Feeding generic dog food brands

The pricier stuff tends to be more digestible for dogs. As in, less poop to scoop. I know there are other reasons, shinier coat and probably less allergies and stuff but others can answer this better than I can.

Shewolf--

My cousin used to be in management at one of the larger, nationally known manufacturers of animal food.

He said that the differences in price between brand name food and generic food indicated differences in quality.

Recently I heard from a friend that her vet did not recommend generic food--and he didn't push the "only through your vet" brands, either.

The generic food is measured and mixed by what is available that day rather than by an absolute forumla. You could buy a bag that would be heavy on protein and then your next purchase could be heavy with "filler".

I feed my dogs Science Diet Lite because they needed to lose some weight and it had the lowest fat content.

I have one of those PetCo Pals cards - for every 10 bags of food you buy over the course of a year you get a free bag of food - so really you save 10% on each bag of food, plus you can use coupons. We go through a 35 pound bag of dog food every couple of weeks so I get several free bags over the year.

At some point they upgraded me to a "Top Dog" card and I get extra coupons in the mail -- usually 20% off -- every couple of months.

You can really save a lot of money with those PetCo cards.

What brands of food are you feeding to your generic dogs--and what makes your dogs generic?

Buppy was eating Purina Benefuls.

That is 9.00 for 4-6 lbs.
A bag that size lasts less then a week.

I figured that generic brand dog foods were lacking in the formula.. but wow noddy.. I didnt know it was that much.
That has to tear up a doggies belly rather quickly.

I do have a Petco close by...
Maybe I should go shop around there and see what I can find, while getting one of those cards.
I cant afford Science diet. I wish I could, but I can do... Alpo.. ? maybe?

I think Purina offers a dog food that is about 10-15 dollars for a large bag. And that is about what we need.

Would the formulas in a name brand differ that much between the 'flavors' and the products that each brand has?

Example-
Purnia Benefuls vs Purina Dog chow..

Same brand, but diffrent product..

I pay around $30 for a 35 pound bag of dog food - that is less than a dollar a pound - that's about half what your paying.

Yep. Buy bigger bags.

Nothing really wrong with the middle-of-the-market brands -- though the point that they tend to contain more filler (which is to say, fiber, and we all know what that does) stands. More expensive foods tend to be more concentrated (except the diet foods), so be very mindful when switching foods that you're feeding the right amount.

Now there's a generic dog if ever i've seen one . . .

Purina are on the list of dog foods that you'd better not mention at my dogs' vet. They consider it a grade about candy - evil stuff - and not even cheap evil stuff.

It's definitely worth going to the giant bags of better quality stuff. You pay less in the long run - in dog food and vet bills.

A lot of the vets at the hospital here are really big on the premium Purina brands, and choose it over Science Diet or the high end Eukanuba stuff at the school store (and it's not any cheaper).

Pay attention to the nutrition/ingredient labels on the various brands; by law, the product must test to within a very narrow range of tolerance in every parameter, and in fact reputable animal feed manufacturors regularly not only extensively and exhaustively ensure their own quality control, they confirm the results of their lab tests and proceedures through submitting "blind" product samples to other labs, commercial, academic, and governmental.

We go through a couple hundred pounds of dry kibble a month, which we purchase in bulk (big drums) from the local feed-and-seed co-op. What we buy is the wholesale version of a high-quality major name brand general-market kibble, differing from its retail counterpart only in packaging. In the quantity we buy it, it prices out around 35-40¢/lb.

Yeah, but with the pack of near-wolves of yours, you tackle feeding time with an end-loader, doncha?

- We do use a pretty good-sized scoop to fill the feed bowls, which we keep filled all the time. The folks at the feed & seed load the barrels of kibble into the bed of my truck with a forklift, I use the truck's hydraulic liftgate and a handtruck to wrestle the full barrel from the truck to its in-house storage location. There's a deposit on the barrels, which when empty are returned to the feed & seed for credit and re-use. The empties are lots easier to handle than the full ones, for sure

Echoing Boomerang and ehBeth, and especially patiodog and his comment about more expensive food being more concentrated.

We feed our dog Eukanuba. He's 20 pounds, so the recommended feeding guideline is 1 cup per day. For a 50-pound dog, the recommended guideline is 2 cups per day.

We don't buy big bags so I looked on the net for prices. Petsmart sells an 8-lb bag for $12, a 20-lb bag for $22 and a 40-lb bag for $34. Even with a 50-lb dog, 40 pounds would go a long way.

oooo.....shewolf....don't go to the PetCo if it's the one one Brody Lane...that is the Pet Store of the Damned...Go across the street to Pet Smart, they have a card program too, and something good is always on special.

Every time I've gone into that PetCo something really bizarre and moronic has happened. I can't seem to get out of there in less than 45 minutes, just to buy cat food.

Noddys right, you get a superior product for your pet, buy BIG bags.

I like PetSmart better than Petco too. They often send me coupons for big savings on large bags of good quality dog food. Another thing about the high-quality foods is you feed less -- compare the amount of food you're supposed to offer each day to help figure out how long a bag will last.

Trouble is, my doggie weighs less than five pounds and eats only a couple of tablespoons of food a day... a 40-pound sack of Eukanuba would last him the rest of his natural life! (And dogfood does go stale after a time.) Once a year or so I go to the Iam's site and ask how I can save on smaller quantities; they usually send me some good coupons for little bags or maybe (once) a box of samples that fed Sunny for quite a while.

Purina One. Stay away from the "lamb & rice" though, it has much higher fat content.

I am down from two 35 pound bags a week now without the doggie pack to a 10 pounder I bought just for Little Bit in April.

I agree. And, Science Diet is not much better. I feed my 100 pound baby Eagle Pack at about $50.00 for 18 Kg. However, she only needs 3½ - 4 cups daily. Checking the ingredients is very important. Stay away from by-products.

IMO, feeding cheap food to your dog is like feeding your family McDonalds every day. You are not doing them any good.

Good point.


Since the better food is more concentrated, would that equal smaller portions?
I know.. silly question.. but.. ?