Best dog food for the money?

S

Slyringneck

New member
Well it's getting close to the hunting season and I've decided to switch dog foods. After looking at the myriad of brands I've become even more confused. I run two German Wirehaired pointers so high quality ingredients and cost are important. What is a good dog food that's not only economical (not going to break the bank) and healthy? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Good Huntin!
 
Lots of discussions on this topic in previous posts. You will get lots of opinions on why and what to feed. In my humble opinion feed something without corn in it. Dogs struggle to digest this and it becomes a filler. So your cheaper dog foods will have corn in them, but be cheaper to feed. The problem is that you have to feed double the amounts of a quality dog food. Double the price on the side of a bag and compare to pricier foods and it is all about the same.

Me? I feed Native and have not had any problems. They have levels 1-4. I feed 4 which is high protein and high fat for energy when we are in the hunting season. I drop down to 3 in the off season. Same food lower fat and protein counts so they don't gain weight. I run two Golden Retrievers and they are not overweight at all. They are also intact females who do lactate and have litters from time to time. They do great on this food even under the stress of whelping a litter.
 
I have always fed Purina One. It's 26/16, my dogs love it, and you can get it anywhere which means you'll never have to abruptly change due to unavailability. Best of all, my dogs go hard all day long on it and enjoy "super" health, as my vet puts it. The chicken/rice works best for my current dog. Beef/rice best suited the one before.
 
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I run springers and feed eukanuba, they love the food, and can up the protein in fall with no stomach problems. Works for me.
 
www.dogfoodadvisor.com
:thumbsup:

i chose to go with Fromm. I essentially boiled it down to Blue Buffalo or Fromm based on what I read on a variety of sites and from what my vet said. When I went to pick up my dog from the breeder/trainer he told me he fed Fromm, so that made my decision easy. It is nice being able to buy food from him for cost and when the dog goes there, I don't have to take a bag of food along.

I have 2 more months of food left and then he gets switched over to adult formula, so I may switch to BB. only reason being is there isn't anyplace close to me that has Fromm and lots of places now carry BB.

I did order my last food from www.chewy.com. I was very happy with the transaction. If I decide to stay with Fromm I will sign up for the auto delivery and just have a bag dropped off at my door every 4 or 5 weeks. sure beats driving a half hour to the pet store, and their prices are a lot better.
 
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i should add....the dog food argument can often turn into a "ford vs chevy" argument. There are obviously certain brands out there that are worse than others for dogs, but a lot boils down to if you and the dog like it. :)
 
as goldenboy mentioned earlier, one thing to remember when looking at the cost aspect of it is, to always check the recommended feeding amounts. often times the extra cost of a higher quality dog is somewhat offset by smaller feeding amounts. you can usually figure out exactly how many cups of food are in a bag by looking at the calorie content totals.

Calorie Content
kcal/kg 3,973
kcal/lb 1,806
kcal/cup* 417

using this info I know that there is about 140 cups in a 33 (15kg) bag of dog food. At aprox 4 cups per day, that bag will last me around 35 days. so if i pay $50 for a bag of fromm, it works out to about $1.40 a day. sort of an interesting way to think about it.
 
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dog taste

dogs eat by smell, if it smells good, they will eat it, that's why they love anti-freeze. don't knock corn as likely about 90% of the dogs in the country live on the stuff, don't call corn particularly cheap either, up until a few days ago, corn was at $8 as bushel, now i think back down to five something. some dogs of course seem to get along on lots of stuff so check some of them out. when i am running my dogs they are on diamond extreme athlete at about 25% fat and when they are on the couch i drop it to their lamb and rice at about %15. diamond has had a few more recalls then it seems necessary however. no corn in their food but actually i have never seen any difference between corn base or other stuff, fer sur, don't stuff in the summer and in the fall, they need the fat. dog's get their energy out of fat and a low fat diet will stop your dogs in their tracks anything beyond the first day of the hunt, seen that happen for 50 years. and no, ol' roy is not the worst in the world either especially their better brands or at least so called. mostly if you are running your dog, look for fat, protein is pushed but a little over rated, go for the fat.

cheers





































$8
 
Oh no, here we go....
Just feed the one that they eat, you can afford, they do well on and doesnt give the the Texas Two Scoots dragging their bum on the grass!!:D
 
Slyringneck said:
Well it's getting close to the hunting season and I've decided to switch dog foods. After looking at the myriad of brands I've become even more confused. I run two German Wirehaired pointers so high quality ingredients and cost are important. What is a good dog food that's not only economical (not going to break the bank) and healthy? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Good Huntin!
Click to expand...

The one that maintains condition, health and trim under the workload required and results in a byproduct acceptable to you.
Fit & Try.
 
i switched to diamond my self lame & rice sometimes beef & rice... at over 40 pound for 30.00$$$ its good for me & the dogs... i used to feed nutro same lamb or beef & rice was more $$$ for less feed??? natrual i think was another i used from time to time same with them lamb & beef & rice...

no corn for the dogs for me dont need a smelly dog fart n all over on long hunting trips in the vehicle lol

diamond is good & has many choices for the dogs... my breeder & another both recommended it so i fell in line...

do ur dogs a favor & feed good stuff cuz like mustistuff said a dog will eat anything that smell good to him...
 
Pro plan performance 30/20 all year just cut her back when she is not as active to try and not let her get to out of shape. When she was younger I had her on blue buffalo large breed puppy but I could not get her stools even semi firm. When I went back to pro plan large breed puppy and her stools firmed right up and continue to be good on ppp.
 
I feed my dog Canidae. It came vet recommened and is a very high quality food. Is it more expensive than other foods, yes. But why would I feed my hunting partner cheap garbage and expect him to perform at that level I need him to? There are lots and lots of choices when it comes to dog foods. I did my research and found that it's a very good food that's less expensive than some but more expensive than most. I get 44 lb. bags for around $65. For every 12 bags, Canidae gives you a free bag. No matter what you feed your dog(s), the quality of the food should outweigh how much it costs. There are always ways to trim your budget so you can feed your dog a high quality food in my opinion.
 
The problem is that there is no best because all dogs are different, what one dog may do well on another might not. Its s trial and error thing. Find one you can afford that your dog performs well on.
 
Food

I dump a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup on my dogs food after long days in the field when she's so tired she doesn't eat enough. I think it helps. It has some potassium in it and maybe it gets her ready for the next day. She eats grain free food because she has some skin allergies in the summer and it really helps. Taste of the Wild bison puppy food year round. 1.5 year old dog.
 
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