Costs of dog food - not quite as equal as you might think

[The Food Group]

So I was asked by a user to defend the high cost of Holistic or natural dog foods vs "researched" foods like Purina and Hills.   During the process the numbers even surprised me a bit... I would like to post my findings for you all to comment on so I can taste some criticism to know if they will be convincing.  The most surprising to me was was how well Orijen came out, and it is by far the best kibble available.   Please comment any thoughts you have

The following is for a 50LB adult dog - most of these are the cheapest version of the food, prices are all from petflow.com and the feeding guidelines are from the manufacture though I denote that as well. Beneful healthy weight was chosen over Beneful original because it is the most popular as most dogs eating beneful are overweight. 

Hills Ideal balance chicken and brown rice – 387calories/cup

3c – day

$2/lb – 30lb $59.99

30lbs – 60 cups

60 cups / 3cups = 20 days per bag

1.5 bags/ month = 59.99 X 1.5 = $89.99/month

 

Purina Beneful Healthy weight – 306calories/cup

3.6 cups/day

1.35/lb – 31.1 lb bag – 41.99

62 cups/bag

62 cups / 3.6 = 17 days per bag

1.76 bags/month = 41.99 X 1.76 = $73.9/month

 

 

Orijen Adult dog food - 478 calories / cup  (Based off feeding guidelines for an active dogs, many dogs may only require 1.5 to 1.75 cups/day)

2cups/day

$2.48/lb – 28.6lb $70.99

57.2 cups/bag

57.2cups / 2cups = 28.6 days

1 bag and 3 cups / month = $74.71/month

 

Merrick Grain free Duck and sweet potato - 460 calores / cup (based off feeding guidelines but believed to be made for a slightly active dog - many may require 2 cups/day)

2.5 cups/day

$2.16/lb  53.99 – 25lb bag

50 cups / bag

2.5 / 50 = 20 days per bag

1.5 bags / month = 53.99 X 1.5 = $80.89/month

 

Blue Buffalo Wilderness – 410 calories/cup (based off  feeding guidelines on package but believed to be a made for a dog with very little activity – many will required up to of 3cups/day)

 

2.5 cups/day

$2.42/lb   57.99 – 24lb bag

48 cups / bag

48 cups / 2.5 = 19.2 days per bag (19)

1.57 bags / month = 57.99 X 1.57 = $91.04/month

 

Wellness Core Original – 421 calories/cup (based off  feeding guidelines on package but believed to be a made for a dog with very little activity – most will require 2.5 cups/day)

2.25 cups/day

2.31/lb  59.99 – 26lb bag

52 cups/bag

52 cups / 2.25 = 23 cups per bag

1.3 bags/month = 59.99 X 1.3 =  $77.98/month

[Dianne Carter ~ Trinity Doodles]

Wow Nick!  Thanks for taking the time to break it out like that.  I have always been an advocate of premium food (orijen and acana is our #1 choice) and knew that my dogs ate less of their quality food (and I pick up a lot less in the yard, lol).  The cost was beyond justified to me, pay the farmer or pay the doctor. How tremendously useful this is to share with those who only get it in black and white facts.  I hope you do not mind if I share this with our friends and families.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks for posting this, Nick. We do have a couple of other discussions here with similar cost comparisons of various recommended foods, and related links. The more info we have on this, the better. We are always explaining that the foods that appear to be "more expensive" when you judge solely by the price per lb. can often be less expensive to feed. Our Food Group search function is not working right now, but I'll post some links when I can that might bolster your numbers. 

I'm sure that the "user" who asked for a justification was not a member of this group, lol. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I'm sure too since we have indeed discussed this before. You might want to try the Google search link which is pretty good.

http://www.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=009170712849504475131:pu1tn0...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's just a pain to have to go find that discussion of Clark's that has the link every time i want to do a search, lol. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I added the link, which I've bookmarked . I'm on my tablet a lot and the easiest way to do it, if I don't think before I've already written, is in 2 steps : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Link to previous discussion on cost comparison for recommended brands: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/cost-co...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Another cost comparison of popular dog food brands: http://www.crittercabana.com/dog-food-costs-per-month-comparison/

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

More FG food cost comparison discussions: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/the-cost-of-feeding-your?g...

and:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/food-co...

[Leslie and Halas]

Great analysis.  We use Orijen, and I wouldn't care if it was more expensive, but it's nice to know that it isn't.  And this doesn't even consider the money you might save on vet bills in the future by having a healthier dog.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When JD was tested for allergies back in 2008, JD's dermatologist recommended that I switch him to Orijen even though he did not have any food allergies (which are extremely rare in dogs anyway, contrary to popular opinion). 

The reason? Orijen has the best Omega 6:3 fatty acid acid ratio of any commercial dog food on the market today, and the Omega 3 fatty acids are the ones that provide the most benefit for dogs with dry or itchy skin, as well as the ones which have been clinically shown to reduce inflammation in dogs with Atopy, EPA and DHA, which are only found in fish. 

And JD did test positive for storage mite allergies. Orijen has the lowest particulate matter of any kibble I have found.

So for him, the health benefits were very real and very apparent. 

[Julie and Maggie]

This is good info to know. Another reason why I was drawn to Orijen because of the fish option.

So far so good on her transition. 

[KLN]

I actually went through a similar exercise recently with wellness core vs orijen. I have been feeding my dogs wellness for years and they've done well on it but orijen comes so highly recommended from y'all that I wanted to try it. Cost is not a factor for me but for curiosity sake, I was curious how much more orijen was since everyone spoke to it being one of the most expensive brands. It was only a few cents per pound more than the wellness! I also found chewys.com which y'all might already be familiar with but their food was $5 cheaper a bag than my local pet food store which to me seems like a lot. And they have free shipping over $50. I love that I no longer have to make a trip for their food...it just autoships to my house. I promise they are not paying me to say this, I just love the site! ;0)