Expensive versus cheap dog food.

I'm going to get flamed for this, but, my older bro is a veterinarian and he took me to the pet food store and showed me that the cheapo stuff is as nutritionally balanced as the expensive stuff...gram for gram...you pay for fun extras with the expensive stuff (glucosomine, chondroiten, etc.) and names, but, he always tells me purina is just as complete as Royal Canadae as long as your dog is "normal" (as in, no allergies, ibs, etc.)

Your not going to get flamed. I personally feed my dog Purina Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach. I tried all the "high end" foods and all they did was make poor Kord itch more.

Purina is not bad food.

 Well, I won't flame you, but I know three canine nutritionists who say that the premium foods are better because they lack harmful preservatives, by-products and things like menadione and BHA/BHT.  Personally, I prefer to feed my dogs a higher quality because I think it makes for less vet visits in the long run.  The mainstay for my dogs' diets are the Naturapet products (Innova, California Natural) but I rotate other foods in and out.  Veterinarians are educated by material provided to their universities by the large dog food manufacturers, and unless they specialize in nutrition, do not get that many courses in it.  If you want to see how your food compares to the ones I mentioned, go here: www.thedogfoodproject.com.

 

 

IAMS **is** just as bad as Purina - that is NOT a good food.

Not going to flame you, but I will try to explain as best I can -- most of what you've decided to believe is marketing -- what the dogfood companies tell you about nutrition.

Understand this -- the pet food industry changed enormously about 10 or so years ago.  Suddenly it was far far more profitable for them (both the companies who manufacture and the vendors who sell) to keep foods in storage -- literally for a couple of years -- before it is ever even realeased TO the store who will buy it.    So there was this huge "perceived need" for much longer shelf-life.

Dog food never kept well -- most any moron knew that dogs needed things like fish meal and similar to be healthy (that provided Omega 3 fatty acids).  If you remember several years ago one of the big "selling points" was when pet companies started saying 'NOW with OMEGA SIX FATTY ACIDS!!!"

Omega six's are *not* Omega 3's.  Omega six's are Vit A and other things but essentially what they did was reduce the Omega 3's and substitute with Omega 6's because they didn't spoil as rapidly.  It was marketing to 'spin' the change in food quality.  Most dog foods don't contain Omega 3's because of the spoilage factor. 

The other big difference is in meat quality and preservatives.  I'll spare you all the gorey details -- but honestly you should check it out -- in the difference in what words like "meat meal" and "meat by-products" are. 

 I lived near a rendering plant for many years.  This is graphic but true -- when they bring in road kill to a rendering plant it's stuff that is pretty awful.  It's spoiled when brought in (because it's been dead for days) -- and it's every type of animal under the sun (including pets).  Rendering plants treat this "meat" with massive doses of BHA, BHTm menadione, and ethoxyquin. 

These preservatives are KNOWN carcinogens and they aren't even allowed in human food for the most part (some 'junk food' things like Twinkies -- that again have an exhorbitant-ly long shelf life of months and months before sold have some in them).

But these preservatives are in the meat BEFORE it is bought by the company who makes the dog food. 

That's a huge thing because according to federal law (and most states don't countermand that) all a company has to put on its label is what ***THEY*** add to the food.  So most of these companies (and Proctor and Gamble is really good at this) don't have to even reveal the huge level of carcinogenic preservatives that are in these foods.

So you are essentially feeding your dogs cancer-causing things with every mouthful day in and day out.

Canine cancer is huge -- I stopped feeding kibble AT  ALL over seven years ago after a dog I was feeding a PRESCRIPTION VET DIET came to have cancer.  He ate Eukaneuba (which used to be about the best you could buy 8 - 10 years ago) and I found all this out.

I have home-cooked since then.  But I know what goes into their mouths.  I know the meat they eat is not road-kill.  I know what 'preserves' the food is my own refrigerator -- not chemicals. 

If you have been fortunate enough not to have lost a pet to cancer you're INDEED fortunate.  But about 25 - 30 years ago when we all bought Purina's advertising that told us that a dog fed commercial dog food was getting a better 'balanced' diet than anything else -- unfortunately it may be 'balanced' - but that balance is due to chemical enhancement, not the quality of the ingredients. Most of the ingredients are fillers - just for bulk.  Not nutrition.  Precious little of the food itself is nutritious -- it's mostly simply vitamins/chemicals added to ensure that 'balance'.

 It's not that one brand is more or less balanced than another.  It's more that one is just better quality than another. 

Go back and take another look at the ingredients list with a crappy food and a high end food.  Let's play Spot The Difference:

One contains decent named meat as one of the first ingredients, or THE first ingredient, and another contains mostly grains, with a bit of roadkill thrown in. 

One is better for the skin, coat, digestive system... EVERYTHING. 

One contains questionable preservative and other dodgy ingredients. 

One requires your dog to be fed MORE of it, because each cupful is pretty lacking in nutrients and calories, while it is so UNdigestible that most of it passes straight through the system without being absorbed, resulting in more poop, stinkier poop, unhealthier poop.

There's more, but you get my drift.  You really do get what you pay for.

spiritdogs

Personally, I prefer to feed my dogs a higher quality because I think it makes for less vet visits in the long run.  The mainstay for my dogs' diets are the Naturapet products (Innova, California Natural) but I rotate other foods in and out.  Veterinarians are educated by material provided to their universities by the large dog food manufacturers, and unless they specialize in nutrition, do not get that many courses in it.  If you want to see how your food compares to the ones I mentioned, go here: www.thedogfoodproject.com.

