Not much money....Any ideas for cheap & healthy dog food??

[Kevin]

My wife and I are getting a new puppy this week and want to give our pup the best but honestly do not have too much money. We are both in school so we want to spend the least amount of money possible while still giving our little girl what she needs.

Any suggestions? 

I know everyone seems to hate dog food from grocery stores but are there ANY good ones there?

Thank you!

[BG and Gavin]

I can feed my active 80lb doodle a top notch grain-free kibble (Petcurean GO! Fit and Free) for the price of a Tim Horton's coffee per day (approx. $1.80).  If money is tight, can you think of a spot you can cut back in order to do it, for example cut out one lunch out per week or make your coffee at home?

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Kevin - you got great advice here about kibble. The way you can save money to add to kibble, if you choose to, is to make your own 'canned' food. I buy chicken thighs, boil them with carrots. I use the broth, mash the chicken and carrots and viola canned food. This is not a balanced meal for a dog by any means but you can add it to the kibble. You can also add in no salt added green beans and any other vegetable that is not dangerous to a dog. You can find that in the Food Group. 

I freeze a few days of canned food in a container at a time. Easy and healthy!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

18 Months and four discussions later, I found it!  

Here  are F's calculations in an old discussion

So I did the math. Calculus wasn't my strong suit but I did well enough in basic arithmetic but still please check this out. A mistake is easy enough to make. But I think this is about right since one bag does last about a month,etc.

A bag of Acana Wild Prairie is currently $59.99 at doggie food.com. I get 2 at a time so there is free shipping.

Each bag contains 13.5 kg =13,500 grams.

Every 115 grams (a 250ml cup) contains 425 calories. Divide that by 4.25=27 gms. So every 27 grams contains 100 calories.

Every bag contains 500 of these 100 calorie portions ( 3500/27).

So each 100 calories costs 12 cents. ($59.99/500) That is the only true comparison. Not pounds or gms.

That said my doodles consume 4 cups per day total. That said the food costs  about $2.04 for the kibble alone.

Even if the cheapest kibble cost half as much, and had the same number of calories per cup, which it doesn't,I'd only save $1.00 a day. Generally cheaper kibble has fewer calories per cup and you need to feed more.

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/the-cost-of-feeding-your?g...

[Sally S Miles]

Cheap and healthy? Others have said it better, but truly there can be serious consequences to feeding 'cheap' and that includes salmonella, melamine, too many antibiotics,  ingredients that are essentially garbage/filler, and all of what you put into the dog will come out in the wash.  Hot spots, irritability, lots of poo, tummy troubles,  ear infections - not to mention the foreign objects that have been processed in.

 

There are ways to cut costs of many things, but feeding your dog is not the place to start.   Puppies are in need of nutrition, not just filler.  It's common to switch your dogs food after puppyhood - once growth has stopped and that puppy furnace has slowed a bit - but give her what she needs to grow up.  Food fuels the muscles, heart, brain cells, every thing that is your dog needs good nutrition.    Cheap food equals cheap ingredients and missing nutrition. 

 

Add another pasta night to your evenings in.  Cook beans.  Those long walks with puppy will replace movies.  Take out a piece of paper and wrap your budget around priorities - food, toys, medical care = worth every penny.

 

 

I would like to thank those who dug for the old info on the Purina and such - even though you had to dig :) - it's needed in an easy to find spot.  There are indeed breeders out there feeding Purina and Eukanuba  (I just passed on a seemingly magnificent pup due to requirement of the food to be fed - again) and insist that 'new food ideas' are bad for the dogs.  Well - all we can do is the best we can do - but I cannot feed that junk and agree that those starting off new puppies on it are not doing them any favors.   Veterinarians are not taught nutrition any more than your Cardiologist is taught to give eye exams.....  or vice versa...   

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Perfectly stated. 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

The food group is here is a must read for all prospective puppy owners and beyond. The advise there is the best that I have come across anywhere as it is non biased and based on sound research and experience. Cheap is one thing, good value is another and I plump for good value. If people choose to ignore the best advice then that is, of course their choice.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Nicky, ' plump' I love your Irish lingo ;)
Is that like ' fat' in the US? I never caught on to that term being a good thing, but I do love your , ' plump'

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I meant plumb! not plump which means fat! To plumb for something means to advocate it lol !!!!

[Moe]

I don't know if anyone posted a link to this article. If you use a quality food the serving size can be a fraction of the serving size of cheap food. It ends up costing more in the end. Here is the foot/cost breakdown.

Food	Size (lbs)	Size (kg)	Price/Bag	Amount (g)	Days/Bag	Price/lb	Price/day
Beneful Original	3.5	1.6	$4.99	381	4.20	$1.43	$1.19
Nutrisource Grain Free Chicken	5	2.26	$13.95	115	19.65	$2.79	$0.71
Fromm Surf & Turf	4	1.8	$13.95	140	12.86	$3.49	$1.09
Science Diet	4.5	2.04	$13.99	150	13.60	$3.11	$1.03
Purina Pro Plan	6	2.72	$14.49	141	19.29	$2.42	$0.75
Acana Wild Prairie	5.5	2.5	$15.95	130	19.23	$2.90	$0.83
Orijen Adult	5.5	2.5	$18.95	115	21.74	$3.45	$0.87
Acana Ranchlands	5.5	2.5	$18.95	110	21.74	$3.45	$0.83

You can read the entire article here:http://www.fidosmarket.com/the-cost-of-food/

Purina comes to $273.74 per year. Orijen comes to $317.55. That is a difference of $43.81 per year. It may be more depending on the size of your dog but the ratio remains the same. You'll make that up in vet bills because your puppy will be healthier on a quality food.