Author Topic: What dog food?  (Read 11265 times)

I'm a red panda

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What dog food?
« on: January 02, 2017, 07:20:09 PM »
My first dog couldn't handle a high protein food, so she gets beneful healthy weight.  The new dog does okay on it (and it seems his digestion is way better than what the shelter had him on!) but his burps can absolutely clear a room, so we are wondering if we should try something else...

Anyone have frugal suggestions? Right now we pay about 86 cents a pound, though I know a high protein option would cost a bit more (but we'd probably feed less...)
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017, 05:57:07 AM by iowajes »

startingsmall

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2017, 08:29:33 PM »
As a veterinarian, my go-to recommendations are Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina ProPlan. (And no, I don't make any money off recommending those foods.... my current job doesn't carry any foods and my last job carried a completely different brand.) My pets have always been on ProPlan.

If you're looking for something at a lower price point or more widely available, I'd go with Purina One.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2017, 08:32:24 PM by startingsmall »

Shade00

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2017, 10:00:01 PM »
I heard good things about Costco's Kirkland brand food and we've been feeding it to ours for several years. One dog has a finicky stomach and would vomit with low quality food. We had to go for Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance stuff. She does well with the Costco food, which is a lot cheaper than the alternatives and I believe grain free.

CanuckExpat

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2017, 11:03:24 PM »
Can anyone recommend a replacement for the Kirkland brand dog food that comes in a smaller size?

We've always fed our dogs the Costco brand food, no problems, great price point, but are in circumstances where buying and storing 40 lbs at a time is not feasible.

chasesfish

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2017, 05:31:56 AM »
As a veterinarian, my go-to recommendations are Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina ProPlan. (And no, I don't make any money off recommending those foods.... my current job doesn't carry any foods and my last job carried a completely different brand.) My pets have always been on ProPlan.

If you're looking for something at a lower price point or more widely available, I'd go with Purina One.

We would also add Iams to this list, DH is a veterinarian and our animals have always been on Royal Canin, Purina ProPlan, or Iams.

I'm a red panda

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2017, 05:58:19 AM »
Iams was what we had our first dog on and it made her really sick, that's when our vet suggested she needed a lower protein kibble.

I'll check into the brands recommended.

startingsmall

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2017, 06:17:41 AM »
As a veterinarian, my go-to recommendations are Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina ProPlan. (And no, I don't make any money off recommending those foods.... my current job doesn't carry any foods and my last job carried a completely different brand.) My pets have always been on ProPlan.

If you're looking for something at a lower price point or more widely available, I'd go with Purina One.

We would also add Iams to this list, DH is a veterinarian and our animals have always been on Royal Canin, Purina ProPlan, or Iams.

I agree that Iams & Eukanuba are great, balanced foods, but I feel like I have a lot of clients complain about soft stools and gas on those foods. Purely anecdotal, of course, but I usually avoid recommending them to anyone who's worried about those issues.

Easye418

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2017, 10:45:59 AM »
I heard good things about Costco's Kirkland brand food and we've been feeding it to ours for several years. One dog has a finicky stomach and would vomit with low quality food. We had to go for Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance stuff. She does well with the Costco food, which is a lot cheaper than the alternatives and I believe grain free.

+1 Costco's Kirkland brand food.  Worth the cost of membership alone.

neo von retorch

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2017, 11:20:46 AM »
I'm in for reference. We have an 11-month old puppy (approximately a Cane Corso i.e. Mastiff) and we've had her five weeks now. We are struggling with getting her to gain weight and have solid stool. She's already had one run through the medication for Giardia, though it's still a possibility it'll take a second run. Barring that, we're trying to find the right food. We tried Earthborne Holistic ($$) and prescription Z/D ($$$!) but for now we've reverted to home-cooked chicken & rice. Still no progress. Probably going to need to medicate some more and then we can zero in on the right (not too ridiculously expensive) food for the long-term.

GuitarStv

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2017, 11:24:58 AM »
I heard good things about Costco's Kirkland brand food and we've been feeding it to ours for several years. One dog has a finicky stomach and would vomit with low quality food. We had to go for Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance stuff. She does well with the Costco food, which is a lot cheaper than the alternatives and I believe grain free.

+1 Costco's Kirkland brand food.  Worth the cost of membership alone.

+1

We've been using Kirkland's 'Nature's Domain' food for five years now, and it has been great for our dog.

ketchup

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2017, 11:27:08 AM »
I heard good things about Costco's Kirkland brand food and we've been feeding it to ours for several years. One dog has a finicky stomach and would vomit with low quality food. We had to go for Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance stuff. She does well with the Costco food, which is a lot cheaper than the alternatives and I believe grain free.

