What is the worst dog food you would feed if you had to?

[Hondo]

Every question that I have read is always geared to what is the best dog food to feed our dogs. I want to know what is the best of the worst?

I am curious as to what others consider to be arguably the absolute worst you would feed your dog if you had to and still be okay with it. What would be the bottom of the barrel criteria that you would look for in the ingredients and or protein/fat percentage? What ingredient if any would keep you from buying a dog food (example: propylene glycol, sugar, etc.) I would also try to gear it towards feeds that you can buy 50lb bags for around $20.00.

The reason for the question is I'm curious if there are dogs that have been or are currently successful trialing/hunting etc. that are winning awards, accolades, etc. Is there a national champion some where that goes home and eats Ol' Roy, Alpo, etc.

Please list the best 5 of the worst dog foods that you WOULD feed every day if you had to and still be okay with? And if you have any opinions, experiences, etc. on which feeds your dog(s) were successful with inspite of the low quality of food they were eating, please share.

-Hondo

[Cajun Casey]

Whitetail, raccoon, possum, squirrel, cat.....

[Hondo]

Whitetail, raccoon, possum, squirrel, cat.....

How about any commercial dog foods?

[Ghosted3]

I don't know how prices vary from state to state, but one of my local vets sells sportmix, black bag, blue bag, and yellow bag for 23$ for the 40lbs bags. I know its not exactly the area you are talking about, but it is a good feed close to your price range. Other than that, Purina dog chow I guess.

Corry

[nanney1]

O.K. I'll bite....
These shouldn't be considered "worst" or of low quality, just fitting in the price range.

Purina Dog Chow - around $20 for a 44lb bag. Worked very well. Good energy/Coats/small dark stool.
River Run Hi Pro 27/12 - around $17 for a 50lb bag. Worked very well. Good energy/coats/large bulky light stool. Dogs went more often.
Sunshine Generic Mix - around $14 for a 50lb bag. This is an overrun mix of all the various foods they make so you never know what will be in the bag. Usually several different types of kibbles Actually worked just fine. No problems with energy coats or stool.
River Run 24/20 - around $20 for a 50lb bag and what I'm feeding now. I like this as good or better than anything I've fed. Good energy/coats/ and small dark stool.

My 103lb American Bulldog intact male usually eats 4 1/2 cups per day. My 90lb Bernese Mountain Dog spayed female eats 3 3/4 cups per day. And my 32lb Staffordshire Bull Terrier intact female eats 2 cups per day. When looking at the foods above, give or take a 1/4 cup per day difference at most between these different foods.

Would these work for hard working hunting dogs? I don't know. My guess is that the River Run 24/20 would work well in most applications. I used to feed foods in the higher end range of $1 per lb or more. But I decided to try some cheaper ones and they worked just as well.

As far as worst dog food. Hard to say. I guess Ol Roy gets bashed the most, but there are millions of dogs being fed Ol Roy and doing just fine. And I suspect that Ol Roy is the same food in a different bag as the Member's Mark dog food at Sam's and looks to be the same as the Tractor Supply Retriever brand foods.

[Hondo]

O.K. I'll bite....
These shouldn't be considered "worst" or of low quality, just fitting in the price range.

Purina Dog Chow - around $20 for a 44lb bag. Worked very well. Good energy/Coats/small dark stool.
River Run Hi Pro 27/12 - around $17 for a 50lb bag. Worked very well. Good energy/coats/large bulky light stool. Dogs went more often.
Sunshine Generic Mix - around $14 for a 50lb bag. This is an overrun mix of all the various foods they make so you never know what will be in the bag. Usually several different types of kibbles Actually worked just fine. No problems with energy coats or stool.
River Run 24/20 - around $20 for a 50lb bag and what I'm feeding now. I like this as good or better than anything I've fed. Good energy/coats/ and small dark stool.

