale. This is the food our breeder used and recommended he keep the same food when we brought him home.

 

[ceecee]

My labs eat Wellness, but I'm thinking of changing due to a skin issue (black skin near her back legs....vet doesn't know what it is). After switching to Wellness she had no ear infections (she averaged two a year prior to the switch so I'm looking for a grain free food.

 

[JamesMom]

My chihauhau/Papolion mix eats Blue Buffalo after turning his nose up at Iams. I don't mind spending the money since a six pound bag which costs $20 lasts up to three months, lol. Can't imagine having a big dog!

 

[mab2010]

Costco - you can get the 50lb bag of Iams for like $30 something...a great deal relative to walmart, target, grocery stores.

There is so much more to lab's health other than food - most of it is luck from my perspective because you rarely know the full story with ancestors. Keep him happy, treat him like family, exercise him and he'll live a long time

 

[nancycg56]

My Jack and Jack mix eat Purina One ~ the small bits since they are small

My DD's dogs have to eat grain free or they itch themselves raw. I'm not sure what brand they are eating.

 

[kacaju]

I switched over to Innova, which is pretty pricey...but the one thing I noticed is they eat less of it then the food they were eating and they POOP so much less

 

[cbg1027]

I like the Costco House Brand, Kirkland - they have some great quality dog food.

If you don't have a Costco membership, the PetsMart house brand, Authority, is good too.

ProPlan by Purina is great. It's not $50 a bag, but it's more in the $30-40 range.

I feed my dogs Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice. It's expensive, but one of my dogs has a a wheat allergy and the other one is picky. They've been eating it for 12 years now so I'm not going to switch things up on them in their old age now.

I feed my cats ProPlan UT Formula.

 

[umaangel00]

I switched over to Innova, which is pretty pricey...but the one thing I noticed is they eat less of it then the food they were eating and they POOP so much less

Innova is full of fillers that give them no nutritional value. This could be way they eat less and poop less. The fillers keep them full longer and because there is bascially no nutritional value to fillers, nothing has to come out!

 

[pixistix]

I've fed my labs Purina puppy chow as puppies and now Purina One. Grew up with dogs and Purina was what my parents fed our dogs.