Feeding Penny

[Sally M]

OK, I'll come out and say it. We are not affluent people and--quite frankly--we cannot afford some of these expensive brands of dog food. Furthermore, we cannot drive across town to buy certain brands like Acana and/or Orijen. You have pages and pages of talk about dog food. I don't have the time to read all that (besides, a lot of it goes back several years and is kinda out-of-date, I would think). And what I do read, is confusing. So this is my question: Are there any GOOD dog foods that are REASONABLY priced and ones that are CONVENIENT to purchase (like, at Petco or PetSmart)? We have had dogs all our lives. And do I dare say it? We have fed them "grocery store brands" and they all lived normal and long lives. Did we just luck out that way? But now that I'm doing research on dog food, I'm reading scary info about such brands. So now I'm confused and scared.

[Sally M]

Yes, her food is Wellness Core.

[Phoenix]

My puppy has had Puppy Wellness Core since we got her.  She seems to love it. I order off Amazon so it comes to my door. Free shipping.  :)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Sally, is there a reason you need grain-free?   Wellness is an excellent food, and I have used it for a few years as well, just not grain free. Do yourself a favor and look at Fromm. I do get it from Chewy and just did a price comparison for you.

Wellness Core - $57.00 for 26#. = $2.19 per pound and depending on age and size of dog it generally requires about 4 cups per day.

Fromm Gold Holistic for Puppy is $55.00 for 30#  = $1.83 per pound and feeding is roughly the same amounts. 

The Fromm Adult formula is $39.00 for 33#  = $1.18 per pd which you can switch to easily when she is older and it uses less amount about 2-3 cups per day.  

THey are both considered pretty equal brands in quality, but you do get more bang for your buck with Fromm. There is a reason good breeders use it.  

I have never given my two the recommended amount on the bag and they both get 2 cups per day, they are both adults and weight 60 pds.  It has helped keep their weights consistent since they stopped growing at around 18 months and I have no reason to give them 3 or more cups a day, so the recommended amounts can be lessened unless you have a dog who is very active. Like doing a lot of running, swimming, hiking, chasing farm animals all day.  

Its very easy to adjust amounts as needed and when either of mine look a little thin, or I can feel ribs or hips more easily, I just ad about 1/2 cup total a day and they bounce right back up. So much so, I have to watch for when to take the amounts back down. 

Actually, I recently was rubbing Murphy, 7 yr old, and said to DH, gee he feels heavier, "BTW dear, you are only giving them one cup in the morning right?" ( he recently started feeding the AM and I do the PM).  He said " NO, they look hungry so I give them a little more" !!!!!!! I have no way of knowing what a "Little more" is, but I have a feeling it's more than the 1/4 I want them to have.  So we are back to being more precise.  So bottom line is good food is very affordable when you consider how much less you give. And like was mentioned, they each only poop 2ce a day. Sometimes once.  Not a big deal but I do feel like more nutrients are being absorbed by my dogs intestines than my lawn that way.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think the problem is that Fromm is not available at Petsmart or Petco. And one caveat I would give regarding grain-free versus grains is that the Wellness Complete Health line that does contain grains is not my favorite; for some reason, many dogs just don't do well with it for whatever reason. So in the Wellness line, Core is by far the best bet. 

Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the Core feeding amounts, but the feeding guidelines indicate that a puppy would have to be 7-9 months old and 40 lbs to require 4 cups of food per day, lol : http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=dog&pid...

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Yes I did mention 4 cups a day for the core, depending on age and size and I don't have Penny's age or weight, so I was using a general example. I got the amounts from the back of the bags that I looked up.  

Fromm is not readily available for me either, that is why I suggested Chewy.com

But Karen is correct, you've made an excellent choice, if you need grain free and it works out expense wise, but if she feels the Wellness Complete doesn't do as well, then I would again suggest Fromm. I guess you can see that I just love that brand. 

[Sally M]

Yes, I went grain-free because it got better reviews than Wellness Complete...altho only 1 star better. Grain-free got 5 stars, the one with grain got 4 stars. Plus you can feed less if there are no grain fillers. But the price difference is quite a bit, I admit! I think Penny could go with grain (she had grain in the old dog food) without any problems. I imagine we might be adjusting foods a liitle until we get it just right for her. Every dog is different. The reason I went with Wellness is because it's easy to find at the pet store. Fromm is not readily available to us. The closest store that sells Fromm is 10 miles away. That is not convenient, especially when there are 2 pet stores close by.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I truly feel you made the right choice. Core is a great food. 

I agree that Penny would probably do fine with another food that contains grains, but as I mentioned, I hesitate to recommend that Complete Health formulas because so many dogs don't do well with them, even when they have done fine with other formulas that do contain grains.