+1 Costco's Kirkland brand food.  Worth the cost of membership alone.

+1

We've been using Kirkland's 'Nature's Domain' food for five years now, and it has been great for our dog.
+2 Costco Nature's Domain is probably the best bang-for-buck kibble you can buy.

gardeningandgreen

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2017, 11:32:26 AM »
I heard good things about Costco's Kirkland brand food and we've been feeding it to ours for several years. One dog has a finicky stomach and would vomit with low quality food. We had to go for Blue Buffalo or Natural Balance stuff. She does well with the Costco food, which is a lot cheaper than the alternatives and I believe grain free.

+1 Costco's Kirkland brand food.  Worth the cost of membership alone.

+1

We've been using Kirkland's 'Nature's Domain' food for five years now, and it has been great for our dog.
+2 Costco Nature's Domain is probably the best bang-for-buck kibble you can buy.
+3! My dog loves the Costco Nature's Domain food.

lizzzi

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2017, 11:37:32 AM »
Any thoughts on Holistic Health Extension? (My yorkie poo eats the "Little Bites" version.) Bandit seems to do well on it--and has been on it since before I got him...but he doesn't really love it.

Imustacheyouaquestion

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #13 on: January 03, 2017, 12:42:11 PM »
Can anyone recommend a replacement for the Kirkland brand dog food that comes in a smaller size?

We've always fed our dogs the Costco brand food, no problems, great price point, but are in circumstances where buying and storing 40 lbs at a time is not feasible.

Find a friend or two and split the bag with them? I find that one bag from Costco fits nicely in two 5 gallon buckets with a gamma seal lid - each one cost about $7 at Lowe's.

katscratch

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #14 on: January 03, 2017, 03:31:10 PM »
As a veterinarian, my go-to recommendations are Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina ProPlan. (And no, I don't make any money off recommending those foods.... my current job doesn't carry any foods and my last job carried a completely different brand.) My pets have always been on ProPlan.

If you're looking for something at a lower price point or more widely available, I'd go with Purina One.

We would also add Iams to this list, DH is a veterinarian and our animals have always been on Royal Canin, Purina ProPlan, or Iams.

I agree that Iams & Eukanuba are great, balanced foods, but I feel like I have a lot of clients complain about soft stools and gas on those foods. Purely anecdotal, of course, but I usually avoid recommending them to anyone who's worried about those issues.

Iams/Eukanuba are SO protein dense; they definitely need a long introduction period.  Once we had the Royal Canin line at my old job we stopped carrying all but the prescription lines.


Another vote here for the Costco brand if there's one near you!  My dog eats less than a cup a day, and his 35# bag is not yet stale (kept in the original bag, rolled down tightly and clipped with a binder clip).  If I figure out the stale point before he finishes this bag I'll measure out the difference on the next one and give it away - even if he only eats half, it's still a better value. 

MacGyverIt

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2017, 06:13:46 PM »
I've a 7-month old Beagle who also works as a service dog, so I've invested a good amount of money on her procurement and training. With that in mind, recently I realized that with a few exceptions, I can follow the MMM "paleo" model with both of our diets.

This weekend I made a paleo fried rice (diced cauliflower instead of rice) with green beans, carrots, peas and eggs (or powdered egg white, cheaper!). Today for lunch, I ate 80% of my plate and Beagle ate the rest. She loves canned carrots, green beans and peas (we're still working through the list to see what else she likes) so when they're buy 2 cans, get three cans 3, I buy up cans and use healthier frozen/organic veg for my meals which I can share with her if I forget to pack her lunch. She also gets meats -- again when there's a BOGO sale on whole chicken, pork chops, etc., it's a good opportunity for me to buy some healthy, cheap groceries that my Beagle can also consume. (Also, more efficient to buy for one meal plan!)
« Last Edit: January 05, 2017, 01:44:30 PM by MacGyverIt »

Lanthiriel

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2017, 10:40:44 PM »
You can cut high protein food with frozen green beans for a healthy and cheap alternative. We feed Arcana Pork and Butternut Squash because we have a dog with a lot of allergies. It's very high in protein and was causing gas in both dogs. We switched the old man down to half kibble/half green beans and the puppy to 2/3 kibble and 1/3 green beans and it's been amazing! Their coats are gorgeous and my old corgi isn't overweight for the first time in his life. If I was a better dog mom, I'd make my food, but this has been s good halfway point.

