She might not be able to afford the best food out there.
This statement makes absolutely no sense when considering actually 'affordability'.
How can you say that someone 'can't afford' a good food if they're spending for example :
$20 on a 40 lb bag of crap... ProPlan, Pedigree or what-have-you. Say the dog weighs 50lbs and you have to feed that dog 5-6 cups of food per day. A bag of this would last at most 2 wks.
A $40 30-35# bag of a Super Premium quality food would last almost 7 weeks if the feeding amount for a 50lb dog is 2 cups per day which it is for many... ie Timberwolf, Merrick, Canidae and others
That means in a 7 week period this person would have actually spent almost DOUBLE to feed a crap quality food.
( 7 wks @ every other week is 3.5 x $20 = $70) as opposed to spending $40 ONCE in 7 wks.
So where is the justification in determining that this person 'cannot afford' to feed a quality food ?? Just because the cost is 'upfront' ?? That's a poor excuse in my book. It makes much more sense and is a clearly better value to spend the $40 once every month and a half than fork out $20 every two weeks and THAT is how you have to present it to them, along with all the nutritional facts, other 'savings' factors such as reduced vet visits, reduced costs of over-the-counter remedies for problems like teeth, coat & skin, muscle & bones, etc etc etc, reduced waste pick up, better overall health and temperament, less risk of disease... ie cancer, liver & kidney, dermatological problems and allergies and so on. You have to make them see MORE than just a DOLLAR VALUE. A dog's overall health , well-being , better temperament & trainability as well as reduced overall costs due to poor nutrition and illness ADD UP tremendously.
Anyone who has the mindset that people who feed crap 'cannot afford' to feed well is taking the wrong approach and doesn't understand the real value and cost difference because you are basically just presenting this as an "expensive" food without letting them actually see HOW and WHERE they will actually save money over time and in the short run. All they see from your approach is that they need to spend MORE money because ALL of the benefits both healthwise and monetary wise are not being correctly explained and presented. You HAVE to present the entire 'big picture' in order to successfully help them see where changing over is not only better for their dog's health but it's better for their pocketbook too. Anyone who truely cares about their animals will be eager to switch when they can actually 'see' the savings and health benefits.
eople who are the kind of people who just treat their dog as a dog won't care no matter WHAT you tell them and will continue to feed crap because it's cheap and their pet's health and wellbeing is not really a concern with them. They consider their pets 'disposable' possessions.....not family members.
I also find it VERY helpful to provide links ( if they have computers ) or a fact sheet to sites like these so they can see for themselves :
www.mordanna.com/petfood
www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood1.html
www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood2.html
www.volhard.com/holistic/artbywv.htm
www.5stardog.com/dog-food.asp
www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0106-04.htm
www.doglogic.com/food&feed.htm
www.doberdogs.com/foodcht4i-q.html
This is a great source to get books on nutrition and vaccines:
www.thepowermall.com/bookbarn/pet.htm
* As far as tooting Innova's horn: Innove advocates the inclusion of alot of CRAP ingredients in their foods. Here are some "approved" ingredients listed off their website:
BEET PULP : used by CHEAP dogfood companies as a stool hardner. A clever way to deceive consumers into thinking their dog is actually getting all the nutrition they need by 'proof' of hard compact stools.
CHICKEN DIGEST: NO quality food should EVER have any kind of 'digest' included in their list of ingredients.
CORN GLUTEN MEAL : In a hypocritical statement they condemn the use of RICE GLUTEN MEAL saying it's a cheap by-product and a poor quality protein filler and that MEAT is always the best source of protein...yet they advocate CGM which is the exact same thing . They also condemn WHEAT GLUTEN MEAL for the same reasons.
GROUND WHITE RICE: . Just like white sugar is worse to use than brown and white flour is worse than wheat flour. White rice does not have the nutritional value of whole brown or wild rice.
*PS... Innova also uses Menadione which is being scrutinized very heavily by knowledgeable consumers. You'll notice that you cannot find a COMPLETE list of the specific ingredients in each formula anywhere on their site or anywhere else for that matter. They all just mimic what's on the Natura site.
And as far as better foods go...if I would recommend Chicken Soup before Nutro. Nutro.. all formulas... still have questionable and inferior quality ingredients. Chicken Soup has excellent quality ingredients for a VERY reasonable price.