"Naturally Complete" from Purina's Dog Chow line ...

I truly believe that people can feed what they like as it's their dogs and they are responsible for whatever may happen with them but if one can afford to spend $40 on food, why buy the lesser quality one? I'm not filthy rich by any means but there's one thing I do and that's budget my money to make sure that the bills, and that includes critter feed, are paid for before anything else. To *me*, it would make sense to put $40 to the side for a good quality food than to spend $20 twice a month on a lesser quality food.

I'm not filthy rich by any means but there's one thing I do and that's budget my money to make sure that the bills, and that includes critter feed, are paid for before anything else.

me too

Sigh.

I'm the one who mentioned the beet pulp.  And is was in the context of, I like this food (Exclusive), except for the beet pulp, which turns my dogs deep black coats red.  I didn't mean literally red, it's a reddish tinge you can see in sunlight, when I like to see a deep bluish tinge.

I can only say what I've noticed and what many of my friends who also have Border collies have also noticed.  Sorry to the Great Dane Lady but maybe it's different for Danes.

I was NOT ragging on beet pulp.  I even said once before that it was an aesthetic thing because I'm an artist and I'm very sensitive to color.  Sheesh.

To *me*, it would make sense to put $40 to the side for a good quality food than to spend $20 twice a month on a lesser quality food.

 
This would mean leaving Lizzie without food for 2 weeks...lol. Hmm, not very funny.
 
But yes I have gotten the idea and before I was feeding Beneful in the morning and a comb. of Beneful and Raw in the evening. BUT because we need/needed the extra cash to start on Exclusive she gets her kibble in the morning and only Raw in the evening which turns out great because its much healthier and all I have to do is chop up 2 or 3 chicken legs and she is full.

I don't know. . .I'm contemplating not even typing this but. . .
 
I can see being in a place where there's not much available and/or feeding what works for your dog. 
 
But, if we are talking that it's coming down to nickle and diming to the degree of $20 is a big deal then something is wrong.  Either you simply cannot afford a dog or you are not budgeting properly.
 
And, don't get me wrong, I'm not wealthy at all.  But, this just seems a little much to me.  "saving up" to switch brands???  Sorry, I'm really not trying to be offensive. 

I would just like to point out that I was never intending to suggest that people who feed certain foods do not love their dogs.  I only meant to explain why my dog does not get certain foods.  That's it.  My intention was not to offend.

maybe 'saving up' wasnt the correct way to state things. my english has gotten pretty crappy from lack of use. My spanish sucks, my english is going bad, what is wrong with me?! lol
 
I dont mean actually 'saving up' like I dont have the money to be able to succesfully keep feeding her Exclusive. When I said Lizzie would have to go without food for 2 weeks its because I get payed every 2 weeks, and it wouldnt make sense to have to buy a bag of Beneful during the week and have to take the cash out to buy Exclusive the next week. Sorry I make no sense.
 
And yes I am learning to budget, I am 18 and this is my first real job, my first house, my first on-my-own pup. So I am learning that what mom fed all these years and moms training methods are not the best, and I am working on doing things right.

ORIGINAL: LizzieCollie

maybe 'saving up' wasnt the correct way to state things. my english has gotten pretty crappy from lack of use. My spanish sucks, my english is going bad, what is wrong with me?! lol

I dont mean actually 'saving up' like I dont have the money to be able to succesfully keep feeding her Exclusive. When I said Lizzie would have to go without food for 2 weeks its because I get payed every 2 weeks, and it wouldnt make sense to have to buy a bag of Beneful during the week and have to take the cash out to buy Exclusive the next week. Sorry I make no sense.

And yes I am learning to budget, I am 18 and this is my first real job, my first house, my first on-my-own pup. So I am learning that what mom fed all these years and moms training methods are not the best, and I am working on doing things right.

For that, you should be praised, not looked down upon.  I totally know what you mean.  Some people simply cannot take $40 out of their paycheck at one time to get their dog some food for the whole month.  That's why it is spread out over the month and divided.  That extra $20 may be needed for the cable bill or electric bill or whatever. 

You keep doing what you can, okay?  You can never be punished for doing your very best.

You keep doing what you can, okay?  You can never be punished for doing your very best.
Hurray for this sentence,,it is the biggest statement on the whole thread!
 
