My dog eats better than I do!!! What do you feed your dog??

[Nebraska]

We've fed our pets Science Diet for over 20 years but when I picked up a 40 lb. bag of puppy food the other day it was $48!!!! That's $1.20/lb... :roll: I want my dogs to be healthy and want to feed my GSPs good quality food but that's just insane.

So.....what are you guys feeding your dogs?

[big steve46]

Science Diet is a good product but is nothing special and is way overpriced. I have fed Diamond Premium for many years with good results. If you want more than one meat source and no corn or wheat, you should get Diamond Natural Chicken and Rice. The Premium costs less than .50 a pound, and the C&R costs less than .60 a pound. Black Gold is another brand with comparable prices and quality. Nutrena's Loyall is a good product. Purina makes good products that are a bit pricy but still less than SD. Moderaters may want to move this to "Health and Nutrition."

[prairiefirepointers]

I agree with the 'Way Overpriced' connotation. Before I was a breeder/kennel owner I fed 2 dogs Eukanuba. I really liked it and so did they, but its rather expensive and eventually I came to my sences and started feeding PMI. Now, we have SEVERAL dogs and we feed our Puppies until a year old PMI EXCLUSIVE PUPPY FORMULA. After that, we feed PMI RED FLANNEL PRIME FORMULA. It is a great dog food (I tasted it) ha ha, and it is highly digestable therefore it costs less to feed than some of the others a little cheaper. However PMI has a program and when you buy 6 bags you get the next bag FREE. That is nice.. So is having a advertisement on my website for the feedstore. (another discount) It costs us alot of money in feed every year, so I am glad PMI makes a great dog food for working dogs at a affordable price. www.pminutrition.com

[Big Dave]

I feed Black Gold, it is getting hard to find a dealer very close. I would try Exceed but Sam's Club is 40 minutes away. I feed Diamond when BG is not availabe and I will look at PMI Red Flannel since the local elevator started carrying it and prairefirepointers seems to like it.

[Greg Jennings]

We feed Exceed. Fresh bags always readily available at a decent price.

Keep hoping there will be a handy outlet for the Arkat and/or PMI feeds here.

Greg J.

[3Britts]

I feed Costco's Kirkland brand and my dogs do great on it.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

I also feed Diamond Premium adult. I am a hobby breeder and currently have 12 dogs in my kennels. I receintly spoke with the Diamond folks and they have a kennel program that gives reductions on pallets of food. Steve, have you ever used their High Energy and if so, what do you think? The Regional distributor can get me the High Energy at about .04 lower than the Premium.

[Dobe]

Doberman - Eagle Pack Natural
JRT - Pro Plan Small Breed
2 Labs - Diamond Premium or Purina ONE
Rat Terrier - Eagle Pack Holistic Senior

[big steve46]

AZ, I used one bag of the HiE last fall, but my dogs did not like it as well. I think the Premium is sl better.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

Big Steve,

Were they just off their feed (not eating) or was there a change in stool, weight loss, etc. ? I know that dogs take a little while to adjust when you change the feed.

[big steve46]

They were not eating it as well. I don't believe it was an adjustment thing. There is very little difference in the two, but I'd rather have a little more protein and less fat. If your dogs like HiE and process it efficiently, I don't have any problem with it.

[romeo212000]

My dog eats Diamond Premium Adult. About $23 a 44lb bag.

[lvrgsp]

Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice here. Guys feeding PMI, have you tried the Exclusive yet?

Chip

[romeo212000]

I also feed Diamond Premium adult. I am a hobby breeder and currently have 12 dogs in my kennels. I receintly spoke with the Diamond folks and they have a kennel program that gives reductions on pallets of food. Steve, have you ever used their High Energy and if so, what do you think? The Regional distributor can get me the High Energy at about .04 lower than the Premium.

My understanding is it is a meat based formula that some dogs do okay on and some dogs do horribly one. The premium is a better formula for my dogs, but that is just my dogs.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

romeo,

I think most of the premium brands are a meat based formula. Quality levels range of meat by-products to real meat i.e. ground chicken, beef or lamb. The Diamond Hi Energy appears to be a chicken by-product with a lower protein / higher fat ratio. I think I will try my dogs out on it for a month or so, to see what happens.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

My dog eats Diamond Premium Adult. About $23 a 44lb bag.

I am paying $32 for 50# out here.

[romeo212000]

Wow that is crazy there is such a huge difference. I like more protein and less fat because My dog doesnt need the fat. I also think the Premium formula has higher quality ingredients.

[big steve46]

romeo, I agree but I also don't argue with success.

[prairiefirepointers]

[quote][/quote]Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice here. Guys feeding PMI, have you tried the Exclusive yet?

Ya, That is what we feed our pups until a year old. Then the Red Flannel Prime Formula. It runs us about $35 for a 50LB bag after tax. I would say it helps keep their coats nice and shiney, which I'm sure it does, but I also feed Bacon/Hamburger Grease on their dog food about once a week. I don't know about the Diamind, but If they don't have a program like PMI does where you get every 7th bag free, Its more cost effective to feed the PMI. Not to mention they will eat less of it, therefore saving you money over time. They are all good foods I'm sure.. Personally I like the taste of the Red Flannel, and It gives me great stamina. ha ha.

[big steve46]

prairiefire..I assume you have compared with a pro-longed feeding time comparing PMI to say Diamond Premium to be able to imply that PMI requires less volume? You cannot assume only.

[big steve46]

prairiefire, thanks for the PM. I sent you an email. Let me know if it did not go thru.