Cowardly Toaster

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2017, 10:43:03 AM »
We use Taste of the Wild. High quality stuff. We pay about $1 a pound but this is Alaska so .86/lb sounds about right.

I'm a red panda

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2017, 11:21:30 AM »
We use Taste of the Wild. High quality stuff. We pay about $1 a pound but this is Alaska so .86/lb sounds about right.

Wow- it's a lot more expensive here. Close to $1.50 a pound.

Ebrat

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2017, 03:07:13 AM »
We use Taste of the Wild. High quality stuff. We pay about $1 a pound but this is Alaska so .86/lb sounds about right.

Wow- it's a lot more expensive here. Close to $1.50 a pound.

This is what I feed, too, but we pay even more because we buy the 15 lb bags. Anywhere cheaper to get it, or something similar? I think the Costco stuff mentioned above is the same, but we don't go through a bag quickly enough to get the bigger bag.

katscratch

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2017, 06:33:46 AM »

This is what I feed, too, but we pay even more because we buy the 15 lb bags. Anywhere cheaper to get it, or something similar? I think the Costco stuff mentioned above is the same, but we don't go through a bag quickly enough to get the bigger bag.

My dog is 16# and so far he's made it through about half of the Costco bag in 2 months without it being stale.  He's been very picky about that in the past.   I make sure to keep the food in the original bag and roll down the top tightly. 

Once I know how much he eats from it, I can give the rest away when I purchase the next bag.  His old food was better quality (a dry food with less filler and before that raw) but 3-5 times the cost per serving so he can eat less than half the bag and still save me some money ;)

I've seen people on NextDoor offer to go in together on food, do you have any friends with hungry pups? :)

cacaoheart

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2017, 06:44:41 AM »
My 75 pound greyhound goes through a thirty dollar 40 pound bag of Kirkland rice, vegetables and lamb per month, easily covering the membership cost. Prior to costco he was on purina one. If there is a Kroger near you they have better prices on dog food than other stores near me (aside from costco) and have smaller bag options.

GuitarStv

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2017, 06:52:46 AM »
I'm a little surprised at the comments.  Does dog food really go 'stale'?  The expiry date is usually more than a year in the future.  We just take about a week and a half worth of the dog food out of the bag, stick it in a small plastic container, and then seal the big bag.  We get about two months out of a big bag of food with our 24 lb beagle, and haven't ever come close to needing to throw kibble out.

KBecks

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2017, 07:18:29 AM »
We have been feeding Fromm's which is locally based and a bit expensive.  I might try the Costco stuff.   For treats my dog is crazy about Plato treats, also expensive.   I think of the food as preventative for the dogs.

I'm a red panda

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2017, 08:15:18 AM »
I'm a little surprised at the comments.  Does dog food really go 'stale'?  The expiry date is usually more than a year in the future.  We just take about a week and a half worth of the dog food out of the bag, stick it in a small plastic container, and then seal the big bag.  We get about two months out of a big bag of food with our 24 lb beagle, and haven't ever come close to needing to throw kibble out.

It definitely goes stale; possibly you are doing a better job at sealing the large bag?   We've had better luck with medium size bags with the plastic zip top than the very large bags that don't have them- although now with 2 dogs we can go through a large bag in a reasonable time frame.

I can tell the difference in the smell, but also as it gets old my (older) dog stops gulping it down immediately and instead tries to play a waiting game where we start feeling bad she isn't eating and put olive oil on it for her...  She never turns up her nose at a new bag of food.

We don't throw it out though. 

katscratch

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2017, 08:44:11 AM »
....as it gets old my (older) dog stops gulping it down immediately and instead tries to play a waiting game where we start feeling bad she isn't eating and put olive oil on it for her...

That's how I know too.  Haha.


If I remember right the fats start oxidizing once the bag is open -- so food will eventually get rancid.  It stays fresh in a sealed bag for a loooong time past the best buy/expiration date.  I actually looked this up before I switched from raw and then to the Costco food - it's commonly recommended to keep the bulk of food in the original bag, with air squeezed out and resealed as best you can.  Which, GuitarStv, you are doing already, without being a nerd that spent at least good hour reading all about pet food processing and storage ;)

GuitarStv

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2017, 08:52:23 AM »
Which, GuitarStv, you are doing already, without being a nerd that spent at least good hour reading all about pet food processing and storage ;)

I had the benefit of ancient wisdom passed down from my grandmother (regarding crackers).