I feed Eagle Pack and will, but the honest truth is that no one here has shown me any proof that people that feed Purina... or probably any of the other brands have less healthy pets. And for that matter the same can be said of raw.  Sorry, but I have been on this forum for a lot of years and I have never really seen a lot of proof either way. I hear a lot of opinions to which everyone is entitled to, but thats about it.  When I first started reading about premium dog food it was mostly because of the 4Ds conversation, now that is hardly being mentioned, now we are picking apart ingredients.  Now if one person is feeding one premium brand it still is not good enough to the person feeding the other premium brand.  HHHmmm! Guess that means we all need do the best we can, for what ever the reason, whether it be because of certain ingredients, someones recommendation or cost. I personally am going by the recommendation and could care less about some of the ingredients that many of you talk about half of the time. I didn't mean that statement as a snooty thing,,,just I read over some of this stuff and just don't pay attention to it because it just doesn't matter to me.  However, I realize it might be very important to you and its your business.
I was NOT ragging on beet pulp.  I even said once before that it was an aesthetic thing because I'm an artist and I'm very sensitive to color.  Sheesh.
Brookcove. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you by bringing up the beet pulp. I  honestly had not really ever heard anyone say that their dog turned reddish because of beet pulp, and since we had a dane that turned reddish I was kind of surprised. After Willow said that some people from her Chow Board say the same thing, I went investigating it on the Internet.  Every thing I read said the same and that is that Beet Pulp isn't even red, much less cause dog hair to turn red.
Incidentally, Great Dane Lady  is a canine nutritional consultant, and as much as she has raised several generations of Danes, she has also raised other breeds of dog (and cats) and her website is beneficial to all breeds especially to large breeds of dogs. Since Ollie our black Dane turned reddish several years ago, I guess its not true that maybe its different with Danes.   Again, if me mentioning it caused a problem, I'm sorry.

I would just like to point out that I was never intending to suggest that people who feed certain foods do not love their dogs. I only meant to explain why my dog does not get certain foods. That's it. My intention was not to offend

I don't think you offended anyone; by the way, I feed a holistic kibble supplemented with raw and cooked food. I believe as you that dogs are mostly carnivorous and need a meat based diet. Also, Jessie is allergic to chicken and that rules out the majority of food made by the large companies; even animal digest has chicken. However, for those who cannot afford a holistic product or choose to feed thier dogs one of the Purina foods for whatever reason there are decades of research going into those products and because of that they are nutritionally well balanced. In a debate with nutritionists from Purina I don't think we would fare well because they know every aspect of the nutritional needs of dogs and how to manipulate what most of us consider inferior ingredients to meet those needs. Dr.Remillard believes that the protein source in dog food doesn't matter as far as the dog's health is concerned as long as it's processed in a fashion that it is highly digestible; that's probably what the nutritionists from Purina would argue about foods like Beneful and other grain based foods they make. Someone said that the sugar in Beneful would cause diabetes but unless you know the amount of sugar in Beneful and how much is harmful to a dog there is no way to prove that and the nutritionists who made the formula most likely have adjusted the sugar so it's enough to make the product taste good ( which is the only reason for using it) without causing harm. Sandra has made an excellent point about how well her family's dogs have done on Purina and although I prefer to feed my dog food which in my opinion has superior ingredients I respect the decision of those who feed the foods from the large companies and understand why they choose them. By the way, I think that we are doing a better job in general of not offending those who ask for our opinion about certain foods than we used to do several months ago. I hope everyone is enjoying thier day off; have a great Fourth!

Well, Sandra_Slayton, I didn't get a dog until I could afford to feed it.  Please read my entire post before you comment on what I wrote.

Once again, I am not saying that people who feed grocery brand foods are bad pet owners.  I repeat, I am saying that people who buy foods with colors and sugar and salt could buy foods without colors sugars and salt for less money.  It all comes down to educating. In that case it is not a matter of not having enough money it is a matter of educating.

I used to work at a pet supplies store to pay for college.  I ran into plenty of customers who could not afford premium foods, but you bet I would tell them they were wasting their money on Kibbles and Bits and Beneful when they could buy Pedigree of Dog Chow for less.

Oh, and Lizziecollie this is not in any way intended to attack you.  I know you are switching to Exclusive.

I haven't read through most of the thread, so I'll just say a couple things which may have already been pointed out. First is that feeding Purina Dog Chow using Petco's bowl program is only $3.30 a month cheaper than feeding Eagle Pack Original to a 50 pound dog. Second is if you can find Prism in your area, it's an excellent food for folks on a budget. You can usually get 40 lbs of the adult formula for $24.99, and the only difference between it and the standard Eagle Pack formulas is the lack of prebiotics/probiotics.

Edit: Also the lamb meal & rice formula doesn't have glucosamine.

ORIGINAL: jessies_mom

I hope everyone is enjoying thier day off; have a great Fourth!

 
What day off? lol I am stuck here at work because my boss is a money hungry man so I envy all of you that got to sleep late and spend the day with the family! []

No day off here!  Sheep gotta eat, fence gotta be built, kennels gotta be cleaned.  But, we got up early while it was cool and worked.  We are lazing now - 99 degrees is too hot even for us!  Ben has staked out one air vent in here and Rocky pup has staked out another.  []

I couldn't agree more with budgeting, however, I CAN understand someone needing to save up to make a change because their budget is so danged tight it squeaks.  Especially younger folks just starting out in the world.  I think it's unfair to judge or to say that they shouldn't own a dog because the bottom line *could* be that the dog who is in their home, being loved and cherished and maybe not fed the very best, otherwise *could* be dead.