[prairiefirepointers]

Nope, not yet anyways.
As far as side by side, no. I have never fed the diamond. I know people who have and they like it. It is cheaper than the PMI lines of dog food. Even if you break down the extra bag credit with PMI, they come out to about the same price per pound.
I like it because I get the extra bag credit, and my dogs do well with it. I may pay a little more perhaps, but it all gets written off at the end of the year anyways. I also advertise for my feedstore on my website and get another discount at the register which is nice too. In the end, its like everything else.. personal preference. Alot of manufacturers make great dog foods nowadays, I just prefer PMI after all the one's I have tried over the years.. Which at 30 yrs old may not seem that much compared to some. haha ... Not calling anyone an old man.

[Nebraska]

If Diamond is good stuff, I might just have to give it a try. I found a smokin' deal when I looked online at Kraft Discount Center of all places (Omaha). If I can find it cheaper somewhere else, I'll let you know but here's a link to their pet food page.... http://www.ifounditinomaha.com/home.php ... n=0&page=3

[big steve46]

Nebrasca, Kraft's prices are good, about the same as what we pay here at the local feed store.

[Nebraska]

I was poking around the net and stumbled across a sight that did dog food analysis and they made it sound like Diamond, PMI, etc. are ultra low-grade products. Hopefully not because I can't afford to feed my dogs Prime Rib!!

I have a 7 mo that's high-energy and an old GSP that's on the heavy-side now. Any suggestions on which choices to pick? BTW - we have a PMI dealer nearby as well.....

[Rick Hall]

I was poking around the net and stumbled across a sight that did dog food analysis and they made it sound like Diamond, PMI, etc. are ultra low-grade products...

Don't panic, such sites tend to be full of...er, "inaccuracies," to couch it as politely as possible.

[Rick Hall]

Guys feeding PMI, have you tried the Exclusive yet?

PMI Exclusive was a little cheaper and a whole lot more readily available to me than the PP 30/20 we've settled on, so I really wanted to like it. But it didn't work as well for the two I fed it. Your mieage may vary.

[jetto]

We actually do have one dog that eats better than we do- the one with Inflammatory Bowel Disease- course that's in order to keep him alive, lol....Chicken breasts, ground turkey, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, canned salmon, some fresh fish, grain-free canned dog food, etc.

The others are on Sportsmix Lamb Meal & Rice formula. Found it at our local feed store and I pay just under $29 inc tax for a 44 pound bag I think it is. If I buy 4 bags at a time it drops down to about $25 a bag inc tax. They also have a pallet deal I need to look into if I can find a rodent free place to store it. The ingredients work for our dogs- no corn, meat in the first few ingredients, etc. And they are all doing great on it. I was feeding Pro Plan but it just got too costly.

The real test will be in the coming weeks to see how Jet does at the trials. If I think he's not performing as in the past I will buy him a bag of Pro Plan Performance just for trial season. But so far the Sportsmix is keeping the weight on him even with heavy roading. And I like that I'm supporting a local business instead of driving 20 minutes to Sandusky to support the Pet supplies plus store. Kristi

[Ayres]

I started feeding Canidae because I could get it at an Iams price. When that left, I switched over to a Purina ProPlan mix of Performance and Sensitive Skin. Again, I had a sweet deal going where I was getting the food cheap, and my dog did well on it. It was a hassle to mix up, though. I didn't want to feed 100% Performance because it was too high in protein and fat for the off season, and I didn't want to feed 100% SS&S because it would make stools loose unless mixed. (Also, the SS&S added the benefit of fish meal for omegas). During all of this, though, I was still supplementing with joint vitamins (glucosamine & chondroitin).

When my ProPlan deal fell through, I switched over to NutriSource. It's costing just under $.75 per pound and has the omegas, glucosamine and chondroitin already added in. (read: no supplement extra cost) I don't think its readily available in many areas, though.

[JakeThomen]

Nutro Natural Choice... I think it is the lamb and rice

[Triple R]

I was curious about the pmi brand dog food, so I went to there website to read about it and seen were they are having a recall on some of there dog and cat food. It looks like it is mostly for the northeastern states. I'm not trying to stir anything up but since it came from there web site I thought some of you might like to know.

[ezzy333]

Its already been posted and talked about on the board.

Ezzy

[BellaMorgan]

My golden's food is at $81 per 35lbs!!! She is on some special vet blend for allergies. Good times.

[big steve46]

Bella, what are you feeding thats so expensive? I doubt that the Vet's office is the only place to get a product that meets your dog's special needs. What are her allergies, and are they true allergies verifiable by testing or are they intolerances?

[BellaMorgan]

I will have to check the name again. She has had past problems with wheat allergies, and we have tried her on all sorts of foods to no avail. Tuna and rice worked well but it doesn't have all the vitamins. According to the vet, thats their price on it. they make nothing on the food itself. I will find out.

[3Britts]

If is is only wheat that she has problems with, there are several foods out there that have no wheat and are reasonable priced. Diamond and Kirkland to name two. Both are under $30 for 40#. You will have to check the diamond for the variety that has no wheat, as they have several varieties.

[BellaMorgan]

This is the food we currently have our golden on. We tried multiple others to no avail.
ROYAL CANIN (formerly IVD) Veterinary Diet Dog Potato & Duck Dry Formula

As far as we know she does well on the tuna and rice, but others without wheat also must have some fillers that irritate her. I just looked up this one that might work Eukanuba Naturally Wild North Atlantic Salmon & Rice Dry Dog Food which is $42 for 30 lbs.

[ezzy333]

It looks like you are researching every exotic feed on the market rather than the common reasonably priced feeds. I will bet the tuna and rice or salmon and rice is the same formula as the chicken and rice. And the other ingredients are not fillers. Each and everyone of them are there for a specific purpose.

If you really want to know about the different feeds you need to contact the manufacturers and maybe you have already done that but the info you get off of the net is basically worthless because of all the misinformation included. Plus formuli are private info that is guarded by the manufacturer and is not available any place else.

Ezzy