"Wrap the damned thing up tight or they'll get mushy!"

dycker1978

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #27 on: January 05, 2017, 09:04:24 AM »
We use the Costco stuff too.  We have two larger breed dogs, so it never has a chance to go stale...  A bag lasts three weeks or so. 

KBecks

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #28 on: January 05, 2017, 09:15:42 AM »

Ebrat

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #29 on: January 05, 2017, 09:38:18 AM »

This is what I feed, too, but we pay even more because we buy the 15 lb bags. Anywhere cheaper to get it, or something similar? I think the Costco stuff mentioned above is the same, but we don't go through a bag quickly enough to get the bigger bag.

My dog is 16# and so far he's made it through about half of the Costco bag in 2 months without it being stale.  He's been very picky about that in the past.   I make sure to keep the food in the original bag and roll down the top tightly. 

Once I know how much he eats from it, I can give the rest away when I purchase the next bag.  His old food was better quality (a dry food with less filler and before that raw) but 3-5 times the cost per serving so he can eat less than half the bag and still save me some money ;)

I've seen people on NextDoor offer to go in together on food, do you have any friends with hungry pups? :)

Yeah, that's about the size of ours. We recently went from 2 dogs to 1 and figured the big bag would last too long, but maybe it would be alright.  I'll have to try it after this one runs out.  I also like the NextDoor idea, since most of our friends don't have dogs.

GuitarStv

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #30 on: January 05, 2017, 10:17:42 AM »
Have you seen this nerdy web site?
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/brand/

Huh.  The regular (and cheaper) Kirkland food is ranked better than the 'Nature's Domain' stuff that we're currently using.

YoungGranny

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #31 on: January 05, 2017, 10:31:05 AM »
We make our own dog food. We get a great deal on chicken, beef liver and turkey gizzards from our farmers market, add some eggs, rice, veggies, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds etc it stays pretty cost effective while making sure we get our pup all the nutrients she needs. We make it once a month and freeze it so it's not too time intensive. Our dog is happier and healthier on this food than any prior food we had tried.

Shade00

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #32 on: January 05, 2017, 10:35:40 AM »
Can anyone recommend a replacement for the Kirkland brand dog food that comes in a smaller size?

We've always fed our dogs the Costco brand food, no problems, great price point, but are in circumstances where buying and storing 40 lbs at a time is not feasible.

It may not be feasible for you to do but we bought a 40 lb Vittles Vault (https://www.amazon.com/Vittles-Vault-Stackable-40-Container/dp/B0002H3S5K/) and store 35 lbs worth of food in it. We have small dogs so the 35 lb bags last a while. The Vittles Vault keeps it from going stale and is easier to get food out of than the bag.

Comparing the cost of Nature's Domain to the stuff we bought previously at Petco, the dog food alone saved us enough money to cover the cost of our Costco membership in 3-4 months. So glad we found it.

cj25

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #33 on: January 05, 2017, 10:45:13 AM »
We make our own dog food. We get a great deal on chicken, beef liver and turkey gizzards from our farmers market, add some eggs, rice, veggies, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds etc it stays pretty cost effective while making sure we get our pup all the nutrients she needs. We make it once a month and freeze it so it's not too time intensive. Our dog is happier and healthier on this food than any prior food we had tried.

+1 

I home cook for mine as well! 

CanuckExpat

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Re: What dog food?
« Reply #34 on: January 05, 2017, 11:34:28 AM »
Can anyone recommend a replacement for the Kirkland brand dog food that comes in a smaller size?

We've always fed our dogs the Costco brand food, no problems, great price point, but are in circumstances where buying and storing 40 lbs at a time is not feasible.

It may not be feasible for you to do but we bought a 40 lb Vittles Vault (https://www.amazon.com/Vittles-Vault-Stackable-40-Container/dp/B0002H3S5K/) and store 35 lbs worth of food in it. We have small dogs so the 35 lb bags last a while. The Vittles Vault keeps it from going stale and is easier to get food out of than the bag.

Comparing the cost of Nature's Domain to the stuff we bought previously at Petco, the dog food alone saved us enough money to cover the cost of our Costco membership in 3-4 months. So glad we found it.

We are similar in that we originally fed Nature's Domain (on our vets recommended list). Then switched to Costco/Kirkland for cost. Our dogs love it and we've had no problems. The 40 lb bag is fairly convenient for us, lasts long enough with two small dogs.

Currently traveling full time in an RV where space and weight are more of an issue, hence wondering about finding smaller bags.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!