My 103lb American Bulldog intact male usually eats 4 1/2 cups per day. My 90lb Bernese Mountain Dog spayed female eats 3 3/4 cups per day. And my 32lb Staffordshire Bull Terrier intact female eats 2 cups per day. When looking at the foods above, give or take a 1/4 cup per day difference at most between these different foods.

Would these work for hard working hunting dogs? I don't know. My guess is that the River Run 24/20 would work well in most applications. I used to feed foods in the higher end range of $1 per lb or more. But I decided to try some cheaper ones and they worked just as well.

As far as worst dog food. Hard to say. I guess Ol Roy gets bashed the most, but there are millions of dogs being fed Ol Roy and doing just fine. And I suspect that Ol Roy is the same food in a different bag as the Member's Mark dog food at Sam's and looks to be the same as the Tractor Supply Retriever brand foods.

Thank you for taking the time to post.

I would agree with you on Ol'Roy being fed to millions of dogs. I suspect that between Ol'Roy and Purina Dog Chow that would probably cover a huge percentage of what dogs are fed in the United States. I'm sure the Marley & Me movie helped sell a lot of Purina Dog Chow.

But as was alluded to by Ghosted3 it doesn't take very much searching to find a fairly good food that can be purchased for the same price. I think it is just a natural instict for consumers to try and get the best bang for the buck. So if you can get better quality for the same price that is what most do.

[birddogger]

Kind of like asking what the best dog food is. I don't know that there is a worst. OL Roy would probably be my first pick and my dogs would probably still do fine, maybe a little more clean up.

Charlie

[ezzy333]

I think the main problem is that very few know what is the best food and rely heavily on what they read in the ads and the stories they hear. I have no idea how anyone would know what the quality is when they have no idea what the formulas are, what quality ingredients are used, how it is manufactured, etc. I probably have more schooling and experience in feed manufacturing than most of the people on this forum and I know I can't tell till I have fed it for several months. And even then it is less than accurate when there are so many varibles in the way we use the feed. I do know the worse feed on the market today is way better if you just look on the label than what any of us fed 40 years ago and our dogs did fine back then in the field and on the bench. I can also quarantee you that we can take any food on the market today and fimd people who like it and people who don't. And It all boils down to the fact that most of us waste way too much time looking for a good dog food than it is worth.

I love the article about the dog food with out any animal protein in it. There results are exactly what we have seen in feeding test for years but I wouldn't dare tell anyone about it as they would think I was crazy or manybe just go off the deep end themselves. I still am positive you and your dog will be fine on most any dog feed with a combination of animal and vegetable protein sources and the feed wwoll be cheaper than all of the feeds with the formulas that don't include both and the feeds that only have some exotic meat source that is touted as being so much better than anything else. Most of the feeds today are made for the owner's satisfaction and not the dog's as their primary benifiery.

Ezzy

[Cajun Casey]

Whitetail, raccoon, possum, squirrel, cat.....

How about any commercial dog foods?

I'd get local mill run or 4D raw.

[wems2371]

Kind of like asking what the best dog food is. I don't know that there is a worst. OL Roy would probably be my first pick and my dogs would probably still do fine, maybe a little more clean up.

Charlie

My old rescue lab was on Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites for years. It was a pretty inexpensive food, but I didn't have anyone around back then to tell me it wasn't any good. Ol Roy came out with a knock off that was a few dollars cheaper, and when times were tighter, she got Ol Roy. Granted she's not a performance dog, and was only hunted modestly, but she's over 15 years old now. It certainly hasn't done her any harm. I do not feed that to my much harder hunting and training GSPs, who get Exceed Ch & Rice, and I really don't have a clue how they would do on the cheaper food. It means I buy two different types of food, but it works for the individual dogs, so I'll just keep on keeping on.

[BigShooter]

Table scraps.

[birddogger]

Table scraps.

Now that is probably the best answer yet and the dogs would be getting the same balanced diet that I do.

Charlie