Ditto!

I look at it this way -- Some people can live long, relatively healthy lives eating a diet that consists of a lot of fast food and junk food (the equivalent of "grocery store" pet foods).  But most people will do much better on a more nutritious diet (the equivalent of higher-end pet foods).  So I hedge my bets and stick with the more premium stuff.  Not to mention that if you compare the recommended feeding amounts of inexpensive food versus more expensive food, the per-meal price often works out to be about the same or only pennies more.  Since the premium foods are usually more calorie and nutrient dense, you almost always feed considerably less than with a cheaper food.

FWIW, I think there's a world of difference in plain old Purina Dog Chow, Purina One and Pro Plan.  I wouldn't hesitate to feed Pro Plan, I would feed Purina One if my budget were limited.  I'd have to be really low on pennies to feed Dog Chow.

Mine.

Salmon, brewers rice, canola meal, oat meal, fish meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), salmon meal (natural source of glucosamine), pearled barley, brewers dried yeast, animal digest, salt, potassium chloride, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium carbonate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

I have been by a rendering plant that supplies meat to purina. And it didn't smell like roast chicken or steak, that's for sure! 

For my own dogs, I have tried several purina formulas.  None of them worked out. They had soft serve-poops, bad gas, itchy skin, etc.

The only kibble I have found that works really well for my 3 sensitive dogs (2 bichons ,minpin) is PetGuard Lifespan.  They source fresh chicken, ingredients from human suppliers and make sure there are no hidden preservatives or flavorings (apparently MSG is a big hidden problem), etc.  

I, too would have to be pretty poor to get into purina/iams, etc. 

shamrockmommy

I, too would have to be pretty poor to get into purina/iams, etc. 

 

OT but - I read that as purina pyjamas.  It's clearly time for me to go to bed...

Salmon, brewers rice, canola meal, oat meal, fish meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), salmon meal (natural source of glucosamine), pearled barley

That to me shows that there is actually more grain in the dog food than there is meat. Not a good thing for a meat-eater. Salmon may have the most on its own, but clearly there is more grain than there is actually meat.

That, and the fact that they simply list "animal fat" - that's a no-no for me when it comes to deciding on a food. If I don't know what animal it comes from, then I'm not about to feed that food. Personally.

Contrast that to a medium-quality food, Chicken Soup for the Dog's Soul:

Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, ocean fish meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, egg product, tomato pomace, duck, salmon, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Of the first five ingredients - which are the most important, four are meat ingredients, then followed by the grain products. That food is one in which there is more meat than grain. There are also probiotics to assist in digestion of the food, which is a plus.

Then you could even go to an even higher-quality food (read: expensive) that would be even more limited in the additives and even lower in grain content, even to go to the grain-free recipes.

Purina is definitely better than, say, Beneful or Kibbles N' Bits, but it's not really that high on the "quality" scale overall. Yes, lots of dogs do "okay" on these diets for years and years and years - but some people also do "okay" on fast food diets and no fruits or vegetables at all in their diets...."okay" doesn't mean that it's optimal. And that's all people mean when they talk about "top-quality" foods. Quality is about the quality of the ingredients, the quality of the preservatives used to keep that food healthy, and the methods in which the food is made.

Feeding dogs "well" is expensive, just as eating "well" yourself is more expensive than eating garbage foods. Those fruits and veggies alone rack up quite a bit in a budget, let alone good lean meats! Not everyone can afford to feed their dogs the best food - it happens - but it doesn't mean that it's still the best food in the long run either.

 Purina has been around for a long time, and a lot of people who work their dogs swear by it.  It is a decent food for dogs,  Remember, dogs were probably scavengers to start with, and even now  are happiest eating cat droppings and 6 day old sun warmed garbage.  My dog is not allergic to anything and her only food concerns have to do with quantity, not quality. 

I feed the better foods because I can, and because in the long term there may be a benefit to my dog.  Also, years ago when I thought Tuffys was a good food, I noticed that I was cleaning up about 50 pounds of droppings for every 25 pounds fed. Much less cleanup with quality foods.

Different levels of protein seem to give different levels of energy

/shrug

Kord cannot do Flaxseed, and just about every high end food has it. He does well on it so it's what im going with.

My dogs eat a gambit of foods. My husky ate purina one nearly her entire life. She almost made it to 16.

marketing has been mentioned in this thread and yes. It is all about marketing. Everything you have read in this thread has been marketed to us. By vets, magazInes, by so called nutritionists, by pet stores, holistic vets etc.. There have been no scientific study, that I know about, that says this food is better than that for dogs.

All that said, I do pay attention to certain things when I buy foods:

1) Who makes the food and what their history has been with product recalls. I prefer to buy foods from manufacturers that I trust have high quality qa standards

2) Ingrediants. I prefer to know what the ingrediants are. For instance: venison rather than "meat". I also don't want a lot of grain products

3) Calories, fat, protein content. I want 30 percent protien give or take.

4) What I can afford at the time. Price is often deceiving though. You have to look at how much you need to feed per serving

Truley

Your not going to get flamed. I personally feed my dog Purina Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach. I tried all the "high end" foods and all they did was make poor Kord itch more.

Purina is not bad food.

No flaming from me, either.  I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Pro Plan was the food Mick did the absolute best on.  Unfortunately, Caleb doesn't do well on it.  He's been doing much better on the Natural Balance grain free foods.  But, believe me, if he could have Pro Plan, he'd be eating it!