Frugal dog food

[mschrisgo2]

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this.... it’s about dogs-family- frugal, and has been a challenge, lol.

I have an older dog who needs a different food, per our vet. The food from the vet was $38. For 6.6 lbs. uh, no, just no. I buy our dog food at Costco, 30lbs. For $28. The 30 lbs. feeds 3 dogs for a month, the 6.6lbs. Would have fed 1 dog for 7 or 8 days. Easy to say No to that!

So I asked for clarification, what exactly are we trying to achieve? Lower fat content. Well, the food they’ve all been eating for years has 14%, and the very expensive vet food has 13%. Uh, no, again. Not enough difference to justify the cost or a switch.

Today I was at Costco, and checked all the bags of their food. I found Kirkland Premium Healthy Weight Dog Formula, chicken and vegetables, and all the right additives, omegas, glucosamine, antioxidants, etc. Fat content, 6%. Wow!! That sounds like a winner! And even better, it is 40 lbs for $24. Needless to say, I bought it. I took a picture of the ingredients and sent it to my vet, who wrote back, “sounds great. Buy it!”

Sweet success!

[sweetana3]

Good job. We had to do something similar with cat food. For us, they would not eat the fancy food so it would be wasted.

[iris lilies]

Our rescue coordinator thinks Kirkland dog food is perfectly fine for most cases. And she pays attention to dog food and in some cases makes her own, or buys super premium in other cases.

[Teacher Terry]

For years I bought very expensive dog food wanting the best for the babies. Then when I met the show breeder she directed me to a closed Facebook group about dogs getting heart disease and dying young from the expensive food. The biggest killer is grain free. It turns out only the big 3 companies have food that meets Wasva guidelines. Those were the companies I was avoiding. Many of the show people have all switched because they have a lot of money invested in their show dogs. They all employ full time PhD nutritionists and do controlled studies on their food. Kirkland is not one of the approved foods.

[sweetana3]

Had this grain free discussion with my vet regarding cat food. Kidney disease required lower protein and so we had to research those issues. Grain free seems to be a marketing idea and not a good thing.

[happystuff]

I was wondering about cat food as well.

[SteveinMN]

We went grain-free with our rescue dog because we were advised by the foster that it addressed some fur/skin issues she had. Hard to say whether the food (a name brand but no idea if it met those Wasva guidelines) was implicated in her death, but when she died it did seem like she'd had a heart attack. The onset of symptoms, however, was very sudden and she was 14 with an uncertain history, so who knows?

[Geila]

For years I bought very expensive dog food wanting the best for the babies. Then when I met the show breeder she directed me to a closed Facebook group about dogs getting heart disease and dying young from the expensive food. The biggest killer is grain free. It turns out only the big 3 companies have food that meets Wasva guidelines. Those were the companies I was avoiding. Many of the show people have all switched because they have a lot of money invested in their show dogs. They all employ full time PhD nutritionists and do controlled studies on their food. Kirkland is not one of the approved foods.

TT - which are the companies that do meet the guidelines? I'm looking for new food as my maltese mix has developed what appears to be a chicken allergy.

[Teacher Terry]

I know for sure that Purina and Royal Canin do. Most of the show people I know are feeding either Royal canin for Maltese or Pro Plan by Purina. You will have to google for the other ones. It’s expensive but my little dogs don’t eat a lot. I even fed it to my 80lb big dog because quality of food means lower vet bills.

[mschrisgo2]

Well, I’m not sure which the 3rd of the “best” might be, but neither Royal Canin nor Pro Plan makes a kibble with a 6% fat content. it was Royal Canin that the vet’s office tried to get me to buy, 13%. My Rosey needs less fat, not because she is fat; quite the opposite, she was steadily losing weight because she’s not digesting the richer food. So far, she seems to be doing pretty well with the new food- as evidenced by no longer waking us all up twice every night demanding Food Now!

And, call me cynical, but I’ve noticed over the past 25 years that the breeders recommend whichever company is sponsoring the dog shows! And they don’t necessarily feed that to their own dogs... 2 of my cockers came from very reputable breeders, who weaned them on Natures Domain, salmon and sweet potatoes, sold by Costco. And that’s what they still feed their show dogs, the salmon makes for very nice coats.

[Teacher Terry]

I became friends with a show breeder and all her show friends wouldn’t touch the big 4 dog food company and now with all the scientific evidence about what’s happening they all switched and my friend invited me to become a member of the group that are reviewing the results and that is when I changed.

[razz]

There is a local privately owned dog food company called The Longevity Company that started making dog food because they could not find good safe dog food. A number of breeders and kennels have switched to this food. It meets all the nutritional requirements for certification, delivers to my home and is affordable.

[Teacher Terry]

Geila, I think the other 2 companies are eukabena and Hill’s. Having a dog food be certified means nothing. The big 4 have full time PhD nutritionists on staff studying the effects of their dog food. The dogs are kept nicely and get walks, played with, etc daily.