Good quality inexpensive dry dog food

[Mark Hess]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Good quality inexpensive dry dog food

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Mark, If you join the Food Group, here is the list of foods they recommend.  This group also monitors recalls, etc.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/recomme...

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Inexpensive is a relative term; but unfortunately, when it comes to food, for people or for pets, you really do get what you pay for. "Quality" and "inexpensive" rarely go together, in food or anything else. The Food Group has a list of brands which we recommend: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/recomme...

When you look at prices, keep in mind that with the better foods, you feed much less, so you really can't go by price alone. I have seen cheaper foods with feeding guidelines of 5 or  6  cups a day for my 82 lb doodle, because they are full of corn and other cheap ingredients that a dog can't utilize very well. There are also foods that are considered more expensive that only require 2 or 3 cups per day, because they are more nutrient dense. These foods also result in lower stool volume. If you have to buy two bags of the cheaper food for every one bag of the "expensive" food, the more expensive food ends up costing you less. And it may also save you $ at the vet's office.

[Adina P]

You know what I'd love?  I'd love a price comparison using stores everyone has access to.  For example, feeding a 50 lb dog on Purina vs. Canidae ALS vs. Orijen --- use Petflow or whatever chain store has the high end one so the prices are comparable vs. WalMart for the cheap stuff.  I'd be curious how much of a difference more vs. less volume servings makes to the ultimate price.  Use comparable bag sizes for pricing.  If anyone in TFG wants this assignment...awesome!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I did do one for Orijen versus Natural Balance, since I know exactly how fast JD goes through a bag of each, and Orijen was less expensive by quite a bit, since a 30 lb bag lasts 6 weeks versus 4 weeks for the NB.

When you talk about Walmart foods, I would really have to figure in the vet bills, lol.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

:o) Karen, I was waiting for the last sentence.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Absolutely fair point! xo

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I just did one comparing Orijen and Blue Buffalo, and I'm really surprised--maybe I made a mistake? I expected Orijen to be more economical, but not such a dramatic difference!

Here is what I did:

Cosmo eats Orijen Senior, which costs $69.99 for the 29.7-pound bag at petflow.com. He weighs 45 pounds and is not very active, so I feed him 1.5 cups, or 12 ounces, per day. Mathematically, one 29.7-pound (475.2-ounce) bag lasts 39.6 days. So the cost per day for Orijen is $1.77.

I compared to Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain-Free Chicken (none of their Senior varieties is grain-free, but all Orijen varieties are), which costs $55.99 for a 24-pound bag at petflow.com. According to the Blue Buffalo web site, for a dog of Cosmo's weight, he should be eating 2.75 cups per day, or 22 ounces. At that rate, the 24-pound (384-ounce) bag would last 17.45 days. The cost per day comes to $3.20!

A more accurate analysis would be to compare the calories per day, but I thought using cups was quicker and very revelatory of the big-picture economy of "more expensive" foods!

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I just did one for Canidae Grain Free pureSea using calories per day. The 30-pound (480 ounces) bag costs $68.99 at petflow.com

Cosmo gets 592.5 kcal/day from his Orijen Senior. To get the same number of calories, he would eat only 1.25 cups (10 ounces) per day of the Canidae pureSEA. The 30-pound bag would last 48 days, and the cost per day drops to $1.43!

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

Thanks, Laurie, but I really had to grope my way through those equations! I was an English major, so that's why I had to show it in words, not numbers! *^_^*

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree with Karen--one of my dogs eats less than a cup a day (wieghs 38 pounds) when on the GOOD dog food--the food (Wellness brand) has no wheat, corn or fillers which are the ingredients that make food cheap and less nutritious!!

[Adina P]

The Food group as mentioned, has great recommendations. 

I use Canidae ALS -- it is probably the least expensive quality product out there.  Try to go cheaper and you're looking at products that are just about equally poor quality.  But the summary of things is that even if the ingredient list looks okay, but the ingredients are from China ... then the food really is questionable.  So the recommended foods list combines members info about appropriate ingredients and whether ingredients are locally sourced (or from somewhere safe like Canada, etc).

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Inexpensive in my opinion is one that you don't feed as much but get good quality. I think when you factor out the amount of food to the cost of food you will find, at least in Acana Grain Free, it is far less expensive. The empty calories of less quality causes you to feed more.

Daisy is a 70# dog, she eats (no lie) 1 cup of Acana and 2 tbls of Grain Feed wet wellness in the AM and then just the 1 cup Acana in the evening. The cost for my 29.7lb bag in $58 including tax from a local Vet, I recently got a price match at Pet People (a more expensive pet store in our area). The bag lasts 5 weeks. The case of wet food (12 cans) $35 and last 2 months. I think that is pretty darn inexpensive.